Ill SPORT WITH TARPON 21 



indispensable for manipulating the somewhat fine line when it 



is being rushed off the reel ; but I preferred the leather stall 



or drag which is fixed to the reel ; and I noticed that the 



majority of tarpon men from the States who go to Florida 



season after season rarely use the thumb-stall. 



The reel, as illustrated on p. 19, is the item of tackle which 



should be most carefully selected. It often occurs that the 



battle is lost or v/on by it. My purchase was 



The Reel. 

 E. M. Vom Hofe's striped bass or tarpon reel, 



described in his catalogue as " finest quality rubber and Ger- 

 man silver, full steel pivot with German silver bands, S-shaped 

 balance handle to screw off, sliding oil cap, tension click drag." 

 It is a beautiful piece of mechanism, runs on ball bearings, but 

 it is, from an English point of view, very expensive. It is by 

 the attached leather drag or guard, as seen in the illustration, 

 that you are enabled to put on the necessary check when the 

 line is running out rapidly. As you suffer very much from the 

 absence of this, you will never, after paying the penalty of 

 forgetting it, go without it. Cautious use is required if you 

 would avoid cut or broken fingers. The reel should hold from 

 150 to 200 yards of line, for it is always wise in this, as in 

 other fishing, to be in a position to cope on equal terms with 



