5o3 MODERN SEA FISHING 



reeled him in a bit. Heavily handicapped by the shortness of 

 my line, I was obliged to be after him during the whole of the 

 contest, and the sturdy frame of my most skilful of boatmen 

 was showing signs of a breakdown. He had been up and down 

 stream all the morning, and the afternoon sun was at its fiercest. 



It is stated that every time a tarpon ' blows ' he gains another 

 ten minutes' strength. My fish came up for the purpose often 

 enough, but, fortunately, he counteracted his breathing by an 

 extra number of jumps. How one holds one's breath at the 

 sight of these magnificent leaps for liberty ! They form the 

 most anxious moments of all for the man who knows that at 

 best his fish is but slightly hooked. I knew this only too well, 

 for my minnow was practically worn out when I began my 

 afternoon's work. 



Master Tarpon tried a new move. He made straight down 

 stream, and I kept as much strain on him as I dared. I think he 

 helped to drown himself by his last manoeuvre, for his next leap 

 was a feeble one. The last moment was approaching, the most 

 anxious one of all. There's many a slip 'twixt fish and creel. 

 The awful thought, ' will my gaffer fail me ? ' has occurred to 

 all of us. Fortunately my friend I could have embraced him 

 at the moment got the little beauty he scaled just over ten 

 pounds some time afterwards safely into the boat, and that 

 night the fish, the first of the season at Naples-on-the-Gulf, was 

 laid out at the pleasant little hostelry in that most charming of 

 spring resorts and duly admired and toasted. 



All this is purely personal and much too egotistic, and the 

 intending tarponeer, if I may make a new word, is anxious for 

 practical advice. Having killed your tarpon, what should you 

 do with him ? You wish to preserve him, of course, and to 

 get him home. If you are on the Gulf of Mexico side of 

 Florida, you cannot do better than send to Frederick Steens- 

 gaard, taxidermist, Fort Myers, Florida. Lay the fish with its 



