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Sacramento Perch Archoplites Interruptus.
THE SACRAMENTO PERCH - Archoplites interruptus The Sacramento perch is closely allied in structure to the rock-bass, and is the only perchlike fish in fresh water west of the Rocky Mountains. It was collected by the Pacific Railroad Survey and described and named interruptus by Girard, in 1854, owing to the interrupted character of the vertical markings. It inhabits the Sacramento and Joaquin rivers in California, and is much esteemed as a food-fish, but unfortunately it is being rapidly exterminated by the carp and cat fish that are said to infest its spawning grounds. In its conformation it is almost identical with the rock-bass, but differs in having more teeth on the tongue and more gill-rakers. In coloration, however, it differs very much, being sometimes uniformly blackish or brassy, but usually the In angling for the warmouth, the same rods and tackle mentioned under the head of rock bass are well suited. In the Southern states a light native cane rod, ten or twelve feet long, and a line of the smallest caliber, sea-grass or twisted silk, is the favorite style of tackle, with hooks Nos. 2 to 3 tied on light line, and a quill float and split-shot sinker. The usual bait is the black cricket, or the catalpa worm or caterpillar. The white grub found in decayed stumps, and other larvae, crawfish and small minnows, are all useful. Of these the minnow is the best. On streams a small float is necessary to keep the bait from the roots of overhanging trees. In the stillness of Southern streams, under the moss draped trees, I have idled away many a dreamy hour in the pleasure of fishing for the warmouth, but at the same time fully alive to the weird sur roundings. Occasionally the splashing of a hooked fish on the surface entices an alligator from his lair in expectation of a fishy morsel. The echoes are awakened time and again by the pumping of the bittern, the hoarse cry of the crane, or the hooting of an owl in the dark recesses of the cypress swamp. The solitudes of those waters are very fascinating to the lone fisher. The novelty of the situation appeals very strongly to the angler-naturalist whose experi ences have been on the clear, sparkling, tumbling streams of the North. There Nature is ever bright and joyous ; here she is quiet and sombre and subdued. But the fishes know no north or south or east or west, always the same crea tures of interest and beauty, and ever responding to the wiles of the angler.
I was once fishing on St. Francis River, in Arkansas, where the warmouths were both large and gamy. One day I went through the woods and cane-brakes to the banks of Mud Lake, situ ated in the midst of a cypress swamp. The lake was much smaller than it had been formerly, as was apparent from the wide margins of the shores, which were of considerable extent be tween the timber and the water. On this mar gin was a group of four cypress trees that in size exceeded any that I had ever seen, and I think worthy of mention. They were from twenty to twenty-five feet in diameter, or sixty to sixty five feet in circumference, three feet above the ground. They were buttressed like the wall of a mediaeval stronghold. In comparing notes with many naturalists and travellers, they have declared the size of those cypress trees to be both unique and wonderful.
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