148 SUNSHINE AND SPORT IN 



break either hook or snell if both were as they 

 should be. 



No. 6 may be, generally is, perhaps, the fault of 

 the fisherman, though some of the sharks are of 

 immense weight and strength and apt to smash the 

 rod by a sudden lurch, against which, without risk- 

 ing the equally fatal trouble of the reel overrunning, 

 it is very difficult to guard. It is the tip which 

 goes as a rule, but I saw one rod go in the butt 

 just as the fisherman got the tarpon, a fish of 

 120 Ibs., to the beach. Fortunately, the fish was 

 exhausted, else its loss would have been certain. 



No. 40. The line should, of course, be carefully 

 dried after each day's fishing. This is, or should 

 be, an unfailing rule with all lines used in salt water. 

 To let them dry gradually on the barrel of the reel 

 causes them to rot very rapidly. This is part of the 

 guide's work, and he should also test the line every 

 evening to see if it needs changing ends or replacing 

 with a new one. 



4*5 and c. I cannot see how either could happen 

 with one of Vom Hofe's newest improved reels. 



^d. This is simply a case of bad fishing, particu- 

 larly of erroneous judgment of just how much strain 

 the line can be expected to stand. 



Nos. 7 and 8 have been dealt with earlier. 



Reference has more than once been made to the 

 startling experience of the fisherman when a tarpon 

 hooked by someone else jumps close to his boat. 

 Though this may seem to add the requisite spice of 

 danger to this alluring sport, accidents are as a 

 matter of fact very rare. Fishing once on the east 

 coast of Florida, Mr Vom Hofe did, it is true, drop 



