Fish and Fishing 



dowed with more than average strength, nerve, 

 and endurance. 



TARPON 



Tarpon fishing with rod and reel is a modern 

 sport of comparatively recent date; twenty years 

 ago no attempt had been made to take it by this 

 method. To-day, angling for this magnificent 

 fish has become an established recreation in the 

 famous resorts where they abound; many clubs 

 have been formed in which members have strict 

 rules whereby tackle shall not exceed that used 



in other game fishing. The first tarpon 

 Takme taken in this way was by Wm. S. Jones, 



of Philadelphia, at the Indian River Inlet. 

 It weighed 130 pounds and was six feet in length, 

 fighting the angler over two hours before it was 

 brought to gaff. The incident aroused much in- 

 terest among anglers all over the country, and 

 Jupiter Bay soon became a pilgrimage of deter- 

 mined fishermen bent on trying their luck on so 

 formidable a foe. That they were there, ready 

 to receive them, was proved, and a season rarely 

 passes by, that the total catch does not foot up 

 300 to 400 fish. 



This Indian River, so called, is in reality a 

 beautiful lagoon, or inland sea, of varying depth 

 and width, fairly alive with fish; the river bed in 

 parts is a solid mass of oysters and other shell-fish, 

 but the great attraction that draws the tarpon, 

 sharks, and other monsters, is the vast shoals of 

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