TARPON FISHING IN THE PASS 



bony structure of the tarpon's mouth ; but unless tarpon are 

 seriously on the feed, still-fishing cannot claim to be a very 

 exhilarating pastime. The bait, half a mullet, is allowed to 

 lie on the bottom of the river or lagoon, and the angler then 

 exercises all the patience he has at his command. When, at 

 length a tarpon takes the bait, it is allowed to run out line, 

 either off the freely working reel, or ready coiled in the bottom 

 of the boat, till he has had time to swallow hook and all. 

 Then the fisherman picks up his rod, puts the brakes on the 

 reel, raises the point, tightens the line, and strikes home. 

 Thus, when the fish is struck after such interval, the hook 

 enters its gullet and takes hold, and any one with the merest 

 knowledge of playing a fish has the odds largely on his side. 

 The worst of this still-fishing is that it entails long waits, vain 

 hopes roused by sharks, catfish, and other undesirables, and 

 constant trouble from crabs, which often steal the bait and 

 leave the angler sitting, all unconscious of his loss, and in a 

 state of repressed excitement, with a bare hook at the other 

 end of his line. The rod and reel are the same as for pass- 

 fishing, but the hook is larger, and is not attached to piano 

 wire, but to a snood of raw hide, which has the advantage of 

 being easily bitten through by sharks, sometimes so plentiful 

 in these smooth inland waters that, if each had to be played 

 to a finish, they would easily waste a whole day without giving 

 the tarpon a chance. 



Pass-fishing is a more recent innovation, not, in fact, much 

 more than fifteen years old. It was, as has been said, im- 

 practicable with the old style of hook, which was, with 



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