;S 



The American An^^ler. 



diameter of an ordinary lead-pencil, and 

 about three feet in length, are effective, 

 as they are seldom cut by the plates of 

 a tarpon's mouth, and when severed by 

 a shark, sawfish, or jewfish, the loss is 

 small and much time is saved in getting 

 rid of foul fish so easily and cheaply. 

 Take plenty of snoods with you. The 

 hooks should be the lo-o O'Shaugh- 

 nessy, either knobbed or ringeyed. 

 The size and construction of the gaff is 

 important; it should be made not less 

 than five inches in diameter, of the best 

 steel, and then attached to a handle of 

 ash, hickory, or other tough wood of 

 about i^ inches in diameter, with a 

 hole bored in the hand-end, through 

 which a lanyard may be riven if desired. 

 Provide yourself with heavy thumb- 

 pieces, and always test your tackle be- 

 Tore using it. 



With such an outfit, and with that 

 inseparable factor of angling-success — 

 a marvelous patience — you may chance 

 to kill a tarpon every day, or more 

 likely, one in a week's fishing, but your 

 score will depend much upon the month 

 in which you seek them — the later the 

 better. April is a good month, but May 

 a more fruitful one. Fishing for tarpon 

 has been aptly likened unto sitting all 

 day in a Turkish bath watching a string, 

 and that is often enough just what it 

 amounts to. Your luck will be of the 

 most spasmodic character. Days upon 

 days will pass by in waiting for ' ' the 

 draw" that comes not; but your time 

 will not be altogether spiritless, for the 

 shark, the jewfish, and the sawfish will 

 enliven and discomfort your soul by in- 

 roads upon your tackle and amiability. 



Upon anchoring, your first act will be 

 to make a two-handed cast from the reel 

 of fifty to seventy-five feet (or more if 

 you wish or can) of line. The least dis- 

 tance named is required to place the 



boat out of sight or hearing of the fish, 

 and to avoid its first leaps, which are 

 often furious and wild. After making 

 the cast, place your rod across the 

 thwarts of the boat, and still holding 

 the reel-end of the line, coil at least 

 twenty-five feet of it upon the deck- 

 board, or seat, which should be entirely 

 free from obstructions. The line should 

 then be overhauled, so that it will run 

 off freest toward the hook. After this 

 is done, wait, wait, wait ; it may be one 

 minute or it may be a week of minutes 

 before you feel a tarpon "draw." To 

 relieve the monotony you may divert 

 yourself by a little " chumming, " if you 

 chance to see evidences of tarpon com- 

 ing in toward their feeding-grounds, on 

 the edge of which your boat is presum- 

 ably anchored. This chumming is not 

 like what is done in the North for blue- 

 fish and large weakfish. The mullet you 

 use will not create " a slick, " as this fish 

 in the spring or late winter months is 

 not sufficiently fat or oily to do so, and 

 if it was, it would be no attraction to the 

 tarpon, which is a bottom feeder ; hence 

 all the chumming that is required is 

 simply to cut the waste portions of your 

 mullet into small bits and throw them 

 as far as possible from the boat, and in 

 the direction from which the fish are 

 thought likely to coine. 



After waiting an indefinite time, you 

 may see the coil of your line running 

 out swiftly but evenly, and you then 

 know that the bait has been lifted from 

 the bottom and a large fish is going with 

 it, possibly a tarpon, or it may be a 

 shark. Be it either, you will take things 

 calmly, see that all is clear for the line, 

 and soak your thumbstall over the side of 

 the boat. A moment m.ore, when the 

 line is entirely out, you will spring the 

 steel into the fish, and presto! all doubts 

 are solved. It is the Silver King, high- 



