44 THETARPON 



and, falling back, makes the water fairly boil and 

 seethe in his desperate efforts to escape. But the 

 barbed grains hold fast, and tlu> long stout line is 

 as tense as a bowstring. The great fish tows the 

 boat around like a cockle-shell until his fierce 

 struggles and grand leaps begin to tell on him, 

 and at length he is towed ashore completely ex- 

 hausted. Sometimes the boat is capsized or 

 swamped by an unusually large and powerful 

 fish." 

 It apparently never entered Dr. Henshall's mind, 

 cool and experienced angler that he was and is, that 

 it would be feasible to attempt the capture of a large 

 tarpon with a rod and reel. The methods of capture 

 he described were the same as those employed when 

 Captain William Dampier, the buccaneer, tried his 

 hand off the coast of Yucatan, two hundred and nine 

 years before. 



In the issue of the Forest and Stream for April 9, 

 1885, the following item from a local correspondent 

 appeared, bearing the date of April 2, 1885 : 



"A Mr. Wood of New York took at Punta Rassa 



last week a tarpon measuring five feet eight inches 



and weighing sixty-eight pounds; tackle rod and 



reel." 



In the issue of the 23d of that month Mr. W. H. 



Wood stated that his first fish was caught in Tarpon 



Bay, Fla., on March 25, 1885. It was 5 feet 9 inches 



and weighed 93 pounds. It was taken in 261^ minutes. 



He caught another the same day in 211/^ minutes 



weighing 81 pounds, which was 5 feet 7 inches long. 



