THE TARPON. I 1 9 



I would say four out of five fish lost are traceable to this 

 cause. 



The line used varies from a fifteen to twenty-one linen thread. 

 I use a fifteen-thread Cuttyhunk linen line, the fineness of 

 which has inspired some of my friends, who pay very little 

 attention to fishing, with serious doubts. I remember one 

 young lady, who came in to inspect a mounted Tarpon in my 

 office, remarked, with a great deal of naivete: "Well, Mr. 

 Haldeman, I don't doubt you caught that fish; but really, 

 you ought to change your line." 



A most important and much debated portion of the Tarpon 

 angler's outfit is the snood. A good snood is a safeguard 

 against the scissor-like jaws of the Tarpon. The fish's teeth 

 injure only by abrasion, but his jaws are massive and power- 

 ful enough to crush with ease the back of a hard-shell crab. 

 Therefore, the snood should, obviously, be of a soft and pli- 

 able texture, rather than such as to offer any resistance. It 

 should also be of ample length at least three feet for the 

 Tarpon must be allowed to get the bait well into his gullet 

 before he can be caught. When I began fishing, I used a 

 snood made of piano-wire, and landed several Tarpon with 

 it, which is contradictory to the statement of some authorities 

 that the Tarpon will instantly detect the wire and spit it out. 

 I abandoned its use for the reason that I found the cotton 

 snood preferable and more economical, for where sharks capt- 

 ure so many of your hooks, the expense of wire snoods is by 

 no means insignificant. For some time I have employed a 

 treble braid of soft, yet strong, cotton line about the thickness 

 of ordinary yarn. This cannot readily be frayed, and gives 

 sufficiently to prevent being sawed or severed by the Tar- 

 pon's jaws. To prevent the fraying contingent upon playing 

 a fish for an hour or two, some fishermen incase their snoods 

 with rubber tubing. I am not aware how successful this has 

 proved. 



The other appurtenances to a complete outfit are plenty of 



