272 Big Game Fishes 
six hours caught four tarpons. In the Forest 
and Stream of July 26, 1902, Mr. Waddell gives 
in detail much interesting data relating to the 
fishing here, and states that the Tampico tarpons 
“strike more voraciously than do those at Aran- 
sas, and I believe they fight harder and jump 
higher. One that I had on this last trip jumped 
fully twelve feet.” 
From this it appears that Tampico is a profitable 
field for the wandering angler during the winter 
season in the United States, and as thirteen of 
Mr. Waddell’s fish averaged six feet in length, 
they do not lack in this important particular. 
Aside from good sport at Tampico the angler will 
find attractive surroundings. Tampico is a typical 
Mexican city of twenty-five thousand inhabitants. 
It stands on a bluff, overlooking the Panuco River, 
at which point this fine stream is fifteen hundred 
yards wide. The river enters the Gulf at Point 
La Barra, about five miles from Tampico, where 
there are fine jetties. The fish are found at their 
best from the mouth of the river to the city and 
where the Tamesi flows into the Panuco. The 
fishing-grounds are protected from the ocean here, 
and ideal conditions found. The winter climate 
of Tampico is described as being “all that could 
