Large-Mouth Black Bass in England

[Wanderer]

Interesting stuff, Rod. I had no knowledge that Black Bass had been stocked in Wintersett reservoir. A water that is close to me and that I have fished in the past.
Wintersett reservoir and the adjacent Cold Heindly reservoir were built as compensation reservoirs for the Barnsley canal and they are both large expanses of water.
Do you have any further information on the Wintersett stockings ?

Jonathan Haigh was a subscriber to Silk's 1882 endeavour and presented his share of the bass to Wintersett Angling Club. I don't know for certain which of the reservoirs the fish were stocked into, it just says "a portion [of Silk's fish] being intended for... the public reservoir near Wakefield".

Thank you for that Rod. Wintersett and the surrounding area is a wonderful area for wildlife and an area that I have visited all my life.
As a boy I lived close by and my Dad used to take me walking around the area.
Incidentally, Charles Waterton, a well-known early naturalist, lived in the nearby Walton Hall and created his own nature reserve on the estate.
An area of water known locally as Botany Bay, which is the other side of the road to Wintersett, is the place where my Dad first took me to fish with tackle that I had been given.
I caught "nowt", as we say in Yorkshire, but it didn't put me off......

[Phil Arnott]

Interesting reading here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introduce ... tish_Isles

As mentioned not all introductions have been negative.

I'm convinced some have been used as scapegoats for other environmental failures, particularly by the "Environmental Destruction Agency"!

[Rockape]

Very interesting Mark, thank you.

Can I joint Barbelbonce in congratulating you on the “we only have one Bass” issue! I object noisily every time I see the s-word associated with Bass! There must be no surrender on this!

Phil

Hear! Hear!

[Homer Simpson]

Her majesty knows that I will kick off if I see SeaBass on the menu.
We once went to Simon Rogans place and I moaned to them.

Not quite as bad but,
“pan fried “ well what else are you going to fry it in?
Jus , poncey gravy

[Barbelbonce]

'pan fried' - well what else are you going to fry it in? 'Jus' ,poncey gravy"

Hear, hear, Homer! These two, in particular, take le biscuit (sorry!).
But:
I still use, amongst others, "mirepoix", "gratin" and "duxelles" (always with irony). There is no one-word translation for any of them....nor for many other classical French cookery words. (AND, I do NOT accept "cheesy" as a translation of gratinée...!).
Americanisms, as used by British so-called "foodies", are just WRONG.....("...broiled...", "...shrimp..." (the size of lobsters!)). What?!!
All the best,
Mike

p.s. - although I do take the earlier-made point about US uses of British species' names to call American species, that "they", the new inhabitants of the New World, maybe 400 years ago, just, plainly, knew no better -- "Robin".

[Olly]

Any bird with a red breast - - - -

[Rod Fisher]

Rod Fisher wrote: ↑19 Feb 2024, 12:21
Black Bass were brought to Britain from the St. Lawrence river by Mr. Beggs, a Scot, in 1878. Some were stocked in Dunrobin Castle (the Duke of Sutherland's seat), some in Eynsham Hall, Oxford, and some may have been given to Frank Buckland. Mr. W. T. Silk imported some from the Delaware in 1878 and '79, which were stocked in Burghley Park, the Marquis of Exeter's estate. George Shepard Page, American pisciculturalist and founder of the Fish and Game Commission, brought more in 1882, again for the Duke of Sutherland. Silk made another trip for Black Bass in 1882, this time the fish were divided between the Duke of Manchester, Lord Exeter, John T. Carrington of the Royal Aquarium, R. B. Marston, Wintersett reservoir near Wakefield in Yorkshire, and W. Oldham Chambers of Lowestoft, who reared some in ponds at Gunton Park, a country house in Norfolk."

Some very good research, indeed, from Rod Fisher, for which many thanks. Interesting connections with my research: Marston, etc.
Mike

Marston and W. Oldham Chambers were the founders of the National Fish Culture Association. Not much happened in late Victorian angling and pisciculture that he didn't have a guiding hand in.

There was also a German noble, Herr Max von dem Borne of Berneuchen, who obtained black bass from the U.S. and bred them successfully. He was exporting them commercially to Britain in the mid 1880s; six month old fish for a shilling each (about 1/10 the price hitherto). I should add most or all of the fish to which I have referred were small-mouth black bass.