TARPON FISHING. 



Day was just breaking when Will and I pushed our boat from the 

 wharf. It was a typical Florida spring morning, with the usual 

 gorgeous cloud effects so common in these latitudes ; the whole 

 eastern sky was banked with crimson clouds shading softly into the 

 pale blue higher up where the cloud banks suddenly ceased. Gradu- 

 ally the changing colors paled and paled, fading into dull gray and 

 white as the sun rose higher and showed his tiery edge over the tops 

 of the low mangroves on the key opposite. The ba}- was as smooth 

 as a pond ; the water being scarcely rippled by the light breeze 

 which bore to us the faint chattering and whistling of a flock of 

 blackbirds on the keys opposite, and we could distinctly hear the 

 voices of two men in a boat far over near the other shore, a mile or 

 more away. 



We passed several low 03^ster bars, which are usually covered at 

 high tide, and just beyond one of these Will stopped rowing and, 

 nodding his head towards the reef, said: "Do you see the deep 

 water just to the south of that bar? That is where I saw several 

 tarpon yesterday — and there goes one nozv.'" 



I looked quickly in the direction he was pointing and caught a 

 momentary glimpse of a large fin cutting the mirror-like svu^face of 

 the water ; a dull gleam, and then all was quiet save for the gradually 

 widening ripples which marked the spot where the great fish had 

 risen. 



" Quick," cried Will : " throw well out ahead of that ripple and if 

 he takes it give him plenty of time before you strike." 



Swinging the heavy rod backwards, I made a strong cast and the 

 line, weighted with half of a mullet, ran freel}- from the reel. It was 

 a good throw and the piece of fish struck the water not twenty feet 

 from the spot where the tarpon had risen. Loosening the line and 

 seeing that it ran freelv under the leather thumb check, I waited. 



