SEA FISHING 



of these, arising from the failure of faulty tackle, are of secondary interest. 

 Two are attributable to bad fishing, either by a too severe and sudden 

 application of the bralces on the reel, or by slacking the line and letting 

 the hook fall out of the tarpon's mouth. The eighth case deals with faulty 

 gaffing by the guide, a frequent cause of trouble when I was in Florida. 

 Perhaps the men have improved since those days. Yet, with lighter tackle in 

 use, and the consequently slighter control exercised by the fisherman, 

 gaffing must be a more difficult business than before. Let us hope that 

 the fisherman of the future may dispense with the gaflf altogether, taking 

 a harpoon solely for use against sharks. It is a poor business slaughtering 

 tarpon. Disgust with it makes a man recall the feelings of the Duke of 

 Wellington after his victory at Waterloo, when he wrote to Lady Shelley 

 that a battle gained was, next to one lost, the greatest misery in life. 



The many-sided charm of tarpon-fishing arises, no doubt, from the 

 great size, weight and fighting powers of these fish. Their habit, more- 

 over, of jumping out of the water more than once when hooked, like trout, 

 makes their capture quite different from that of the " leaping " tima, 

 which rarely leaps at all when hooked, whatever it may do at other times, 

 but goes off at a tremendous pace, never showing itself again until beaten. 

 Critics of sport, whose logic often lags behind their zeal, often blame 

 us fishermen for liking the big fish. Yet the taste can hardly be condemned 

 when it is remembered that the big fish make the best fight of it and 

 have the best chance of going free. 



The social element of sport in the Pass is another pleasure. As a rule, the 

 angler is a lotiely being, infinitely preferring to fish in his own company 

 and tolerating at most that of a gillie. This aversion to other society 

 is not, as uncharitable folk allege, due to the hope of surreptitiously 

 fishing with worm or minnow on water sacred to fly, but arises from the 

 knowledge born of long experience that river -fishing is a business in 

 which, particularly in fly-fishing, too many cooks spoil the broth. The sea, 

 however, has room for all. On favourite whiting grounds at home, just 

 as in the mackerel fishing at Madeira, it is no uncommon sight to see 

 fifty small boats anchored in such close proximity that it would be almost 

 possible to step from each to its neighbour, yet all catching fish. Even so, 

 in the Pass on a sunny afternoon, a dozen boats may be found drifting 

 side by side, the fiotilla from Useppa being augmented by gigs and dinghies 

 from the yachts anchored above the lighthouse. That such publicity occa- 

 sionally involves "playing to the gallery " is undeniable, but the sport 



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