THE GAME PISHES OF THE WOELD 



June. But at Aransas Pass I fished in August and found the 

 fishing grounds in the pass very comfortable and Tarpon Inn, 

 the only one, a hospitable place frequented by anglers from all 

 over the world. I had very good luck at Aransas, which is not 

 far from Gralveston, a fine locality for angling. The tarpon, 

 or silver king, makes its winter home on the Mexican coast at 

 Tampico, where, in the Panuco river, the finest sport can be had 

 with this big fish in January, February and March. In the 

 spring the fish migrates, moves north in great schools, follow- 

 ing, as a rule, the coast Une, entering all the passes, doubtless, 

 up to New Orleans. Another migration, much smaller, goes 

 directly across the gulf to Oaba, and so on to the Florida Keys 

 and up the coast. But the islands, as Garden Key, sixty miles 

 west of Key West, where I fished many years, do not get many 

 tarpons ; in fact they are, or at least in my day were, rare. By 

 March or April the fish have reached the mainland coast of Florida 

 and afford sport to anglers from aU over the world at Palma 

 Sola, Long Key Camp, Miami, Boca Grande, Indian Eiver Inlet, 

 Charlott Harbour Fort Meyers, up the Caloosa Eiver, Captiva and 

 other places. The tarpon travels far. I have seen specimens 

 taken in a net off Coney Island, N, Y., in July. It enters the 

 St. John's river, but I never landed one there. A large tarpon 

 leaped aboard a steamer in 1875. 



At Aransas aU the fish are taken trolling with muUet bait 

 which is caught by the men with a cast-net. The rods used were 

 six or seven feet in length, sixteen or more ounces, of noibwood, 

 greenheart or split bamboo, the typical tuna rod of to-day. The 

 line was anything from a number twenty-one up, with a 

 breaking strength of forty-two or more pounds ; that is, a twenty- 

 one line would hft a dead weight of forty-two pounds. 



When I returned to California and related my adventures at 

 the Tuna Club several of the members decided to make the trip, 

 among them Mr. L. P. Streeter of the Illinois Central E.E. Mr. 

 Streeter is a veteran angler, having caught everything that can 

 be caught in America, and he proposed to go to Aransas and take 

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