Post ^to, \i/^ pp. Price 7s. 6d. net 

 THE 



ENGLISH ANGLER 



IN 



FLORIDA 



WITH SOME DESCRIPTIVE NOTES OF THE 

 GAME, ANIMALS, AND BIRDS 



BY 



ROWLAND WARD, F.Z.S. 



AUTHOR OF 'records OF BIG GAME,' 'SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK,' ETC. 



WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS 



" Mr. Rowland Ward, so widely known as a sporting publisher, has published a capital 

 little book of his own writing. The English Angler in Florida gives an entertaining and 

 eminently practical account of an angling trip he made to Florida last spring. Punta Gorda, on 

 the western shore of the Peninsula, may be reached in nine days from Piccadilly, and, nowjhat 

 salmon fishings command fancy prices at home, English fishermen have been turning their 

 attention to the tarpon. The tarpon is coming into notoriety, and promises to become the 

 fashion, but it is only within the last ten or fifteen years that he has been persecuted. His flesh 

 is worthless ; even the negro will not eat it, and nothing was suspected of the grand sport he 

 gives with rod and line. As he runs ordinarily from loo lbs. to 200 lbs., and is at least as 

 vigorous in proportion as the salmon, the first consideration is a first-class outfit. Mr. Ward 

 tells where it is best procured, and describes the short, stiff' rod, the reel, the line, etc., and 

 notably 'the friendly socket,' to be strapped round the waist, in which the butt of the rod is 

 inserted ; for the strain upon back and arms is tremendous when fighting a 150 lb. fish for an 

 hour or more. The tarpon is taken by gorge bait, and, unfortunately, the hook has yet to be 

 invented which might be available for successful fly-fishing. For only here and there is the 

 interior of the mouth vulnerable ; elsewhere, in Mr. Ward's words, it is impenetrable as a stone 

 wall. He went in for his expedition almost regardless of expense, but he points out how it can 

 be done as well and more economically ; and in particular he recommends chartering a sailing 

 schooner instead of a steam launch. Sharks infest the fishing-grounds, snapping off the baits ; 

 ' the slimy and filthy catfish ' swarm, and are even more troublesome ; and there is an interesting 

 chapter on other eccentric marine monsters. He heard doubtful talk of a devil's ray, said to be 

 20 feet in diameter ; there is the sawfish, which with its formidable serrated proboscis is photo- 

 graphed as about twice and a half the height of a man ; and even that monstrosity, is surpassed by 

 the sawfish of the Mexican Gulf, which has been weighed up to nearly 800 lbs." — Times. 



LONDON: ROWLAND WARD, limited 



"THE JUNGLE," 166 PICCADILLY 



7 



