32: 



RECREATION 



" KNOW ALL ABOUT TROUT 



of the bass. I have used this strange bait 

 in several other locations but without 

 success. 



Tarpon were caught at the mouth of 

 this same stream. "Mr. George," the 

 well-known tarpon fisherman, told the 

 writer that he preferred a strip of the belly 

 of a kingfish to anything as bait for tarpon. 

 The kingfish of Florida are not like the 

 Northern fish by that name. It is of the 

 mackerel family, and resembles the Spanish 

 mackerel, being very brilliant, in its me- 

 tallic coloring, especially the belly. This 

 fish is caught off the coast in large quan- 

 tities by trolling with a squid, precisely the 

 same as for bluefish, and will weigh from 

 five to forty pounds, being very gamy. 



Guests at Palm Beach were amused by 

 watching some old fishermen on the long 

 pier, who, by taking a long-handled hoe, 

 would scrape the barnacles from the piles, 

 attracting large schools of sheepshead, 

 which they caught easily with sand fleas as 

 bait. 



These immense chunks of fish meat, 

 weighing from ten to fifteen pounds, showed 

 not the slightest particle of grit when 



hooked. It was simply a matter of reeling 

 in so much dead weight. 



Off the end of the dock was a famous old 

 shark fisherman, hired for this special pur- 

 pose. He would watch the surface of the 

 water, and whenever any fins of these ugly 

 fish showed themselves above the water he 

 would signal a boatman, whose place it was 

 to take the bait (a large piece of pork about 

 five pounds in weight) and row with it 

 about six or eight hundred yards in the di- 

 rection of the fin or the fins that had been 

 seen. The pork was fastened to an enor- 

 mous hook, which was attached by a chain 

 to a strong rope, this was fast to a windlass 

 on the dock, and you can be sure there was 

 a lively time when his sharkship was 

 hooked and the winding in began. It took 

 from one to two hours frequently to land 

 one, and they would measure from three to 

 twelve feet in length. 



To return to the large -mouth bass of 

 Florida, I could not obtain any artificial 

 flies, so improvised some of my own, rising 

 turkey feathers and tin foil, which worked 

 beautifully when nothing else would, 

 though I acknowledge I could not tell what 



" THE OLD LOG HUT " 



