Bass

a name used in a confused manner for unrelated fishes. The sea-bass is a perch, others are related to the sunfish. The striped bass, three to five feet long, is a fine, gamy sea-bass entering rivers from Nova Scotia to Florida to spawn. Its relative, the white bass, with an arched, greenish back and silvery sides, with several dusky streaks, is found in the waters of the upper Mississippi Valley to the Great Lakes. There is also a black, mottled sea-bass on the Atlantic coast. Unrelated to these, and found in the waters of eastern North America from Canada to the Gulf, are the black basses. Of the smaller-mouthed species, a writer quoted by Jordan says: "The black bass is eminently an American fish; he has the faculty of asserting himself and of making himself completely at home wherever placed. He is plucky, game, brave, unyielding to the last, when hooked. He has the arrowy rush and vigor of a trout, the untiring strength and bold leap of a salmon, while he has a system of fighting tactics peculiarly his own. I consider him, inch for inch, and pound for pound, the gamest fish that swims." Ex-President Cleveland maintained that this bass is superior to the trout as a game fish. The large-mouthed black bass, or Oswego bass, known also as the green bass and bayou bass, is larger and is more sluggish than his fellow. The rock bass, a handsome fellow, closely related to the sunfish, is a favorite with young anglers. See Fishes