Tarpon Fishing- in Mexico. 29 



tarpon, and this one is soon gaffed. But far the hardest part of 

 the work remains to be done. The handle of the gaff is at least 

 an inch and a-half thick, but breaks at once against the side of the 

 boat, and we have a hard struggle to get the fish on board with 

 the lower end. An ugly, fat, dark-coloured, slimy brute, and 

 weighing 150 lbs. It is easy enough to gaff these sea perch, as 

 they live on the bottom in deep water, and when brought to the 

 surface they are rendered helpless by the alteration in the 

 pressure : the air in their air bladder expands and they cannot 

 descend even when released without a considerable effort. 



Playing a jew fish is very exhausting, takes a very long time, 

 and is too much like playing a piece of the bottom for the writer, 

 and I find it more profitable to cut loose all but the smallest. 

 One is never troubled with them when fishing near the surface, as 

 one does at Tampico, though it is quite possible to get hung up in 

 one if the bait sinks while the boat is turning. Curiously enough 

 the flesh of the jew fish is considered quite good by the natives, 

 and tastes I believe not very unlike beef. This one was caught 

 with a small dead fish which had been allowed to lie on the 

 bottom. They have been killed in this river up to 5CXD or 

 600 lbs., so this one is comparatively quite a baby. My last 

 tarpon has been floundering about and shaking the blood from his 

 gills at intervals on the top of the water a few yards from the 

 shore, and seems very bad indeed. Was it wisdom or impotence 

 that caused him to remain in the shallow water ? I fear the latter 

 as I take mv leave of the Panuco river. 



