TWO TALES OP TROUBLE. 15 



wind was too high and very frequently, after getting outside with a 

 good breeze, it would drop away to little or nothing and our boat 

 would float around in a calm, helpless and useless so far as fi>hing was 

 concerned. When other troubles were not present, when I had bait, 

 when the wind blew and when the fish seemed in biting humor, the 

 yellow gulf weed would come down from the north, cover the >ea 

 with great masses of floating herbage, and one would pass most of his 

 time in reeling up his long line, disentangling weed, and putting out 

 again. Of course, a bait with a weed on it will not be touched bv any 

 self-respecting fish and to haul in and let out again a hundred yards of 

 line takes a considerable amount of time, so that much of my fishing 

 days would be wasted in this way. 



All these difficulties arose from the caprices of Nature 1 , and 

 had to be endured, but unfortunately I also .suffered from troubles 

 which were the result of the carelessness, if not the dishonest}', of man. 

 My tackle was selected with the greatest care, guided by the experi- 

 ence of past tropical fishing, and was supposed to be of the verv best, 

 but proved in many respects untrustworthy. The worst offenders 

 in this respect were inv lines, which broke, snarled, tangled, kinked. 

 and committed every other sort of crime in a manner which was 

 entirely beyond my experience. As I have elsewhere described this 

 particular trouble, my grievances in this respect will not be repeated 

 here, but this was far from the only defect in my outfit, landing that 

 mv two large reels were not sufficient 1 ordered a new tarpon reel, 

 fitted with a "rabbeth drag" and costing thirty dollars, from Aber- 

 crombie & Fitch, of Xew \<n~}< .\\hen this reel arrived it had no 

 safety catch or pawl, to engage with the teeth on the central screw, 

 which holds the drag upon the reel. The result of this was that, the 

 instant a fish struck and began to whirl the friction disc, this central 

 nut would loosen itself and, unless 1 kept constantly tightening it up 

 with a screw driver or my fingers, would almost certainly come off 

 and take the whole reel handle with it. It was inexcusable to send this 

 reel with this old style friction plate, without a pawl on it. when the 

 new stvle, with a pawl, are kept regularly in stuck, but 1 wrote at 

 once for a new style plate and tried to use the reel meanwhile. ( )i\ 

 the second dav. while playing a good fish, the click broke short off. the 

 broken part jammed the reel so that it could not be used and mv fish 

 was promptly lost. On investigation 1 found a very marked flaw in 

 the click. The reel being now useless, had to be packed up and sent 

 oft" north to IK- mended. It must IK' borne in mind that Xassau is 



