A BOOK OF FISHING STORIES 



unfailing regularity, hurled back in the disappointed sports- 

 man's face at the first jump of the fish. The hook still used 

 in the passes was patented by Mr. Van Vleck, himself an 

 enthusiastic tarpon fisherman, and consists of a finely tempered 

 hook attached to four inches of fine chain, which gives with 

 the tarpon's desperate struggles, and then to a cast of thin 

 piano wire ending in a swivel. Still more recently, Mr. 

 Mitchell Henry has invented a double-barbed hook which 

 seems to take even firmer hold of the fish without making 

 a bigger hole than those of ordinary pattern. The orthodox 

 tarpon hooks varied, in my experience, in strength and temper 

 much more than they ought to. Now and again, one came 

 across a super-hook, such as one with which I landed eight 

 tarpon in succession, not to mention other fish ; but it was an 

 exception to the general run of them. 



Pass-fishing is as superior to still-fishing as spinning for pike 

 to gorge-baiting. At Captiva, the original home of this 

 method, the boats were usually moored, and as soon as a fish 

 was struck, a buoy was thrown overboard, and the occupants 

 of the other boats took in their lines and helped the favoured 

 fisherman with encouragement and criticism. At Boca Grande, 

 however, which has of late years been the more popular fishing 

 ground, the method is conducted after the fashion of harling, 

 and the variety and exercise of rowing up and down the pass 

 are certainly preferable. As soon as a bite was felt, I found it 

 best to strike hard and often, in fact to go on striking until the 

 tarpon made its first jump, after which, right to the finish, as 

 tight a strain must be kept on it as circumstances permit. The 



ISO 



