Tarpon Fishing m FloriJa. 69 



wise sucker lea\'es oiu; of them iis he comes lo ihe siiriace. luil 

 here are the tarpon merrily breaking' water lOO \arcls to our lelt. 

 Off wc all L^o, with the exception of the lacl\- who is still leading 

 a strenuous life with her jew fish. My nearest neighbour has one 

 and it is not lono- before I have the (XX, XXI) satisfaction 

 of seeins: an undoubted silver kino- in the air on the end ot mv 

 line, (XXII) but I have tried a dani^erous experiment in bringing 

 out on these waters the small rod 1 used at Tampico. Not that 

 the fish are on an averas^e larger or more li\elv than those ol the 

 Panuco river, because they are neither, but the tides run stronger 

 and out; does not want to have to follow a tarpon out into the 

 open sea. This one is not much of a high jumper, but obviously 

 a very fine long distance runner (XXIII). He pays my rod 

 but scant respect, (XXI \', XXIVA)and within five minutes he 

 has out nearlv the whole of m\ 200 yards of line. It is almost 

 uncannv to think th.it 1 ha\e anv connection with that fish 

 jumping about there, over all that expanse of water. I he lorce 

 necessary to drag 200 yards of tarpon line at any velocity through 

 the water is very great ; but the brute is not stopping, and the 

 line breaks ; fortunately near where the strain is greatest, so I do 

 not lose much of it. The other boats too are well employed. 

 The lady is approaching the shore and seems to have got the 

 upper hand of her quarry, when a cry is raised for the assistance 

 of my Mauser. 1 am too far. however, and the jew fish is beached 

 with only a small piece lacking from his tail. The shark followed 

 him ever since he was raised to the surface, but apparently 

 thought such an ugly brute should be sampled before being eaten, 

 or more probably he was considerably smaller than the jew 



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