168 FISHES OF TilE EAST ATLANTIC COAST. 



iishing at Mayport I captured two sharks, one seven and the other 

 nine feet in length, on my tarpon rig. 



In August last, I was iishing near my friend P., and hooked a 

 large tarpon, and after a long and exciting tussle the fish was dis- 

 posed to yield. I requested?, to come on board and. use the grains. 

 lie complied, and as I was cautiously bringing the silver beauty to 

 the side of the boat the hooks tore out, and he settled to the bottom 

 like a log. P. left me; I did not break a commandment, but seated 

 myself in the cockpit of the boat, held my peace, filled my pipe and 

 indulged in a smoke. 



P. returned to his boat, and soon after shouted that he had "made 

 a discovery." I questioned him regarding it, but he told me " to 

 wait and he would make a tackle to capture the artful dodgers." A 

 few days later he visited me and exhibited "his new rig," which 

 consisted of a dog chain two feet long. To the links of 

 the chain he had fastened seven copper wire loops, and to each 

 of the loops he soldered a hook. He proceeded to Mile Point, 

 opened a large mullet from vent to gills, passed swivel end of 

 chain out of mouth of bait, a&d to it attached his line. The 

 balance of the chain he stowed away in the belly of the 

 fish, leaving the points of the hooks protruding fr^m the incision, 

 and to keep everything in situ he took a number of turns around 

 the body of the fish with strong thread. The bait was appropriated 

 by a tarpon, and during the head-shaking process the end of the 

 chain escaped from its place of confinement, twitched about the 

 fish's head, and the lower hook entered on the outside below the 

 gills. After a struggle P. beached a tarpon weighing 125 pounds. 

 An examination established the fact that one of the upper hooks had 

 taken a slight hold in one lip, and had held long enough for the 

 " skirmishing hook " to enter. 



P. tried another experiment, that of attaching four piano wire snoods 

 eighteen to twenty-four inches long, to a swivel, and to each snood 

 was attached a large sized hook. He opened a mullet as above ; 

 passed swivel through mouth of bait, and stowed the hooks in belly 

 leaving points exposed, and secured the hooks by wrapping bait, with 

 thread. He was rewarded with a bite, and landed a tarpon six feet 



