128 AMERICAN GAME FISHES. 



actions, the Tarpon has a great deal of individuality, and each 

 of the fish I have caught has acted, in some particulars, differ- 

 ently from the others. Sometimes, when they feel the hook, 

 they come to the surface and skip about like a small Sardine 

 chased by a Shark, in every direction, wild in their efforts to 

 free themselves, and are the very picture of frenzy. 



The natural history of the Tarpon is still in a very embry- 

 onic state. So little is known of its habits that I have never 

 seen stated in print the season of their spawning. At certain 

 seasons their coloring is more brilliant than at others, indi- 

 cating that they have been in deep water. How long they 

 remain there, or when or where their spawning occurs, seems 

 to be yet undetermined. The fact that the scales on the 

 back are rendered black by the rays of the sun would seem to 

 indicate that they spend the most of their time in compara- 

 tively shoal water. Their backs are exposed to the sun as they 

 sport about on the surface, as they are so fond of doing, or 

 as they feed about on the oyster-shoals, or mud-shallows, 

 after Mullet, much in the manner of a porpoise. 



The natives of the gulf coast say that the Tarpon feeds, like 

 the deer, when the moon is south. As the moon controls 

 the tides, and the best time for fishing is known to be upon 

 the flood or full tide, there may be some reason for their asser- 

 tion. I have known, too, of Tarpon taking the bait of those 

 fishing by moonlight. 



Tarpon-fishing is still in its infancy, and there is room for 

 a great deal of interesting matter upon a most interesting sub- 

 ject. There is no question it is the gamest fish in the world, 

 fights furiously and until it is entirely exhausted, and could 

 never be captured with a rod and reel but for its frantic move- 

 ments and wonderful leaps from the water, the first ten min- 

 utes after it feels the hook. During these ten minutes all 

 you have to do is to give the fish all the line he wants, and 

 see that the reel runs free. After he is unable to make his 

 leaps, he will raise his head out of the water and shake it 



