Tarpon Fishing in Florida 



I again found myself in company with the 

 champion fisherman of the season, whose 

 wife, by the by, had the ill-luck in the 

 course of the day to lose a twenty-pound 

 channel bass, through the clumsiness of 

 her boatman, just as it was ready for the 

 landing-net. When not far from the 

 ground, we noticed numerous shoals of 

 mullet, which is a favorable sign ; and pres- 

 ently those in the boat ahead signed to us 

 to be still, and pointed to the water, on 

 which the fins of a troop of tarpon were 

 plainly visible. We anchored in hope, in 

 spite of the consciousness that fish in shoals 

 do not take the hook as readily as when 

 travelling alone or in small detachments. 

 We fished diligently without the least suc- 

 cess for some time, and then shifted our 

 ground a little farther on, as we had been 

 lured by the sight of the tarpon on the 

 surface to make fast, at first, somewhat 

 short of the usual place. Our new an- 

 chorage was, as on the day before, rather 

 less than a fourth of a mile from shore, 

 and in water not more than ten or twelve 

 feet deep. Here let me add that later in 

 the season, when the weather has grown 

 hot, tarpon are taken in the shallow water 

 close to the shore as well as on the edges 

 of the oyster-reefs. I had two rods with 

 204 



