THE TARPON 13 



rivers that drain these swamps run clear. It is 

 in these rivers that the most fish are to be 

 found. 



The Rio Negro and Jatibonico drain over 

 one hundred square miles of swamp, and in 

 these rivers the tarpon abound. 



The Damuji River is also a river of fairly 

 clear water, and at times there is good fishing 

 there. 



These rivers are all on the south coast of Cuba. 

 On the north coast a small river with a long 

 name, the Zaraguanacan, is often full of tarpon. 



The fish do not seem to go above the tide. 

 The limit of the mangroves, which do not grow 

 along fresh water, seems to be the limit of the 

 tarpon from what I have seen, yet Mr. Zane 

 Grey says he found tarpon one hundred miles 

 up the Panuco River in Mexico. 



The fish do not run as large as at some places 

 in Florida, although I have taken fish of 130 

 pounds in weight and have lost heavier ones. 

 The headwaters of the rivers abound in small 

 fish. I have at times seen hundreds of tarpon 

 that would weigh from 10 to 15 pounds and have 

 taken them four inches long. 



On one occasion I found a narrow stretch of 

 the Jatibonico River simply alive with 15 -pound 



