Tarpon Fishing in Florida 



very Highness evidently was alarmed by 

 the boat, and avoided it as much as possi- 

 ble. At last Pierce, in desperation, struck 

 at him, and missed him ; and in a mo- 

 ment the line was flying out again, and 

 the point of my rod was being dragged 

 down as the tarpon plunged into the 

 depths again, and by another glorious rush 

 regained all that I had won. Then en- 

 sued a long up-hill fight, which I can 

 compare only to a hand-to-hand tussle 

 with a wild beast. Again and again did 

 I get him up to within ten feet of the 

 boat, and again and again would he thwart 

 my efforts to draw him nearer. The 

 thumb and forefinger of my right hand, 

 where, owing to the shortness of the han- 

 dle, they came in contact with the screws 

 and side of the reel, were without skin, and 

 bleeding profusely. I had not realized the 

 importance of gloves or thumb-stalls, hav- 

 ing always fished for salmon with bare 

 hands. Had it not been for the leather 

 drag, I could not have held him ; and yet 

 this, at the point where it was sewed to 

 the bar of the reel, served to clog the line, 

 owing to the lack of room for the line, 

 when unevenly wound, to act freely ; and 

 only by reeling desperately hard could I 

 wind at all the last ten yards. One should 



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