The Washington times., 1925-01-17

anu YET we HAVE hCNCI AO0AA 1AAG
to DOPE"
I have never been fortunate
enough with the small green-backs
to call them even fair bass getters,
in fact, could count the fish lured
by the jumpers upon my fingers.
although I have used them at
brief intervals throughout my fish
ing career for both branches of
the bass clan.
But, like the above Middle
West angler and his friends, 1 can
| fruthfully say that as yet I have
my initial time to find any trace
OF the frog family in the stomachs
of the gamesters which Il have
taken and over which I have held
post morteTns.
l do know OF case, however.
where fuN.grown green-back
was wholly devoured by a small
mOuthed gamester, right here in
our own city. Whether the frog
was taken as food or in one of his
pugnacious fits the bass attacked
the green-back and to annihilate
him from his sight forever, swal-
lowed him, is a question that you
will have to decide for yourself
after reading the account that fol-
lows.
A few years back, John w.
| Hurley, one OF WashingtOn's
/ leading business men and a de-
y0uk follower Of Sir TzaalS Wal
ton, had the good fortune Of
| keeping alive part Of his catches
Of smaII-mOuthed bass that he
made on his several trips to the
upper Potomac.
These fish were put in a large
aquarium that John had on dis
play in his business establishment,
and many a time have stopped
| to study the movements of the
captured bass through the trans
parent tank that they adopted as
their new home without much
fright.
During the course Of events a
/ full-grown green frog was added
1 to the aquatic collection. Days
went by that developed into weeks
/ and the gamesters, with one excep-
| ton. were on the most familiar
terms with Mr.. Frog and he with
| them.
This one exception. the largest
of them all, and / tell you he was
a credit to his clan, always gave
Mr.. Frog q glancing look, as much
as to say. keep out OF my way
or eventually it may cause you
trouble"
Now, mind You, this gamester,
strange as 1t may seem, never
made any advances toward the
hopper, in fact. he avoided him
as much as possible. Whenever
the green-bacIk made his appear.
aIlce under water the big fellow
would shy off to one corner. The
fact remained nevertheless that
he had q wicked eye and would
eventually challenge the green
one to 3 battle to death.
The day of "the survival of the
fittest" arrived and Mr.. Frog was
no more.
| According to John, upon opening
| his place Of business, one morning,
he followed his accustomed habit
of first visiting his pets as he
called his aquatic collection. To
his great surprise the frog was
no where to be seen, although
he searched high and low. He
| was about to give up his quest,
when, upon looking closely into tn
I1Uk ne uIHIUNcEpA SAAAlO OpJOSS
projecting from the mouth of his
finest bass. Upon closer inspec-
ton it proved to be the hind legs
of his lost green-back.
John watched the process OF dis
appearance and it was only a
short period of time before Mr..
| Frog was lost forever.
This is the only case I have
ever heard of where bass nc
tualIy retained a frog after at
lacking same. Possibly other
anglers know Of instances where
bass have taken frogs as food,
1 IL such be the case this column
would be more than glad to hear
from them.
Doctor 8: A. Forbes, in his bull
letin, 1.-The Food for Fishes
makes no mention of frogs being
found as a diet for bass.
He explains that the fourteen
adults of the big-mouthed variety
j examined they contained z per cent
crayfish, S6 per cent small fish and
a few odds and ends such as insects
The doctor in examining adult
fish of the small-mouthed variety
found 62 per cent crayfish and
38 per cent minnow and small fish.
!, This only goes to show that
Il