The Tarpon 263 
will become impaled in the throat. I may be 
hypercritical, but I would rather lose a fish than 
play it with my hook embedded deep in its throat. 
If the hook strikes an impenetrable portion of the 
jaw, it will, especially if two or three strikes are 
made, slide along and find a soft place in the angle 
of the jaw; at least I have rarely failed to hook 
my fish when trolling, by striking at once; and 
with apologies to other and better anglers, I com- 
mend the quick strike, and by strike I mean the 
retort courteous to the “bite” of the tarpon. It 
must not bea jerk but a powerful backward sway, 
the thumb pressing hard upon the leather brake. 
The fish will at once jerk away; but the angler 
can repeat the strike from one to three times, 
thus “setting” the hook in its jaw. The fish 
struggles violently, and the angler holds the rod 
up as firmly as possible, “giving the butt,” then 
slipping it into the leather socket. At this pre- 
cise moment the well-regulated tarpon should go 
into the air from three to twelve, or more, feet 
—a bewildering, dazzling vision, the silver king 
of vaulters, and fight and struggle 
“Till floating broad upon his breathless side, 
And to his fate abandon’d, to the shore 
You gayly drag your unresisting prize.” 
