130 THE TARPON 



"The sounds produced by motor boats are extremely 

 faint under water and have little influence on the move- 

 ments and feeding of fishes. Such influence as they do 

 have is temporary and very much restricted in local ex- 

 tent. * * * From these observations, it seems quite clear 

 that single loud noises generated in the air enter the 

 water to a small extent but in suflScient volume to disturb 

 momentarily fishes that are in the immediate vicinity. But 

 even this limited disturbance does not seem to be pro- 

 duced by the ordinary motor boat which purely because 

 of the gradual increase and decrease of the sound in in- 

 tensity as the boat approaches and recedes is relatively 

 inert so far as many fish are concerned." 

 It is common practice around the Muskoka Lakes in Canada 

 for the boys to await the arrival of a boat at a dock and to drop 

 a line alongside the boat as soon as she is berthed. The fish 

 may be alarmed by the boat but it is momentary for they seem 

 to be attracted by the agitation of the water and noise and soon 

 come back to feed. Indians sometimes agitate a pool with brush 

 and scare away all the fish knowing they will soon return and 

 strike the bait. 



Sometimes forty or fifty boats of all degrees of speed and 

 noisiness fish in a compact group at Boca Grande Pass without 

 having any marked effect upon the fishing. The water here is 

 from 40-90 feet deep but at Captiva, where it is shallow, motor 

 boats certainly alarm the fish at least temporarily. Mr. H. 

 Wendell Endicott in his interesting and instructive book, en- 

 titled Adventures with Rod and Harpoon along the Florida 

 Keys (Stokes & Co., N. Y., 1925) thus summarizes his conclu- 

 sions : 



"It is my belief that the tarpon is very sensitive to noise 

 in the water and that the churn of the propeller and the 

 throb and pound of the engine, have ruined many a good 

 evening's sport especially in shoal waters. I have found 



