Notes and Quertes 
down the pass, and if he waits two hours, or 
even one hour, on a favorable day without ‘‘a 
draw,” I will pay his oarsman.* When he 
does hook his tarpon it will be in the mouth, 
and then he will have a contract on his hands 
of respectable proportions. One fish landed, 
he will be willing to rest; it is too much like 
work. If he prefers it he may fish in the 
Florida fashion, and without waiting a week 
either. 
Excepting during the warm months of July 
and August, the tarpon swarm through the 
narrow bays and channels in such numbers 
that he is a lucky man indeed who does not 
lose two or three hooks a day while looking 
for the smaller denizens of the deep. 
In July I am going. But I wish it was to- 
morrow. ‘The fishing now is glorious. A friend 
writes me that the sportsmen of Aransas Pass 
caught twenty-six jewfish in one week, and 
that a jewfish weighing 1,015 lbs. was caught 
in a seine not long ago. Do you wonder that 
sometimes an angler loses his tackle ? 
Last week I received a letter from Uncle 
Wilson, who took me over to the Pass for a 
three days’ trip last year. Hesays that he has 
two boats this season. The Iola,a sloop large 
enough to carry a camping party of eight 
or ten, and the Edith, the boat we used last 
year, anda good one, large enough for three 
on acamping trip. His rates are $5 and $3 a 
day respectively, although I suppose it is 
cheaper by the week. 
San Anvonia, Texas. W. S. M. 

A Dolphin on Rod and Reel. 
Perhaps the first dolphin, certainly so in our 
knowledge, has been captured on rod and reel 
by Mr. W. H. Ingram, of Algona, lowa, 
whose spirited account of the contest and its 
attendant surprises we give below. It is to be 
regretted that Mr. Ingram does not describe 
the tackle and lure with which the fish was 
taken. We hope, however, to hear from him 
again before our July issue. He says: 
‘Several of our tarpon party, at Myers, 
were over at Lake Worth, stopping at Flag- 
ler’s princely hotel, the Royal Ponciana, and 
we were talking of catching kingfish with rod 
and reel. We were told that only one had 
ever been caught that way, and that the fish 
would break the best rod made. We decided 
to go out and try them, even if we should be 
obliged to come home without rod, reel or line, 
and the next day found us on the fishing 
199 
grounds very late, as the wind was unfavor- 
able. We finally struck a school of kingfish, 
and the ‘strikes’ came thick and fast, until 
one was hooked on myline. He jumped about 
eight feet and shook himself loose, but a 
friend with me, Mr. Miller, secured a fish. A 
few minutes later another strike was made on 
my line, and when the fish made his leap, our 
darkey Captain yelled out: 
“«*A dolphin! You will do mighty well to get 
dat fish.’ 
“The racing began, and I soon discovered 
that I had the liveliest fish on my line I ever 
attempted to pull in. Twenty minutes of 
racing and leaping put him in condition for 
landing, however, and then began a novel 
scene. When the fish was about twenty rods 
from the boat, Captain and his partner, with 
eyes wide open and voices keyed at the top 
pitch, yelled: 
“««See dat shark! Colonel, be quick or dat 
shark get dat fish shuah.’ 
‘‘Between the shark and the darkies it was 
a rattling time. As the shark would roll over 
on his back to swallow the fish, I would pull it 
away, and then he weuld right up and make a 
rapid rolling motion under the fish again. 
This was repeated several times, the darkies 
yelling constantly to remind me to be quick, 
when a lurch of the schooner threw my rod 
out of the rest. I told Captain to hand-line 
the fish in quick, and with both darkies work- 
ing on the line and the shark likely to capture 
the dolphin any instant, it was a picture not 
soon to be forgotten. The shark was near the 
fish all the time, and came to the top of the 
water within two feet of the boat. If we had 
had a rifle we could have shot him easily. 
He appeared to be from ten to twelve feet 
long and about two feet through, of the man- 
eating variety. The dolphin was fair size, 
weighing fifteen pounds, but he was big 
enough to satisfy me, so that I do not want to 
try another. For beauty of color nothing can 
surpass him. While dying, every shade of 
the rainbow made its appearance on his sleek, 
smooth sides. He is rightly named the grey- 
hound of the ocean, and Neptune could well 
afford to drive a team of these spirited little 
fellows in taking his fantasticrides. I learned 
one thing while out, and that is that however 
well darkies speak English while on dress pa- 
rade, as soon as they become excited, they 
fall back to darkey dialect. Mr. Miller said 
he would not have missed the show, darkies, 
