Tarpon Fishing in Florida 



yet, I believe, been successfully tried on 

 the "Silver King." 



One needs a large multiplying-reel that 

 will hold comfortably two hundred yards 

 of line, and is furnished with a click that 

 can be turned on and off at will. Even if 

 the socket in which it is set contains a 

 pin, the reel should be lashed on, and a 

 leather drag should be securely stitched to 

 one of the inner bars of the reel, whether 

 one uses a thumb-stall or not. It will also 

 be found convenient to have the handle 

 long enough to protect one's fingers from 

 contact with the side of the reel. I used 

 a fifteen-thread linen line, which is strong 

 enough though most of the fishermen 

 at St. James City were supplied with 

 eighteen and twenty-one thread ; and for 

 a hook one cannot improve on a 10/0 

 Dublin bend, Limerick forged and ringed. 

 The serious point of controversy, and the 

 one which still remains to be solved, is as 

 to the material of the snood or snell con- 

 necting the line with the hook. The 

 tarpon has a bony mouth, in which no 

 hook will take firm hold ; and it is there- 

 fore absolutely necessary to let the fish 

 gorge the bait in order to have any chance 

 of securing him. Moreover, although the 

 tarpon has no teeth, its lips, or the flaps 

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