146 SUNSHINE AND SPORT IN 



taken in the jaws that gape in its wake. The 

 proper course is to let the fish pull line off the reel, 

 giving the tarpon scope, yet, so far as possible, 

 keeping a tight strain, and it is wonderful how 

 nimbly, even with the handicap of a hook in its 

 mouth, it is able to turn and twist and baffle the 

 shark. Patience is the only hope in such a case, 

 and by infinite manoeuvring it is sometimes possible 

 to coax both of them so close to the beach that at 

 length the shark, which has no use for guides with 

 gaffs, fears to follow and ignominiously turns tail. 



To save a large fish that has broken the tip, or 

 one that is foul-hooked and consequently able to 

 exert its full strength as no properly hooked fish 

 could ever do, presents difficulties that only the 

 inspiration of the moment can avert. There is no 

 rule for either dilemma. As already related, these 

 problems faced one member of the party simul- 

 taneously, with the further handicap of the in- 

 different light of the moon to work by, and he and 

 his guide won the game. He attributed the result 

 almost wholly to the sang froid of the guide, but his 

 own share must have been considerable. 



As a corollary of my contention that skill plays 

 only a small part in the average encounter with 

 tarpon, I may perhaps be allowed to quote from an 

 old number of that excellent American journal, 

 Forest and Stream, several ways in which, 

 according to Mr J. A. L. Waddell, an authority 

 on the sport, a tarpon can be lost. These are as 

 follow : — 



1. By failure of the hook to penetrate a soft place. 



2. By the cutting of a hole in the mouth, from which 



the hook drops out when the line is slackened. 



