Tarpon Fishing m Florida. 57 



When the tarpon are travellini:^ near the surface in or near 

 these passes my experience is that they always show themselves. 

 Suddenly they |)ut in an appearance. Processions of them are 

 makini^" up and down the pass in narrow strt^aks. The individuals 

 break water one after another in the same place, much as each 

 sheep of a flock will often jump exactly where the one immediately 

 in front did. So by snapping with my camera at the pkice in the 

 water where one or two fish have shown I manaj^e to hit off some 

 of their followers, A tarpon does not so often entirely leave the 

 water unless he is hooked, or rather I will say frii^htened, as they 

 jumped in Mexico when they had taken a bait that was merely 

 tied on to the line ; but they flick their tails up in the air as shown 

 in these photographs (II, III) or roll over like a porpoise. It is 

 then I suppose that they get a great deal of air into their mouths, 

 and this circumstance has given rise to the absurd theory that 

 they breathe like a sea mammal. True, we often see lines of 

 bubbles rising to the surface, and we know well that they come 

 from the tarpon passing underneath ; but 1 have often seen 

 goldfish and others emit bubbles from their mouths, and the 

 silver king is as far removed from a mammal as any other fish. 



We row to cut these proce.ssions, but the fish do not seem 

 over hungry, or our baits are far below them. Some of the 

 keener guides try fishing at different depths, in the hope of finding 

 the level at which the fish are travelling, but still this prejudice 

 against trying the surface. There is a lively rod, and within a 

 few seconds out rushes the tarpon. (IV.) Now L. is a mighty 

 fisherman, his tackle is mi'.ditv too, and within ten minutes he is 

 making for the shore with his fish in tow. I follow and take a 



