Big Game at Sea 



Aransas Pass railroad is taken to Rockport. A daily 

 mail boat now runs from here fifteen miles down and 

 seven out to Tarpon. A third locality for big game 

 fish is the Southern California islands, reached via 

 Los Angeles. 



We may assume that the game is tarpon and the 

 objective is Captiva, or some pass on the west coast 

 of Florida. The boat, an ordinary yawl, has a chair 

 seat rigged astern, on the outer edge of which, be- 

 tween the angler's legs, is a leather socket fastened 

 to the seat to receive the butt of the rod a solace 

 for many a weary angler. A small mullet, or a slice 

 of mullet, is used for bait, and the boatman rows or 

 anchors according to the conditions. 



Many anglers use a leather or wired line snood 

 or leader, so that sharks, which are often annoy- 

 ing, can readily take the hook and not weary the 

 fisherman. 



All being ready, the angler sees that his reel is 

 lashed to the rod, overreels, pays out forty or fifty 

 feet of line, and wets his leather drag-brake, so that 

 the first rush will not burn off the line. This is not 

 so important as in tuna fishing. Not a tuna was 

 taken, though scores were hooked, until some one 

 thought of it; prior to this it was supposed that the 

 lines were defective, but the trouble was that the 

 intense friction burned the slender line, or a thread, 

 and the line broke. Whenever the complaint is made 

 of very frequent breaks in standard lines, anglers will 



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