ICS FISHES OF THE EAST ATLANTIC COAST. 



iishlng at May port I captured two sharks, one seven and tlie other 

 nine feet in Irnacth, on my tarpon rig. 



In August last, 1 was fishing near my friend P., and hooked a 

 large tarpon, and after a long and exciting tussle the fish was dis- 

 posed to yield. I requested P. to come on board and use the grains. 

 lie complied, and as I was cautiously bringing the silver beauty to 

 the side of the boat the hooks tore out, and he settled to the bottom 

 like a loo-. P. left me; I did not break a commandment, but seated 

 myself in the cockpit of the boat, held my peace, filled my pipe and 

 indulged in a smoke. 



P. returned to his boat, and soon after shouted that he had "made 

 a discovery," I questioned him regarding it, but he told me "to 

 wait and he would make a tackle to capture the artful dodgers." A 

 few days later he visited me and exhibited "his new rig," which 

 consisted of a dog chain two feet long. To the links of 

 the chain he had fastened seven copper wire loops, and to each 

 of the loops he soldered a hook. He proceeded to Mile Point, 

 opened a large mullet from vent to gills, passed swivel end of 

 chain out of mouth of bait, a.xd to it attached his line. The 

 balance of the chain he stowed away in the belly of the 

 fish, leaving the points of the hooks protruding frDm the incision, 

 and to keep everything in situ he took a number of turns around 

 the body of the fish with strong thread. The bait was appropriated 

 by a tarpon, and during the head-shaking process the end of the 

 chain escaped from its place of confinement, twitched about the 

 fish's head, and the lower hook entered on the outside below the 

 gills. After a struggle P. beached a tarpon weighing 125 pounds. 

 An examination established the fact that one of the upper hooks had 

 taken a slight hold in one lip, and had held long enough for the 

 " skirmishing hook " to enter, 



P. tried another experiment, that of attaching four piano wire snoods 

 eighteen to twenty-four inches long, to a swivel, and to each snood 

 was attached a large sized hook. He opened a mullet as above ; 

 passed swivel through mouth of bait, and stowed the hooks in belly 

 leaving points exposed^ and secured the hooks by wrapping bait with 

 thread. He was rewarded with a bite, and landed a tarpon six feet 



