CHAPTER XIX 
THE FLORIDA JEWFISH 
“Tn gulfs enchanted where the siren sings, 
And coral reefs lie bare.” 
Ir requires more than ordinary temerity to 
include the huge Florida jewfish among the 
game fishes, as the average individual is the type 
of all that is indifferent, a lazy, heavy “ beastie,” 
a finny Falstaff, the colossus of the nooks and 
corners of the reef. Yet several jewfishes which 
I have met have made a game struggle, and all 
afforded sport. On the coasts of Texas and 
Florida the fish is occasionally taken with rod 
and reel in true sportsmanlike fashion. 
My first experience with the jewfish was in the 
vicinity of Marquesas, on the edge of a deep blue 
channel which blazed its way through the reef 
like a rope of turquoise. We had seen several 
so-called tiger-sharks with dark bars athwart their 
tawny flanks, and Paublo, the dusky boatman, had 
aroused my curiosity in this tiger of the sea by 
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