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CHAPTER XV 



TARPON FISHING IN THE GULF OF MEXICO 



By ALFRED C. HARMSWORTH 



TAKE a reasonably large map of the United States, cast your 

 eye down to the south-west of Florida, and you will be looking 

 at the coast outline of one of the best of sporting countries. 

 If you are an angler, you can kill a dozen varieties of game 

 fish of from i Ib. up to 200 Ibs. 



Florida sounds such a long way off, it is so usually 

 associated with tropical flowers, oranges, and ne'er-do-weels, 

 that the leisured angler, in searching for fresh spheres of 

 sport, fails to give one of the best fishing countries in the 

 world due attention. As a matter of fact, all but the most 

 remote portions of Florida can be reached in nine days from 

 London, and when one arrives at one's destination there is a 

 capital assortment of outdoor amusements open. Had I been 

 an all-round sportsman of the pot-hunting variety I doubt 

 not but that with three months of rod, rifle, and gun I could 

 have brought back a shipload of trophies. The quality of 

 the sport in Florida is of the best. Great kills of fish or 

 game are often the result of unsportsmanlike methods, but 

 such Florida sportsmen as I encountered fished and shot irre- 

 proachably. 



In glancing again at your map of the United States you 

 will find that Florida is snugly ensconced away down to the 



