THE FINEST SPORT IN THE WORLD 



the tarpon's class. Thus the horse mackerel, de- 

 spite his being the fad of the California coast, 

 will have to practice aviation before his picture 

 can be placed in a Piscatorial Hall of Fame. As 

 for that other favorite, the jewfish, or black 

 sea bass, it is not only as ugly as sin, but 

 would be distanced in a race with a loggerhead 

 turtle. 



The tarpon meets every demand the sport of 

 fishing can make. He fits the light fly-rod as no 

 trout ever dreamed of doing and leaps high out 

 of the water a hundred times for every once that 

 a brook trout clears the surface. When grown 

 to the size of the average man he is no less ac- 

 tive, although he will snap a line of thirty threads 

 and break a hickory hoe handle, as you or I 

 would break a reed. 



Played gently from a smooth-running reel 

 with six hundred feet of line, the labor of his 

 capture is not beyond the strength of a robust 

 child. Or the great fish can be fought furiously 

 until he leaps wildly, around, over, and into the 

 fisherman's boat. I have never been harmed by 

 a tarpon, but they have landed on my head, car- 

 omed on my shoulders, swamped my canoe, and 



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