TALES OF FISHES 



we decided to stay inside. There is a big flat there 

 cut up by channels, and it is said to be a fine ground 

 for bonefish. The tide was right and the water 

 was clear, but even in the lee of the bank the wind 

 blew pretty hard. We anchored in about three feet 

 of water and began to fish. 



After a while we moved. The water was about 

 a foot deep, and the bottom clean white marl, with 

 little patches of vegetation. Crabs and crab-holes 

 were numerous. I saw a small shark and a couple 

 of rays. When we got to the middle of a big flat 

 I saw the big, white, glistening tails of bonefish 

 sticking out of the water. We dropped anchor and, 

 much excited, were about to make casts, when R. C. 

 lost his hat. He swore. We had to pull up anchor 

 and go get the hat. Unfortunately this scared 

 the fish. Also it presaged a rather hard-luck after- 

 noon. In fishing, as in many other things, if the 

 beginning is tragedy all will be tragedy, growing 

 worse all the time. We moved around up above 

 where I had seen these bonefish, and there we 

 dropped anchor. No sooner had we gotten our baits 

 overboard than we began to see bonefish tails off 

 at quite some distance. The thing to do, of coiu'se, 

 was to sit right there and be patient, but this was 

 almost impossible for us. We moved again and 

 again, but we did not get any nearer to the fish. 

 Finally I determined that we would stick in one 

 place. This we did, and the bonefish began to come 

 around. When they would swim close to the boat 

 and see us they would give a tremendous siu-ge and 

 disappear, as if by magic. But they always left a 

 muddy place in the water. The speed of these fish 



120 



