166 THE TARPON 



the man with an open mind who has not, so far, been lucky at 

 tarpon fishing. 



Playing the Fish 



As soon as a strike occurs, the angler notifies the guide, who 

 is ever on the alert. He will start his engine and move as quick- 

 ly as possible to avoid the danger of the fish falling into the 

 boat as it returns to the water after the leap. When sufficient 

 distance is gained to avoid this mishap, he stops the boat. Af- 

 ter several leaps or jumps, sometimes 10 or 12 feet above the 

 water, the fish will sound near the bottom. It should then be 

 held steadily. The boat is then started very slowly and the 

 fish can be led from the school of fish and out of the way of 

 other anglers drifting through the same school. The fish will 

 probably make a run of from one hundred to three hundred 

 feet, and on pumping it in near the boat it will often repeat 

 the run. At such times a very moderate drag on the reel 

 should be maintained for the friction of the line in the water 

 gives a surprising drag or weight on the swiftly moving fish 

 without aid from the drag on the reel. When the fish stops 

 it is pumped in. A word about this pumping is not amiss based 

 on my observation of anglers and from my own experience. 

 When the tip of the rod is slowly raised drawing the filsh 

 closer, the slack made by lowering the tip is taken in by turn- 

 ing the handle of the reel. If the tip is lowered too fast or an 

 effort is made to retrieve too much line on the reel, there will 

 be a jerk when the line comes taut again. When this occurs the 

 fish will resist and will usually take out part or all of the line 

 retrieved. If, on the other hand, the line is held taut at the 

 end of the lift of rod, which is evenly lowered and one or, at 

 most, two turns of the reel handle is made, carefully avoiding 

 any sudden change of tension on the line, the fish may be rapid- 

 ly brought in. At times the tarpon will make such a long run 

 that the boat must follow to prevent taking too much line from 

 the reel. This is especially true if the fish should see a shark 



