Giant Fish of Florida 



" Look out ! There's a shark after your tarpon. Where's 

 your gun ? " 



" Now, then, you there ; where are you shooting ? " 



And so on, and so on. Six mad tarpon, six mad fishers, 

 six mad guides, and six quite unmanageable boats dashing 

 about in confusion among near a score of others. This it is 

 that makes tarpon fishing so fascinating once you get the true 

 spirit of the thing. In those two hours that we have been out 

 just nineteen fish were landed out of fifty or sixty strikes, and 

 more than one boat never got a touch. 



As soon as the tide runs too strong boat after boat is 

 pulled ashore, and every one seeks a shady nook for luncheon, 

 generally under the lighthouse. Here in the cool we munch 

 our sandwiches and talk tarpon, every other subject being 

 tabooed at Boca Grand. And how wonderfully has that big 

 fish of yesterday increased in the night ! It was really a fine 

 fish, scaling, as a matter of fact, 171 lb., and needed no 

 editing. Yet the man who weighed it called 181 lb. The 

 fortunate angler added a matter of 10 lb. for loss of weight in 

 transport to the scales. This somewhat generous allowance for 

 wear and tear brought its already respectable weight up to 

 191 lb. That was last night. To-day he speaks of it as 

 " close on 200 lb.," and we can infer what that will mean as 

 soon as he gets back home. 



Then, as to its measurements, he left it hanging out last 

 night, and measured it alone this morning. It hung by one 



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