THE FIRST TARPON 



the air. Fishing with a rod in Florida was a 

 sport of the winter months, and it is not until 

 March that tarpon begin to frequent the waters 

 of the coast. To the tourist the strike of a tar- 

 pon was a rare event, and fishing for the 

 creatures became exciting and popular long 

 before one had been landed on rod and 

 reel. It was a new game, and the methods 

 and machinery of ordinary fishing were in- 

 adequate for this bucking bronco of the sea. 



The tarpon was accustomed to taking his food 

 on the fly, and was suspicious of dead bait. Even 

 after he had taken it into his mouth, the touch 

 of a hook, or the motion of a line threw him into 

 a paroxysm of fear and the bait was cast vio- 

 lently from him. There was slight hold for a 

 hook in his bony mouth, and his hard jaws soon 

 frayed the fisherman's line, while too often a 

 chain or wire frightened the fish before he had 

 swallowed the bait. No reel had been made 

 which could hold the line required to follow a 

 fish whose first dash carried him a rifle shot 

 away. The rod had not been built that was 

 capable of putting the strain on the line re- 

 quired to tire a fish that weighed as much as the 



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