THETARPON 



" FIRST GRAND PRIZE TARPON. 

 Awarded to W. A. McLaren, Mexico City. 



Weight 232 pounds. 



Length 7 feet, 8 inches. 



Girth 47 inches. 



Where Caught Panuco River, Mexico. 



Rod Vom Hofe 7 foot. 



Reel Vom Hofe. 



Line 27 thread Linen. 



Lure Small Fish. 

 THE WORLD'S RECORD TARPON. 



How the Fish was Caught and Then Nearly 

 Deprived of Its Laurels. 



By W. A. MCLABEN. 



' ' March 27, 1911, was the date and the Panuco 

 River, Mexico, was the place. The fish, a female, 

 weighed two hundred and thirty-two pounds, and 

 measured, as it lay dead, from tip of longest tail 

 fin to end of jaw open, seven feet and eight inches, 

 with a girth of forty-seven inches. Tackle used 

 was a seven foot rod, Vom Hofe reel, two hundred 

 yards of Linen line and regulation hook and 

 leader. 



"At Tampico, the favorite fishing grounds are 

 upstream at Caracol, or along the sedge near the 

 Tamesi Bridge, or in the bayou called Pubelo 

 Viego. Not so with us. It may have been love of 

 tidewater or an unsportsmanlike desire to catch 

 something, whether or not the tarpon were biting, 

 or an unconscious presentment of trouble we 

 had always preferred to go downstream from the 



