SEA FISHING 



about eight inches long. Trolling in this fashion may likewise be prac- 

 tised round the Bogue Islands, at Montego Bay, Jamaica and round the 

 rocks of the Trinidad Bocas, where the tarpon is known as the grand- 

 icaille. The tackle used at the latter station is somewhat different, in- 

 cluding as it does fifty or sixty feet of brass wire above the hook, and the 

 bait is a small fish, locally known as " sardine," which is found in shoals 

 round the Bocas throughout the summer months. 



II. STILL FISHING 



What the Americans call " still -fishing *' we call " gorge-fishing,*' and 

 neither name is very sweet, though the American name suggests the rest- 

 ful angler rather than the victim of its own greed. Briefly, as in pike- 

 fishing, which is described elsewhere in these pages, the principle of this 

 method is to give the fish time to swallow the hook before striking, so 

 that, with the steel deep in its vitals, it has little or no chance of throwing 

 it out at once, as repeatedly happens when trolling. Were the catching 

 of fish all of fishing, much might be said for a mode of angling that makes 

 the capture of nearly every fish hooked a moral certainty. Yet, though 

 a bird in the hand may be worth two in the bush to the fowler who earns 

 his living in this way, the amateur fisherman prefers a spice of uncer- 

 tainty and would rather catch his tarpon in a way more favourable to 

 the fish. Trolling with moderately light tackle gives the tarpon all the 

 chance it needs, and the sportsman who beats it against such odds is 

 fairly entitled to the victory. It is not to be denied that some who have 

 killed tarpon in Florida by both these methods award the palm to river 

 fishing with the gorge bait, but this claim has been based on the greater 

 sport involved in gaffing each fish alongside the boat in deep water, where 

 it can fight to a finish, instead of (as in the Pass) in shallow water close to 

 the beach, where it is incalculably handicapped in its final struggle. At 

 Tampico, therefore, where the tarpon is both caught by trolling and gaffed in 

 deep water, still-fishing would lack even these admirers. As a matter of 

 fact, I have perhaps overstated the certainty of killing most tarpon caught 

 by still-fishing, for one case was brought to my notice in which only two 

 were saved out of eleven hooked. The method is simpler even than trolling. 

 The bait, a whole mullet, is allowed to lie on the bottom, and the fisherman 

 lays his rod down in the boat, with a little slack line pulled off the reel. 

 He may then, if so minded, read a book, but always with one eye on the 

 ss 313 



