CHECKMATING A TARPON 



When the tarpon had had fun enough with me 

 in shallow water it led me back to the deeper 

 river. I nearly capsized the canoe as I got 

 aboard while playing the fish, which cavorted up 

 and down and across the stream, leaping several 

 feet in the air every minute or two for a quarter 

 of an hour before yielding. 



In two days I had a score of strikes and landed 

 half that number of tarpon after an average con- 

 test of an hour with each. The largest one was 

 four feet long and weighed therefore about 

 thirty-two pounds, but it was an exceptionally 

 active fish and wore itself out in half an hour 

 by a series of frantic leaps, one of which took it 

 over the bow of the canoe within reach of my 

 hand. 



During the two days' fishing there was seldom 

 an interval of ten minutes between the landing 

 of one tarpon and the strike of its successor. 

 On the third day the tarpon were as abundant as 

 ever and jumped all around the canoe, but not a 

 strike could I get. If Solomon had ever fished 

 for tarpon he would have added the way of a tar- 

 pon in the water to that of an eagle in the air, a 



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