TARPON FISHING IN THE PASS 



fish may jump times and again, which will make its capture 

 all the easier, but the line should be kept taut, even when the 

 fish is in the air, because its mouth is so hard that, with any 

 slack line, it will throw out the hook four times out of five, so 

 that this is not a case for lowering the point of the rod as 

 is done with a jumping salmon The best proof of the need 

 for a taut line is found in the fact that the hook generally 

 drops out of the tarpon's mouth the moment the fish is gaffed. 



The Pass of Boca Grande forms the main entrance to 

 Charlotte Harbour. Through it come and go the steamers 

 and four-masted sailing ships which carry the phosphates of 

 Florida all over the world. The pass separates the islands of 

 Gasparilla and Cayo Costa, islands fringed with a hard white 

 beach of pounded shells and clothed in a stunted semi-tropical 

 vegetation. With the arrival of May, they provide an un- 

 limited supply of sand-flies and mosquitoes. The wind usually 

 blows hard up or down the Pass, a condition which, while 

 mitigating the evil of these insects, also nearly rolls the masts 

 out of any little yacht at anchor. Boca Grande long held a 

 bad reputation, not only for its strong tides and fierce gales, 

 but also on account of the sharks which always infested its 

 waters and caused sportsmen to doubt whether it would be 

 possible to land a tarpon without having it seized by them. 

 Gradually, however, it superseded the older fishing ground in 

 Captiva Pass, and has since been the rendezvous of tarpon fisher- 

 men. Tarpon, like most fish, have their days, and even their 

 hours, and when the moment arrives it is essential to have 

 everything in readiness. There are deceptive times when the 



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