168 FISHES OF TUE EAST ATLANTIC COAS l'. 



Miio- at Mayport I captured two sharks, one seven and the other 

 ■■■:■■ ■ feet in lenscth, on my tarpon rig. 



;.i August last, 1 was fishing near my friend P., and hooked a 

 ;c tarpon, and after a long and exciting tussle the fish was dis- 

 I >-d to yield. I requested P. to come on board and use the grains. 

 i I complied, and as I was cautiously bringing the silver beauty to 

 i:i ■ side of the boat the hooks tore out, and he settled to the bottom 

 Ilk ■ a log. P. left me; I did not break a commandmunt, but seated 

 iiisself in the cockpit of the boat, held my peace, filled my pipe and 

 in.iulged in a smoke. 



P. returned to his boat, and soon after shouted that be had "made 

 a discovery." I questioned him regarding it, but he told me "to 

 wait and he would make a tackle to capture the artful dodgers." A 

 few days later he visited me and exhibited "his new rig," which 

 consisted of a dog chain two feet long. To the links of 

 the chain he had fastened seven copper wire loops, and to each 

 of the loops he soldered a hook. He proceeded to Mile Point, 

 opened a large mullet from vent to gills, passed swivel end of 

 chain out of mouth of bait, aiid to it attached his line. The 

 balance of the chfiin he stowed away in the belly of the 

 fish, leaving the points of the hooks protruding frDm the incision, 

 and to keep everything in situ he took a number of turns around 

 the body of the fish with strong thread. The bait was appropriated 

 by a tarpon, and during the head-shaking process the end of the 

 chain escaped from its place of confinement, twitched about the 

 fish's head, and the lower hook entered on the outside below the 

 gills. After a struggle P. beached a tarpon weighing 125 pounds. 

 An examination established the fact that one of the upper hooks had 

 taken a slight hold in one lip, and had held long enough for the 

 " skirmishing hook " to enter. 



P. tried another experiment, that of attaching four piano wire snoods 

 eighteen to twenty-four inches long, to a swivel, and to each snood 

 was attached a large sized hook. He opened a mullet as above ; 

 passed swivel through mouth of bait, and stowed the hooks in belly 

 leaving points exposed, and secured the hooks by wrapping bait Mrith 

 thread. He was rewarded with a bite, and landed a taroon six feet 



