THE SILVEE K I I*r G 



about taking a one hundred and fifty-pound tarpon into a one 

 hundred and twenty-five-pound skiff, which he exhibited in 

 strong language. On this occasion I explained to Mateo that 

 I had two objects in fishing at Tarpon and crossing the hottest 

 part of the United States for three thousand miles. One was to 

 demonstrate that I could take a tarpon with a ten- or twelve-foot 

 rod, which I had had made for the purpose, and which weighed 

 without the butt about ten ounces. Another was to photograph 

 my tarpon in the air. 



To accomplish the latter I had several private rehearsals with 

 Mateo. I explained that I would hold my kodak between my 

 knees as I fished, facing the stern, and when the tarpon had 

 climbed into the empyrean to a sufficient altitude, I would 

 thrust the butt of my rod backward to him under my left arm (as 

 he was sitting directly behind me), then seize the camera and snap 

 the fish. This appeared on the surface to be a very simple proceed- 

 ing, and everything in order, we pulled down the narrow pass 

 along the stone jetty. 



The tarpon angling in Texas or the west side of the Gulf of 

 Mexico, is all done in the passes. The coast is low and has, 

 extending alongshore for many miles, an inland sea or lake or 

 river, formed by an offshore narrow island of sand, from one to 

 twenty feet in height. In some instances these islands are very 

 large, and many miles in length ; again they are very low, and 

 are flooded in gales. The inland sea or river is from three to 

 five miles wide, and to reach Tarpon and the Tarpon Club one 

 sails down this river from the little town of Eockport ten or 

 fifteen nules. This inland sea finds its way to the Gulf at ebb 

 tide through certain narrow openings, and the one I was fishing 

 is known as Aransas Pass, the little town of Tarpon or Port 

 Aransas being directly on it. The prevailing wind in summer 

 appears to be from the southeast or directly into the pass, and 

 when the tide is running out, it works up a heavy roll, but is not 

 dangerous ; in fact it adds to the exhilaration when one is 

 playing a tarpon in the air. 



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