Avo. 17, 1901.] 
FOREST AND STREAM, 
129 
Befofe starting out in the boat, see that the boatman 
IS the full equipment, of which a list was given in my 
St paper, and that the rowlocks to be used are tied on. 
1 addition to the said equipment, the sportsman will re- 
-lire in the boat the following: 
2 larpon rods, Mly equipped and ready for S'ervite, 
1 smaller rod, ditto. 
A supply of mounted hooks of all sizes. 
1 gaff. 
1 cusliion. , 
1 rubber coat, or poncho, if tliere be any po.ssil>ility o£ it rauiiii^'. 
1 pair rubber hoots, ditto. 
1 hunting coal, containing in the pockets the, foUowjng ; 
Revolver and carti-idges. 
Supply of assorted sinkers. 
Several float.s of various sizes. 
Some cord or stout string. 
Cutting pincers. • ' 
Flat file. 
Disgorger. 
Knife. 
Oiler (filled). 
Leather case supplied with hooks, etc. ■ 
Pocket tool box. 
Spool of fine copper wire. 
Leather socket for chair, it there be one, ' - l 
Large and small weighing scales. j 
Bottle of vaseline. 
Guards for thumb and fingers. 
Gloves. 
Artificial bait, if desired. 
This seem.s like a pretty large outfit, but atiy f^art pf-it is 
iable to be needed at any time. 
To arrange everything properly in the boat, first lay the 
wo spare rods along the sides so that they will not be in 
he way of the boatmen, and so "that they will not be 
truck by a fish either when the latter is being taken in 
ir afterward; then attach socket to chair and put cushion 
n place; then load revolver and lay it on the port side of 
he stern scat within easy reach ; then lay the gafif so that 
he boattnan can snatch it quickly; then place the spare 
itcUs where they will be safe, convenient and out of the 
vet, and stow the rublaer coat and boots in the bow, so 
hat they will lie beneath the anchor, rope and buoy. The 
nutting coat, with its contents, should be placed at the 
.portsman's feet. Next put on the gloves and tie the 
humb and finger guards on the left hand; then put on a 
)ait and you will be ready for the fray. 
Bait. 
The best kind of bait for tarpon is nearly always mul- 
el, but at times shiners or menhaden are very ef¥ective. 
f neither of these be available, any small fish, excepting 
•atfish, about 6 inches long, will do fairly well, and even 
:ut bait can be used when nothing better is to be had. 
There is a diversity of opinion concerning the relative 
merits of live and dead- bait, most sportsmen preferring 
the former. My choice, though, is the latter, for the rea- 
son that it spins better when trolling, thus making more 
display, and that it gives no false alariiis as to strikes. 
On the other hand, the dead bait cannot be kept as long as 
the live, and when fishing under certain unusual condi- 
tions, the latter is sometimes a necessity. For instance, if 
tliere are many live mullet in the water, a tarpon is not 
likely to take a dead one. Again, when fishing from a bank 
in a sluggish current, live bait is preferable. 
In respect to best size of bait, I would quote a saying 
of one of my boatmen, "If a man wants strikes, let him 
put on a large bait; but if he wants tarpon, let him put 
on a small one." My experience confinns this statement, 
for T find that a mullet 5 or 6 inches long gives the best 
resttlts, and that using a much longer bait causes the 
loss of many a fish. The objections to a very small bait 
are that it is not so readily seen, and that it does not offer 
so much temptation as a larger one. 
If the sportsman be reduced to cut bait, let him trim it 
into the form of a fish, and use as tough a piece as pos- 
sible. The skipjack or ladyfish, though rather tender, 
makes excellent cut bait, as does also the belly of a shark. 
I have known tarpon to take broken-up crab, which was 
being used as bait for other fish. It is a good plan, when 
tarpon are present and not striking well, to cut one open 
so as to ascertain upon what it has been feeding, and 
bait accordingly. 
The best way to keep bait alive is to have built in the 
boat amidships a box that has small openings in the bot- 
tom. So long as the boat remains in deep water, the bait 
will live pretty well, but they are prone to die qtiickly if 
the boat be left in shallow water. It is strange that a 
mullet will often live several hours when attached to the 
hook and trolled around, while at the same time other 
nutllet in the bait box will die. Mullet are generally 
cauglit with a circular cast net, and nearly every fisherman 
alon,g the Gulf coast either owns one or can procure one 
readily. If, however, the sportsman be going to some 
entirely new fishing ground, concerning which he is not 
posted, it would be a wise precaution to take along one of 
these cast nets. 
In putting either a live or a dead bait on the hook, in- 
sert the point of the latter below the under lip of the fish 
not more- than inch back, and press it upward through 
both lips, taking care to have the central plane of the hook 
and the vertical plane of symmetry of the fish coincident. 
This will prevent any tendency to unduly great rotation 
of bait and consequent twisting or untwisting of line. 
Very few artificial baits have been tried on tarpon, but 
it is known that at tiines they will strike at any glittering 
hire. I once tried for a short time just before sttnset a 
large, phantom minnow having a tarpon hook at the tail, 
and had a strike from a heavy 6-footer that started 
straight for the Gulf, jumping about every twenty yards. 
Ahcv taking out fully 100 yards of line, it shook out the 
hook on the foitrth jump. I used up that bait the next 
day on jackfish, after landing on it four or five fine ones. 
A manufacttirer has made for me two rubber mullets, 
each having a single Van Vleck hook at the tail, and I 
have presented one of them. to my friend Dr. Howe; but 
neither of tis has yet given the bait a trial. Unless they 
can be manufactured so that the hooks can be removed 
and replaced when bent or broken, this type of bait will 
not become popular, as the price (about $1.75 each) is 
almost prohibitory. 
Best Places^ Conditions and Times for Fishing, 
In any tarpon fishing ground there are certain places 
that arc better than others, but these change from time 
to time. The best spots are generally the following; 
I. Close alongside of rock jetties. 
a. At iTIouths of tributary rivers or streams, 
3. At the junction of clear and muddy waters,. 
4. Close to shallow oyster beds, where the water deepens 
suddenly. 
5. In narrow tideways that join large bodies of water. 
6. At promontories in the shore line, around which the 
currents pass swiftly. 
7. In midchanncl of passes when mullet and shiners are 
running there. 
In general, the best spots to catch tarpon arc those 
where their food fishes are to be found. Midlet travel 
usually close to tlte jetties and shores, but arc often found 
scattered over the deep water of the pass. They also 
frequent the narrow tideways between two large bodies 
of water, in order to pass from one to the other. 
The reason that mouths of rivers and junctions of clear 
and muddy water are so good is because the tarpon lie in 
wait in the clear water close to the junction, so as to catch 
the mullet that are bewildered in passing suddenly from 
a dark to a clear mediutn. For a similar reason the tarpon 
lie in the deep water clo,se to shallow oyster beds, so as to 
spring up and catch the mullet just after they pass the 
shallows. 
Sometimes there is good fishing to be had out on the 
Gulf, especially just beyond the ends of the jetties, but 
it is not always practicable or safe to go there. If there 
be a portion of a jetty sttbmerged, it will pay to try 
trolling along it, as the tarpon are often there. 
When shiners or menhaden are traveling in mid-channel, 
the tarpon will generally be found among them; but at 
such times they do not strike well, owing to the great 
supply of food. However, a lively mullet or shiner then 
will often call attention and procure a strike. 
Tarpon often travel in certain lines, and one small 
school after another, even when the intervals between 
schools are great, will follow in almost exact line. If 
one is fishing at anchor and sees such a line indicated, it 
will pay to up anchor and move over to the line of travel; 
or, if trolling, it will pay to follow such lines. 
.A.S a rule, the best tarpon fishing is found within ,3 or 4 
feet of the surface, but there are times when the fish lie 
close to the bottom, so if, after a fair trial, one fail to 
obtain strikes near the surface, it is well to put on a heavy, 
detachable sinker and try near the bottom, even at the risk 
of hooking a shark, jewfish. stingray, sawfi^sh or other 
sea monster. 
In respect to best condition of water for tarpon fishing, 
as a rule the clearer the M'ater the lietter the fishing, prob- 
ably because the fish can the better see the bait; but there 
are times when the water is clear and the tarpon are ab- 
sent, so no hard and fast rule can be laid down about water 
conditions. 
■ When a muddy tide works slowly against a body of 
clear water, one should troll in the latter close to the 
dividing line; if they don't strike well there, try the muddy 
water, but stiU near the said line. 
I once had an hour and a half of excellent fishing in 
water so muddy that it looked like pea soup, and which 
carried masses of sea weed, sand and dirt, getting eight 
strikes and landing two fish. Catching tarpon under such 
conditions is exceptional, but it is well to try them when 
the luck is bad everywhere else. 
The water in tidal ways between shallow lakes or bays 
is generally more or less muddy; btit the tarpon will 
strike there fiercely at certain times, especially about 
change of tide. 
In respect to the best tiine of day for tarpon fishing, 
nothing certain is known. On the whole, I have had the 
best luck in the forenoon, but sometimes the afternoon is 
better. For some particular place there may be some time 
of day that. is best; but I think the fishing depends more 
upon the clearness of the water and the state of the tide 
than upon the time of day. At Shellbanks. about half- 
way between Rockport and Aransas Pass, in an artificial 
channel, the tarpon congregate and strike between stmset 
and dark, and this condition, I am assured, holds good for 
many continuous days, irrespective of conditions of water 
and tide. 
It is said that tarpon will strike on tnoonlight nights, 
but of this I ain not certain, as I have never tried niglit 
fishing. It would appear to me to be Unsatisfactory 
sport, because one would not be alile to sec the action of 
the fish, and the holding or lositig thereof would depend 
almost entirely upon how well the hook be attached, with 
the chances greatly against the sportsman. 
Methods of Fishing* 
After the sportsinan has arranged his'boat, seated him- 
self on his chair, with the cttshion beneath him. pulled 
tip between his legs so as to form a fulcrum for the butt 
of the rod, reached the fishing ground and baited his 
hook, let him put out slowly frojn 35 to 40 feet of line, the 
boatman pulling at the rate of two mjles per hour, or a 
little faster. In order to get otit the approximately correct 
length of line desired, one should learn how to pull from 
the reel with his left hand as nearly as possible one foot of 
line at a time, so that hy beginning at 7 (6 feet being 
usually the length of line already beyond the tip), and 
counting up to 35 or 40, he will get out just about what he 
wants. This method of putting out the line will soon be- 
come almost automatic, and will require btit little thottght. 
If one use a longer line than 35 or 40 feet, it will be 
difficult to set the hook, on account of the spring of the 
line, while, if he use a much shorter length, the bait wilj 
be so near the boat that the latter may frighten the fish, 
althottgh at times I have seen a tarpon take the bait with 
not more than 15 feet of line out. 
After the line is otit, one should sit with the rod nearly 
hroizontal, and at right angles to the length of the boat, 
but pointing very slightly aft, the butt in the right hand 
with the right thumb on the rear brake, and the left hand 
holding the rod about 15 inches ahead of the reel seat. 
One should keep his inind constantly upon the business 
on hand, and should never let it wander, for, if he 
does, when a strike comes he will be tmprepared, and the 
fish will throw the hook out of its mouth before it is set. 
Some fisheriiten think that they can chat, smoke or even 
read a book when trolling for tarpon, but these are the 
ones who average one fish landed out of about ten strikes. 
The last time I was out I fished for a couple of hours 
one morning with all conditions apparently favorable, but 
without getting a strike, so concluded that it was an off 
day. pulled a book out of my hunting coat and began to 
read. I had not read quite one page when I got a strike 
from a bi.g fellow, but, by the tnne I had dropped the 
L'ook and gotten rny hands in readiness for striking, the' 
fish was in the air, and the hook was ottt of its mouth. 
How often I see a companion lose a fish, and when I ask 
him the reason, receive the reply, "Oh! I was lighting 
my pipe," or "I wai5 fi-xing my glove," or "I was shoving 
on my hat," or "I was thinking of something else," Cer- 
tainly at times one's hands are needed for something else" 
than holding the rod in due expectancy, but at such times 
one should anticipate a strike and be prepared for it by 
cither gripping hard the forward brake with the left 
thumb and letting the butt rest against the right side of 
the body, or by holding the rear brake extra ha-rd, with 
the riglit thumb, anci bracing the butt against the ri.ght 
elbow. In either of these positions one can strike fairly 
well, but not by any means as effectively as he can from 
the regulation position. 
Tarpon strike differently on different days and in differ- 
ent waters. Sometimes they hit the bait fiercely and rush 
off with the line, but at others they give a inost gentle 
nibble — no stronger, in fact, than the pull from a live 
mullet. V/hatcver kind of a bite or strike one may get, 
there is but one thin.g to do — viz., surge back heavily on 
the line by throwing forward the tip of the rod and hold- 
ing on to one or both of the brakes firmly, but not so 
hard as to break the line. Surge two or even three times 
if you can do so before the tarpon jumps, and, when he 
is in the air, dip the point of the rod toward him with- 
out easing up much on the brake, then as soon as he 
strikes the water, hold him as hard as you can without 
smashing the taclcle. Some fishermen will claiitn that 
this is not the orthodox method of striking a fish, and that 
it should be given tinrc to get the hook well into its mouth 
before striking. 1 have tried all kinds of ways of hookitig 
tarpon, and find that the mantier just described is by far 
the most successful. The reason therefor, in my opinion, 
is this: the chances are many to one that, when a tarpon 
seiz:es the bait, the iioint of the hook will strike a liard 
portion of the mouth, and will btit barely penetiate the 
thin skin that covers it. A sudden strike- will drag the 
point along the bone, tearing the skin until a joint or soft 
place is reached, where the hook will enter a little deeper. 
A second surge on the line will then set the point in prob- 
ably beyond the barb, the fish all this time keeping his 
mouth shut, so as not to lose his prey, for he does not 
have tinae before the bark is sunk to feel either pain or 
that something is wrong. On the other hand, if one waits 
after feeling a nibble, bite or strike, to let the tarpon partly 
swallow the hook, the fish has time to learn that he has 
gotten bold of something unusually hard, so he opens 
his mouth and lets the bait drop out; or else, if the hook 
has caught slightly, makes a .sudden vertical jump, open- 
ing his mouth and shaking his head violently, and ejects 
both hook and bait, unless by accident the former has en- 
countered a joint or soft .spot in his anatomy. 
Ordinarily, as before stated, it is best to fish with the 
bait 3 or 4 feet beneath the surface of the water, which is 
about the depth that a 35-foot length of line will .give for a 
snell of ordinary weight and a trolling speed of about two 
miles per hour. Should this prove too deep, a small cork 
iloat tied to the upper end of the snell, will raise the bait 
without causing material inconvenience. When the tarpon 
are near the bottom, attach a lead sinker by a couple of 
turns of fine copper wire, and troll slowly near the bot- 
tom, looking at the bait occasionally, so as to make sure 
that it is free from weeds. When a tarpon strikes near the 
bottoin, it is apt to come up rapidly and make a high 
jump, but by that time the hook should be well set. On 
the first shake of the tarpon's head, the sinker flies off, and 
the conditions are reduced to those for ordinary fishing. 
If, however, the sinker be attached firmly, the fish has 
soitiething substantial to pull against, and the chances are 
about ten to one that it shakes the hook out. 
I once, before learning about the detachable sinker, lost 
thirteen tarpon consecutively in one day, when fishing at 
anchor in a strong tide, and. using heavy sinkers, with 
fully 100 feet of line. There were four others fishing 
without sinkers close to me, and I had two or three times 
as many strikes as all of the others combined, showing 
that the fish were lying deep. 
When there is a strong tide and the fish are near the 
l)ottom, it is a good plan to put on an extra heavy, de- 
tachable sinker, or several light ones, drop the said sinker 
to the bottom and immediately raise it 2 or 3 feet, then 
have the boatman row nnich more slowly than the citrrent, 
so that the line is some 30 degrees off the .vertical, and 
drift along. When a strike occurs, surge well two oi\ 
three times, shouting to the boatman td pull hard, for, if 
he docs not, the fish is likely to jump into the boat and 
raise the deuce all around. 
Fishing at anchor is a good thing, in that it eases up 
on the tired boatman, but. unless the latter be very spry, he 
is liable to lose the fish by its getting too far off before 
the anchor is raised. As before explained, by using a 
buoy and .slipping the cable, this objection is avoided. 
Good sport is often obtaittcd by fishing at anchor. 
At times tarpon can be taken by casting, but I have 
never yet had much luck in this way. It is necessary 
when fishing from shore. 
The latter is mitch more difficult than fishing from a 
boat, and the percentage of losses will be higher. I have 
found a float to be almost a necessity for shore fishing. 
The last time I tried this rnethod of fishing was a year 
ago at the channel which empties Mission Bay, near Rock- 
port, Texas. I had six strikes and landed but once. I 
think that I would have had better luck had I tried the 
experiment of letting the fish run a little with the bait 
before striking. The float and the slack line combined to 
make it difficult to set the hook, 
[to be continded.] 
Chicagfo Fly-Castingf CI«b. 
At a meeting of the Chicago Fl}''-Casting Club, held 
Aug. 10 at Garfield Park, the following scores were made : 
Long Distance Fh', Bait Casting 
Feet. 
Per Cent. 
86 
83 
W. T. Church 
93 7-10 
96 
96 1-10 
H. G. Hascall 
109 
96 2.5 
H. C. Heston 
85 
83 
94 2-5 
97 4-5 
89 4-5 
93 3-5 
A. C. Smith 
106 
96 3-10 
85 1-5 
Winning scores: Long distance fly, F. IS[. Peet, m 
ketjbsit-casting, F. rejet, 97 4.-5 per cent. 
