11. THE TARPON 



By F. G. AFLALO 



IN some respects tarpon fishing is the most fascinating form of sea 

 angling, but as it is a somewhat lengthy and expensive undertaking 

 it will perhaps be as well to open this description of it by answering 

 the two questions invariably put to those who return from Florida 

 by others minded to follow in their steps : What does it cost ? How long 

 does it take ? It is quite obvious that to sportsmen living in England, 

 and therefore a fortnight's journey from the nearest tarpon grounds, these 

 considerations of time and money (even in cases where time is not money) 

 are of first importance, and the answer depends upon the locality chosen. 

 If the tourist should prefer to try his luck in the West India Islands, where, 

 as will be shown later, he has every chance of catching good fish, his 

 expedition will cost considerably less than if he were to visit the classic 

 tarpon grounds of Florida. Yet, although I am a strong advocate of spending 

 English money in English possessions, I fancy that, with the opportunity 

 of only a single trip, he would do well to choose Florida, or Mexico, 

 for in the Gulf of Mexico sport is a certainty, whereas in the Caribbean 

 it is a venture. For the matter of that, tarpon may be caught on the West 

 Coast of Africa, and one weighing 107 lb. was not long ago caught 

 at Lagos. As regards time, an allowance of six weeks should enable the 

 angler to spend a fortnight on the spot, and this should be the irreducible 

 minimum in view, for the Gulf of Mexico is subject to changing moods, 

 and there will surely be one or two days in each week on which fishing in 

 the Pass is an impossibility. Where the tarpon are killed in rivers, mainly 

 by what will presently be described as " still fishing," these interruptions 

 need not be taken so seriously as in the open water. Personally, I spent 

 sixteen days at Useppa and was out on the Pass on eleven of them, killing 

 seventeen tarpon in all, including five of over 100 lb., and that should 

 be sufficient for ordinary ambitions. 



The cost of such a trip is less easily estimated, so widely do individual 

 ideas differ as to what constitutes comiort on a holiday. By cutting expenses 

 to their finest, travelling second class by rail and steamer and drinking 

 water (with an excellent chance of typhoid thrown in), a man might do the 

 trip on £80 in addition to his tackle, which inevitably represents another 

 £20, but a more reasonable allowance of £150 should allow of first-class 



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