THETARPON 47 



a full account of it from a son of Mr. Jones, who 

 was also with him and witnessed the capture of 

 this immense fish with striped bass rod and tackle 

 and trolling spoon for bait. Mr. Jones was two 

 hours in securing the fish. Honor to whom honor 

 is due. Mr. Wood has glory enough in being the 

 champion tarpon slayer of 1885, and he has an 

 enviable record. He was the first to make known 

 through the sporting press how the thing could be 

 done." 



Dr. Holder in another of his articles stated that Mr. 

 Jones took the first tarpon with rod and line and that 

 it weighed about one hundred and thirty pounds. He 

 says it took over two hours to land it and that Mr. 

 John Weier of New Smyrna was the lucky guide. 



Mr. W. H. Gregg in his " Where, When and How to 

 Catch Fish on the East Coast of Florida, " published 

 in 1902, gives credit to Mr. Jones and locates the cap- 

 ture at the same place. But he says the capture oc- 

 curred in the winter of 1884, and that Captain John 

 Gardner was the guide. He says this tarpon was 

 taken on a large Buel spoon ; that its length was 7 feet 

 4 inches, and that it weighed 172% pounds. It will be 

 observed that these accounts differ in essential par- 

 ticulars and the subject merits further investigation. 

 It may well be that some native fisherman caught a 

 tarpon on rod and reel long before either of these 

 gentlemen. 



Soon after Mr. Wood's exploit became known 

 anglers turned their attention to the tarpon and at- 

 tempted its capture with various kinds of tackle. Mr. 



