SOME RARE FISH 



learning. No one ever caught bonefish without days 

 and days of learning. Then there were incidents 

 calculated to disturb the peace of a contemplative 

 angler like myself. 



One man with heavy tackle yanked some bone- 

 fish out of the tide right in front of my cabin, quite 

 as I used to haul out suckers. Other men tried it 

 for days without success, though it appeared bone- 

 fish were passing every tide. Then there was a 

 loquacious boatman named Jimmy, who, when he 

 had spare time, was always fishing for bonefish. 

 He would tell the most remarkable tales about these 

 fish. So finally I drifted to that fatal pass where I 

 decided I wanted to catch bonefish. I imagined it 

 would be easy for me. So did Captain Sam. Alas! 

 the vanity of man! 



Forthwith Captain Sam and I started out to 

 catch soldier-crabs for bait. The directions we got 

 from conch fishermen and others led us to assume 

 that it would be an easy matter to find crabs. It 

 was not! We had to go poking round mangrove 

 roots until we learned how to catch the soldiers. 

 If this had not been fun for me it would have been 

 hard work. But ever since I was a little tad I have 

 loved to chase things in the water. And upon this 

 occasion it was with great satisfaction that I caught 

 more bait than Captain Sam. Sam is something of a 

 naturalist and he was always spending time over a 

 curious bug or shell or object he found. Eventually 

 we collected a bucketful of soldier-crabs. 



Next day, about the last of the ebb-tide, we tied 

 a skiff astern and went up the Key to a cove 

 where there were .wide flats. While working our 

 10 I'^s 



