THE TARPON 63 



In still fishing with cut bait, the fish usually picks up the 

 bait and carries it for quite a distance before gorging it. I am 

 satisfied that many fish escape without the slightest fault on 

 the part of the angler. Wlien the fish are voracious, they are 

 easy to hook; but every angler of experience has fished at a 

 time when the tarpon were feeding so delicately that it was al- 

 most impossible to hook them. 



After long experimentation, a naturalist discovered many 

 years ago that when a fish is not sharp set, it first noses and 

 smells the bait, taking it, if at all, only in a languid fashion; 

 but when ravenous, it bolts its food. This may serve to explain 

 the difference in the vigor of a tarpon's strike, which every 

 angler has experienced. 



It would be very interesting if one could watch a feeding 

 tarpon when the water is clear and observe its action on dif- 

 ferent kinds of bait. I hope that such an experience will be re- 

 ported for the benefit of tarpon anglers. 



The large ones at least are not edible. According to Schrom- 

 burgk (1848), they are considered delicate eating in the Bar- 

 bados. Mr. W. H. Barrall writing in 1874 to Forest and Stream 

 said they are very palatable. Dimock cured and dried the meat 

 and speaks very enthusiastically of the fishballs his guide 

 made from it. Several years ago tarpon were sold in the public 

 markets at New Bedford, Mass., but the people did not like 

 them owing to the toughness of the flesh. They are eaten in 

 the West Indies and are sold in the Havana fish markets under 

 the name of Sabalo. The Mexicans salt and eat them. Dr. Jor- 

 dan is my authority for the statement that people who relish 

 raw fish meat like the Hawaiians and Japanese, prefer the 

 meat of the Elopidae to a more close fibered and tender fish. 

 The very small fish may be good ; but the old ones are unpalat- 

 able and coarse. The Megalops cyprinoides of the Indian 

 Ocean is kept in fresh water tanks for consumption by the na- 

 tives and is highly relished. Mr. T. Saville Kent in an article 



