90 THE TARPON 



79 lbs. on a steel fly rod and a six-thread line. Numerous 

 fish have been landed there on bait rods ; but I never heard of 

 one being captured before or since on straight 3-6 tackle for 

 the reason anglers are not equipped with it. I lost eighteen 

 fish before catching one and made a general nuisance of myself 

 as the anglers had to move so often out of my way. Mr, L. G. 

 Murphy of Converse, Indiana, in June 1916 landed a tarpon 

 6'-9%'' long on light tackle at Aransas Pass, Texas. 



There have been some great catches with rod and reel. On 

 June 6, 1916, at Boca Grande Pass, Mr. Benjamin W. Crownin- 

 shield of Boston took 25 tarpon between sunrise and sunset, 

 which I believe is the world's record for large tarpon. 



In 1928, Mr. James Jordan of Miami, landed a tarpon 

 weighing 13 lbs. 7 oz., 36i/4" long with a girth of 17y8'^ on 

 No. 24 thread sewing cotton. 



Fish must be weighed on accurate scales to be eligible for 

 record. For instance, Mr. A. C. Yarnall, an experienced angler 

 kindly gave me the information that Mr. John Cutter of 

 New York City, one June years ago, while fishing on the East 

 Coast caught a tarpon weighing 205^2 lbs., which was 7'-7" 

 long but which had a girth of only 40'^, yet this slim fish was 

 able to make eleven jumps. The scales must tell the story, not 

 the measurements, for the formula usually goes to pieces when 

 applied to large fish. 



Note. 



The metric system is sometimes used to record the meas- 

 urements and weights of fish so the following table may be 

 helpful : 



Millimeters X .03937 ^ inches 



Centimeters X .3937 = '' 



Decimeter = 3.937 in. = 0.328 feet 



Grams -^- 28.35 = ounces 



Kilograms X 2.2046 = lbs. 



In estimates where extreme accuracy is not required, 25 

 millimeters are counted as one inch. 



