250 Big Game Fishes 
tarpon in mid-air on a taut line, and began trolling 
with a line not over fifteen feet out —a seeming 
absurdity; yet my boatman assured me that along 
the jetty this was often effective, and he was a true 
prophet. The strike soon came and I responded 
at once, possibly giving the fish the benefit of a 
foot by dropping my tip before striking, then 
repeating it twice at least; in a word, attempting 
to hook the tarpon as I would a tuna on the 
instant. In every instance this was successful, 
and I did not miss hooking a fish, trolling at a 
speed of two and a half miles an hour; those lost, 
with one exception, were while I was towing them 
in after I had brought them to the boat —a dis- 
agreeable process and one that would be unneces- 
sary if a good raft was anchored in the lee of the 
jetty. When I hooked a fish with the short line, 
it went into air so near the boat that my boatman 
feared that it was coming aboard; but, fortunately, 
I was able quickly to give the reel handle a twirl 
so that the fish was in mid-air with a taut line. 
The tarpon had its mouth and gills open, and as 
nearly as I could judge it made two convulsive 
lateral swings before it fell, merely jerking a foot 
of my line from the reel, the anti-overrunning drag 
coming into play here. The fish dropped heavily, 
