THE TARPON 133 



have little faith in it. The fish was 6 ft. 6^/^ in. long. I know 

 that much for I measured it myself. Its girth I have for- 

 gotten. It was great sport." 



I am told that the best method to employ in catching very 

 small tarpon in creeks and rivers is by fishing with a live min- 

 now on a small hook suspended a foot or so below a cork. If 

 the angler is exceedingly quick he may catch one but many are 

 lost for they are very lively and diflScult to hook. They also 

 strike at a trolling spoon or a fly. 



Mr. Joseph W. Stray of Brooklyn has described the method 

 he employs to harpoon these fish. He uses the smallest size 

 harpoon, equipped with one fluke, attached to a 3-foot bronze 

 wire leader with a spliced-in eye swivel at the far end. The 

 reel line is attached to this and the rod is placed where it may 

 be readily grasped after the harpoon is fast to the fish. About 

 25 feet of reel line is coiled in the boat. The harpoon which has 

 a handle 6 feet long and V2-iiich in diameter is thrown as a 

 javelin. Every fish so harpooned, is, in fact, foul hooked and 

 fights its best because it is not partially drowned in the strug- 

 gle and impelled by the strain on the line to swim toward the 

 boat. This method of capture must require great skill and a 

 quick eye. 



In the event the angler is fortunate enough to capture a 

 heavy fish and wishes to authenticate the catch he should take 

 the length and greatest girth together with the exact weight. 

 In order to measure the fish it should be laid on a level surface 

 and the mouth firmly closed. The length for record is the dis- 

 tance from the end of the snout to a point midway between the 

 tips of the caudal fin. The measurement is taken over the body 

 of the fish. If one tip of the caudal fin is longer than the other, 

 which sometimes happens, the angler is entitled to record the 

 longer tip in the measurement. A naturalist records the length 

 of fish by taking the distance from the end of the snout to the 

 last caudal vertebra excluding the caudal fin from the reckon- 

 ing ; but the sportsman has a different system. The girth mea- 



