234 Big Game Fishes 



The tarpon, ranked by its devotees as the great- 

 est of game fish, is perhaps the only one which is 

 utterly scorned as a food fish. I found my negro 

 oarsman poring over an old geography one day at 

 Garden Key, carefully measuring a map of Florida 

 from Loggerhead up, with a foot rule. Finally he 

 said : " Boss, disher's a mighty out-ob-de-way place. 

 Fs jes' reckonin', an' hit's jes' two hundred and 

 fifty miles from a watermelon patch." 



" Well, you have a tarpon, the finest-looking fish 

 in the world," I said, referring to the one caught. 



"Yes, sa', hit looks fine; so does hay. Fd 

 rather eat hay dan tarpon, yes, suh, I would." 



The great fighter is caught mainly for the sport 

 it affords, its relations to the angler as game 

 being similar to those of certain animals to the 

 hunter, who often risks his life to obtain the skin. 

 The tarpon season at Boca Grande, Captiva, 

 Marco, Naples, and other places, is marked every 

 year by remarkable sport, and now that railroads 

 have opened up Florida and palatial hotels are 

 found all alongshore, the .angler can reach the 

 best tarpon grounds with every comfort. At 

 these places anglers from all over the civilized 

 world congregate and try conclusions with this 

 marvellous game, and as a result, boatmen have 



