FRESH-WATER FISH. The fish most common to amateur fishermen are the various minnows, in many places spoken of as shiners or chubs, of which the most generally known, the dace or roach, is found in New England and the Middle States, and demauds but an ordinary light rod, with worm or artificial fly for bait. The sun fish or pumpkinseed, pond-perch, bream, or roach, may be found in running brooks through out the United States, and sometimes in tidal rivers, and are caught with small hooks, with worms as bait, although they frequently take the artificial fly. In the Southern States good sport may be obtained with artificial flies in the catch ing of bluefish, blue bream, and copper-nosed bream. A peculiar, though uncertain, method of fishing for the common bream in these waters is to use bait made of brown bread and honey. For all-around sport through most of the year, the yellow perch is most popular in the Eastern States. In summer it may be caught with a worm or minnow bait ; and in winter holes are cut in the ice, and the white grub, usually found in decayed wood, is used as bait. In springtime the fly is most attractive. The wall-eyed pike, as the pike-perch is sometimes called, is found usually in the Southern States, western New York, the Great Lakes. and Canada, in which latter country it is known as the doree, another fish of the small species being known as the sandre. It is an exceptionally gluttonous fish, easily caught with a hook, and in Lake Cham plain is occasionally caught by trolling. The pickerel, or common pickerel, which may be found in all the ponds and streams of the North, East, and Central States, together with the white pickerel of the Ohio and the black pickerel of Pennsylvania, are all distinguished by length of body. The pike seldom grows to be over three feet in length. although the maskinonge (like the pike, a member of the pickerel family) has been known in the Michigan lakes and the upper waters of the Mississippi River to be at least seven feet. The fisherman usually trolls for them with a spoon. The common pickerel weighs on an average about five pounds. Closely re lated are the catfish, bullhead, bull-pout, and horned pout, which are all found in North Ameri can waters. The largest catfish have been known to weigh over 150 pounds, although the flesh of the smaller kinds is the most rich, and more generally considered a delicacy. They are greedy biters and will jump at most anything. For
instance, the ordinary bullheads of New England are caught on muddy bottoms with worms as bait. The premier game fish, however, is the black bass, which is plentiful in the lakes and streams cast of the Rocky Mountains. It may he caught with minnows, frogs, grasshoppers, etc., or by trolling with a spoon hook. The fishing rods required for this fish are usually about ten feet long and considerably stouter than those used for trout. The sucker is a fish found in all the fresh waters of the Northern States. It is usually caught with angleworm bait, and in the winter, fishing through the ice, it is more easily caught than any other. The carp is a compara tively recent importation from Europe, and is now found in most of the Eastern waters, as well as in California and Oregon. It haunts muddy waters. The chub, honeyhead, or river-chub is widely distributed in fresh waters, and may easily be caught by means of the same rod and tackle that is used for black bass. The grayling affords exceptionally fine sport. It is generally caught with the' fly, but will also bite at worms and insects, and is found along the northern border of the United States. The true salmon is caught chiefly in Canadian rivers, as well as in the Penobscot River of Maine. The best time for sport ranges from about the middle of May to the end of July, covering a period when the fish is on its annual pilgrimage from the sea to deposit its spawn or eggs in fresh water. The newly hatched fish are known as pinks, and in their second year as smolts, and in their third year as grilse. _Artificial flies are the bait commonly used. Trout, second only to salmon in their gameness, are also sea emigrants, whenever it is possible for them to be so. They are usually found to best advantage in clear streams and lakes, and angleworms, artificial flies, and minnows are used for their capture. In the rivers and lakes of Maine and Canada speckled trout of from four to six pounds are frequently seen, and specimens have been caught weighing nearly ten pounds. The lake trout is easily caught by trolling, using a minnow or spoon as bait. Whitefish is one of the best food fishes, and is usually caught in 'pound-nets' from 500 to 1000 feet long. Eels are• best caught at night, along muddy bottoms, the salt-water va riety being frequently captured in eel-pot traps.