Giant Fish of Florida 



tarpon requires no skill and no experience, but the very 

 strongest of tackle. It also taxes the angler's strength 

 and staying power to an extent that would, save in very 

 exceptional circumstances, be out of the question in salmon 

 fishing. And why, after all, any call for these eternal 

 comparisons ? To every country and season and income 

 their fish ; and those who have the opportunities may without 

 difficulty kill their Florida tarpon and their Highland salmon 

 in the same summer. Nor is the tarpon, though first, the only 

 fish worth catching in those waters, and I have purposely 

 devoted a page here and there to the sport obtainable with 

 smaller species, and even with the harpoon. 



The best time of tide for sea-fishing at Boca Grand 

 is slack water, and the interval immediately before and 

 after it. A good deal depends on the quarter of the moon and 

 direction of the wind, for it is these that regulate the 

 duration of a fishing-tide. The tides are erratic in those 

 seas ; at times it is possible to fish for three hours on 

 end, while on other days no sooner are you fairly under 

 way than the tide becomes too strong, and there is nothing for 

 it but to reel up and go ashore. Much the same difference is, 

 of course, discernible in sea-fishing at home during a week 

 of spring or neap tides, but there is much greater irregularity 

 on the Florida coast. 



Tarpon fishing by night is exciting work, somewhat 

 too exciting for many people. The fish, however, bite with 



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