THE BOOK OF THE TARPON 



of Cape Sable, for although there are tarpon 

 along the outer keys, there are too many sharks 

 on the outlook, and it is not pleasant to have to 

 dispute for possession of one's quarry with a 

 tiger of the sea. 



March, April, and a part of May are the con- 

 ventional fishing months, when the hotels are 

 filled and prices of everything from board to 

 boatmen are at their highest, but the time to 

 catch tarpon is in June, July, and August. There 

 is good fishing in May, but then heat and 

 mosquitoes are at their worst. With June come 

 cooling showers and breezes, fewer insects, often 

 almost none, and a climate that contrasts de- 

 liciously with that of the heated term in New 

 York. 



I append a table of the results of a photo- 

 graphic tarpon trip, extending from Boca 

 Grande to Harney River during July and Au- 

 gust of a recent year. The total of 334 tarpon 

 captured would have been largely increased had 

 I not stopped fishing whenever the Camera-man's 

 plates were exhausted. The tarpon varied from 

 one and one-half pounds to a hundred times that 

 weight and in length from eighteen inches to six 



