TARPON FISHING IN THE GULF OF MEXICO 511 



OTHER FISH IN FLORIDA 



There is, of course, any amount of other fishing in Florida, 

 though it is naturally not thought much of by tarpon anglers. 

 The ' lady ' or ' bone ' fish is a game specimen, but, not being an 

 ichthyologist, I am unable to class it scientifically. It is long and 

 slender, and such as I caught ran from four to eight pounds, 

 though I heard of much heavier fish. It is usually got by spin- 

 ning from a boat at the mouth of a river or creek with phantom 

 minnow or spoon. When struck it leaps in a very remarkable 

 manner. Its brilliant silver colour reminds one forcibly of 

 the tarpon. I killed seven or eight on one particularly warm 

 morning, and found that they tried a single-handed built cane 

 to the utmost. 



The jack fish, or ' horse fish ' as some people call it, is 

 very plentiful in Florida waters. It is not pretty to look 

 upon, hog-backed in shape, parchment in colour, but it will 

 take almost any kind of bait, fly, or small spoon. It was so 

 numerous occasionally that it became a nuisance, taking a fly 

 immediately it touched the water, time after time. At another 

 time it could not be killed with either fly or spoon. 



The catfish, that vermin of the ocean which one finds in all 

 parts of the world, abounds in these southern waters. If one 

 tried to see how many fish one could kill with a fly in a day, I 

 think the record would be made by the man who went for these 

 unpleasant creatures, though a good deal of time would be 

 wasted in getting them off the hook and avoiding their 

 poisonous spine. 



The rovallio is a fine sporting fish, not altogether unlike 

 our pike in appearance. One morning in the Gordon River I 

 started spinning from a boat. The first five fish I killed all 

 belonged to different varieties. After I had brought to creel six 

 jack-fish, there came at my minnow something that looked 



