Tarpon Fishino- in Florida. 45 



thirty ply line is not so thick or so heavy as an averacre salmon 

 line ; it gives a greater sense of security, saves many hooks, and 

 lasts longer. 



I do not propose to weary the reader with a detailed account 

 of ten days' fishing, but I shall endeavour to give some idea of the 

 life, at the same time noticing any points or incidents which might 

 be of interest to those who study the sea and its inhabitants. 



Time and tide wait for no man, and for the fishing in these 

 passes off the coast oi^ Florida, it is necessary to accurately time 

 the tide. Our houseboat was at least four miles from the Boca 

 Grande Pass, and it was extremely difficult from that distance to 

 tell the exact state of the tide there, as so much depends on the 

 strength and direction of the wind. During the spring tides it is 

 only possible to fish in these channels from one and a-half hours 

 before to one and a-half hours after slack water, for, besides the 

 impossibility of rowing against the stream or of sinking the bait 

 outside these hours, the tarpon seem to travel up and down the 

 pass about slack water and then to amuse themselves among the 

 islands or in the crulf till the next tide. Owinrr to our distance 

 we often arrived an hour too late or too early, and consequently 

 found our position extremely inconvenient. The authorities told 

 us that the boat had been moved from its position close to the 

 pass, owing to the strength of the currents ami th(- numbers of 

 the mosquitoes near the shore. But as a large sum was demanded 

 for the use of the motor launch, which we had to employ two or 

 three times a day to tow us to the fishinij; <rrounds. we thought the 

 currents and the mosquitoes might not be so very formidable 

 after all. 



