266 Big Game Fishes 
tween the gills and the tip of the jaw, and the 
fish’s head held partly out of water against 
the boat, while it struggles. Some anglers kill the 
game with a revolver, or stun it with a club. It 
is a dangerous experiment to take a living tarpon 
into a light boat, as a lusty fish will wreck a skiff, 
and has been known to throw all hands over- 
board. Assuming that it is in condition to take 
aboard, the boatman steps on the rail, forcing it 
to the water’s edge, and slides the fish in upon 
the canvas which should cover the bottom of 
his part of the boat and which, if the tarpon still 
struggles, can be thrown over it. If the fish is 
firmly hooked, the boatman now cuts the line, 
or unfastens it, and baits a new hook; hence no 
time is lost if fish are biting. 
I have seen tarpon fishing described as requir- 
ing no skill, but no more laughable picture can 
be seen upon the high seas, no more helpless 
individual, than the man utterly unfamiliar with 
rod and reel trying to land a big game fish; 
he does not realize it, but the fish is having all 
the sport. I once came upon a Frenchman, off 
the bay of Avalon, who hailed me; and when we 
went alongside he was clinging desperately to a 
very pliable impossible bamboo rod, his back 
