88 SUNSHINE AND SPORT IN 



man played a salmon all night long, only to lose it 

 in the end. A minute's fight for every pound of 

 the salmon's weight is on some waters considered 

 happy despatch, though everything depends on the 

 conditions under which the fish has to be landed. 

 The diplomacy used towards the tarpon is rather 

 what some folks call the " new " diplomacy, that is 

 to say less delicacy and more elbow-work, otherwise 

 less give and more take. I have seen a tarpon 

 exceeding a hundred and fifty pounds on the beach 

 within five-and-twenty minutes of striking, and have 

 myself landed two of one hundred and eight pounds 

 apiece within the hour. This result is due to the 

 tackle employed. I shall have occasion to explain 

 this more fully. 



The attractions of tarpon-fishing are many. 

 First and foremost, perhaps, we may place the 

 great length and weight of the fish. Those whose 

 sport has hitherto been with little moorland trout 

 at home can hardly conceive what it means to have 

 a stand-up fight, however brief, with a fish longer 

 and heavier than the fisherman. The best tarpon 

 beats the best man in both weight and measure : 

 seven feet, and between two and three hundred 

 pounds, a veritable Daniel Lambert of the under- 

 world. To most other sea-fish taken with rod and 

 line, the tarpon is as elephants to snipe, and the 

 sea-angler likes his big game as well as the shikari. 

 Perhaps, be it admitted, there is more art in shoot- 

 ing the snipe ; there is assuredly more in catching 

 the trout. In successful tarpon-fishing, luck and 

 brute force play, if the truth must be told, the para- 

 mount part. The luck consists in getting strikes 

 from tarpon and not getting them from vermin such 



