Big Game at Sea 



near that the spray went splashing over us. The 

 next second I saw the tarpon over my left shoulder, 

 going through the air like a meteor, and I believe 

 in that jump it cleared nearly fifteen feet. I was 

 near the long jetty, and the next moment my tarpon 

 was crossing the channel in a series of splendid 

 bounds, like a band of silver, dashing over the green 

 and red waters until I had lost nearly six hundred 

 feet of line, then it turned, and still leaping occasion- 

 ally, came around in a great circle. 



It is well to quote some one else when one's imag- 

 ination is inclined to soar into a mental empyrean. 

 It has been my good fortune to meet Mr. F. T. Reed 

 of Oklahoma, who impressed me as a calm and 

 judicial angler, and who is one of the most skillful 

 patrons of St. Zeno to be met either in Florida, 

 Texas, or Santa Catalina all of which grounds he 

 fishes and fishes well. Under the stand of Mexican 

 Joe, I met Mr. Reed and Mr. L. G. Murphy, who 

 won the tarpon record in July, 1906, and the former 

 related the following: 



" While at Aransas Pass last summer I caught a 

 good many fish, and my opinion is that I have seen 

 at least ten feet of blue sky between the fish and 

 water while on the turn, and have had as high as nine 

 or ten good jumps from a long, lean fish. I saw a 

 hooked tarpon go on to the finished jetty at the Pass. 

 Also hooked and landed one that jumped over the 

 jetty where it was not quite completed. Think I 



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