266 Big Game Fisbes 



tween the gills and the tip of the jaw, and the 

 fish's head held partly out of water against 

 the boat, while it struggles. Some anglers kill the 

 game with a revolver, or stun it with a club. It 

 is a dangerous experiment to take a living tarpon 

 into a light boat, as a lusty fish will wreck a skiff, 

 and has been known to throw all hands over- 

 board. Assuming that it is in condition to take 

 aboard, the boatman steps on the rail, forcing it 

 to the water's edge, and slides the fish in upon 

 the canvas which should cover the bottom of 

 his part of the boat and which, if the tarpon still 

 struggles, can be thrown over it. If the fish is 

 firmly hooked, the boatman now cuts the line, 

 or unfastens it, and baits a new hook ; hence no 

 time is lost if fish are biting. 



I have seen tarpon fishing described as requir- 

 ing no skill, but no more laughable picture can 

 be seen upon the high seas, no more helpless 

 individual, than the man utterly unfamiliar with 

 rod and reel trying to land a big game fish; 

 he does not realize it, but the fish is having all 

 the sport. I once came upon a Frenchman, off 

 the bay of Avalon, who hailed me ; and when we 

 went alongside he was clinging desperately to a 

 very pliable impossible bamboo rod, his back 



