SEA FISHING 

 place, however, tarpon fishing is royal sport of its kind, and no one should 

 expect to kill such an adversary on cheap tackle. In the second place, the 

 rod and reel should be little the worse for their work, and one at least 

 of the lines should be unused at the end of the fortnight, and for all these, 

 with the gaff and boat-rest, there should be little difficulty in finding 

 a purchaser at half their original cost. Those who go after tarpon for 

 the first time will doubtless prefer, as I did, to take everything spick and 

 span, but since that experience I would just as soon go out again with a 

 properly tested second-hand outfit. 



This tackle must now be described in some detail, as well as the bait 

 used in different localities, after which some account will be given of the 

 two styles of tarpon fishing most in vogue, with some other considerations 

 of interest or importance to the fisherman. 



Strength is the first essential of tarpon tackle. How could it be otherwise, 

 seeing that it has to control a fish that may exceed a length of eighty 

 inches and a weight of two hundred pounds, a fish, moreover, that leaps 

 with the agility of a trout and dives and turns as swiftly as a mackerel, 

 tearing line off the reel at the pace of a torpedo and putting a greater strain 

 on every foot of the line and every bolt of the reel than, with possibly two 

 exceptions, any other fish caught in this manner ? Yet, though tarpon tackle 

 should be capable of doing what is required of it, there is no need to use 

 material that is practically unbreakable, and it is more than gratifying 

 to find that my dislike of the heavy tackle in use six or seven years ago, for 

 my criticisms of which miany prominent American sportsmen blamed me 

 at the time, has since been shared by many on the other side, and that an 

 American has, in fact, popularized light tackle for these fish, the very 

 reform for which I pleaded on my return from Florida. Truly, time brings 

 its revenges to those who can wait ! Those, on the other hand, whose time is 

 limited, and who may never enjoy an opportunity of returning to the fray, 

 may entertain a legitimate preference for the old-fashioned tackle, which, 

 particularly in hands unaccustomed to such sport, is more likely to ensure 

 catching the fish. In describing this heavy gear, it is merely necessary to 

 add that the lighter tackle, introduced from Gatalina, is just a more deli- 

 cate edition, involving the same mechanical principles on a slighter scale. 



The only peculiarity about the two-jointed rod in English eyes will be 



the shortness of the butt and the greater length of the " tip," a fashion with 



American rods generally. I am not indeed sure that the combination does 



not give better play and balance than the two equal joints of our own rods, 



RR 305 



