16 THE TARPON 



trunk bends and twists as though it had not the 

 strength to push its way through the air and to 

 hold itself erect. But the royal palm shoots 

 up boldly from the earth with the grace and 

 symmetry of a marble column." 



At sunset the small white cranes and egrets 

 fly upstream to their roosts. They flit along 

 close to the surface of the river and it is amusing 

 to watch the tarpon rise at their shadows as 

 they fly by. 



There is a pond of brackish water on Pine 

 Island, Florida, which has no outlet to the sea 

 and contains many quite small tarpon. The 

 spawn must have been dropped by birds or 

 carried to the pond on the backs of alligators. 

 Owing to the poor food these fish do not increase 

 in size. 



I do not take any interest in fishing for tarpon 

 with so-called light tackle. I believe a 15-thread 

 line is quite light enough and that the "punish- 

 ment should fit the crime." In other words the 

 charm of heavy fishing is being "up against" a 

 big fish and landing him as quickly and as 

 humanely as possible. The chief pleasure is 

 the give and take between man and fish. 



The theory that fish are cold-blooded creatures 

 and therefore do not suffer is all very well as a 



