260 SPORT AND TRAVEL PAPERS 



constantly fed with dead and dying fish thrown back into the 

 sea, and with others which they take off the hooks of the 

 prematurely jubilant fisherman, who, when nearing the shore, 

 thinks his tarpon as good as landed. Whatever the real 

 reason, the fact that it was a bad season remains, nor did it 

 improve in any way after April as it always had done before. 



But for all that it was very charming this life on the sea, 

 in glorious air and lovely sunshine, close to the palmetto-covered 

 islands framed in silvery sand, and in company with so many 

 people all equally keen about the same sport. One or more 

 of them was sure to be playing some fish ; if not a tarpon, 

 perhaps a shark, a jewfish, one of the rays, a channel bass or 

 grouper, red or brown the latter indeed proving a nuisance by 

 constantly taking off the bait or hooking themselves ; or a 

 kingfish, the most sporting of all, each one as it touched the 

 hook sending that well-known electric thrill through the 

 fisherman, to be followed by a moment of intense uncertainty as 

 to what kind of fish had taken a fancy to the bait, or whether it 

 was or was [not securely on the hook. Tarpon travel in schools, 

 and when one boat has a " strike," others near are likely to be 

 honoured also ; guides row to a strike of tarpon as miners rush 

 to a strike of gold. 



A good guide in a good boat and the very best tackle are 

 necessities, as also fresh bait cut from the silvery belly of a grey 

 mullet, and kept by sinkers as near the bottom as possible, 

 for there the tarpon feed on crabs and small fish. The " strike " 

 of a tarpon varies in kind, and depends on whether he takes 

 the bait from below or from above. When the former, the pull 

 is very light and ceases at once ; you draw up the line in the 

 belief that you have missed another grouper, then suddenly, 

 when least expected, the rod is almost jerked out of your hand, 

 the reel rings and away shoots your tarpon. If the bait be 

 taken from above, a heavy jerk and continued heavy pull 

 necessitate a very firm hold on the rod and brake of reel ; in 

 both cases the line rushes out, however much you try to check 

 it, cutting the water further and further away, until at last 

 out comes the glorious silver fish, jumping high and straight 

 out of the water, and shaking his head frantically like a bulldog 

 in his effort to get rid of the hook. His appearance above water 

 is received with a joyous shout by your boatman, for only then are 



