July 26, 1902.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
60 
too smooth. Out of three strikes I managed to land one 
little fellow and one jackfish; but when trolling slowly 
in shallow water at the mouth of the river opposite the 
city, I hung a little jewfish and beached it. I guessed 
its weight at 45 or 50 pounds; but, when it was put on 
the scales it tipped them at 75 pounds. Unfortunately, 
I did not take the measurements, so am unable to state 
haw well the formula for weight applies to jewfish. 
I had gone to Tampico with the intention of putting 
in there two solid weeks, but on the second day I re- 
ceived a telegram calling me to Texas on important 
business for the 17th, and the next day I received an- 
other stating that I was wanted in British CoUimbia, so 
had to leave on the morning of the 14th, thus giving 
me only five days, of which, as previously stated, I lost 
half a day on account of windy weather. 
As the next day was to be my last, I got to work 
quite early and fished around "The Palms" iii the fore- 
noon, landing three big fellows and faihng to hold sev- 
eral more. One of them was my record fish to date, 
measuring 6 feet 8 inches in length and 40^ inches in 
girth, and weighing exactly 160 pounds. The formula 
gives a weight of 164 pounds. As in the other case, 
there was a delay of several hours in getting the fish 
gentlemen from the same city arrived while I was there. 
Mr. Farley, th^ taxidermist from Aransas Pass, did not 
go to Tampico last season, but expects to go there 
every winter in future. 
It is probable that before next winter there will be 
a comfortable hotel at La Barra, mainly for the accom- 
modation of sportsmen, 
As soon as they begin to be numerous it would pay to 
put a small naphtha launch on the river to tow each day 
a fleet of boats to and from the best fishing ground, 
which varies with the wind and weather. 
Sometimes the best sport is to be had between the 
outer ends of the jetties, and, again, it is to be found from 
seven to ten or twelve miles up river therefrom; and they 
say that in the neighborhood of Tamus, some nine miles 
above the city, there are more tai'pon than at any other 
point on the river. Had I been able to remain the 
two weeks that I had coutited upon, I certainly would 
have tried Tamus, It is conveniently located for sports- 
men, as one could leave his boat there and could take 
the early morning train up and return just after dark 
by the evening train. 
I stronglj' advise all tarpon fishermen who can spare 
the time to give Tampico a trial during the months of 
fish, and I can usually guess fhat -WttJiiii two or three 
inches. 
In respect to how far tarpon travel up rivers, I have 
learned that many have been seen forty or fifty miles 
up the Panuco, and a small one was caught in a net in 
the Papaloapam River, where we have lately built a 
large bridge, about 125 miles from where it reaches the 
Gulf at Alvarado. 
It is possible that good tarpon fishing will be found 
at Boca del Rio some ten or twelve miles south of Vera 
Cruz, where the branch line of the Vera Cruz and Pa- 
cific Railway crosses the combined mouths of the Rio 
Blanco and several other streams. Although I gave our 
assistants, who are working on the bridge there, instruc- 
tions to make inquiries about tarpon, and spent three 
or four hours there myself last February, I have not yet 
learned anything very definite about the possibilities for 
good tarpon fishing at this locality. The boatmen in- 
forined me that there are a few tarpon in the river, but 
plenty of them just outside. Next Noveinber I purpose 
wetting a line there so as to obtain some reliable ififor- 
mation on the subject. 
At Coatzacoalcos, the eastern terminus of the Teh- 
uantepec Railway, I do not think there will ever be good 
tarpon fishing, as the mouth of the river is infested with 
sharks. It was only a few months ago that a drunken 
boatman upset while crossing the river, struck out im- 
mediately for the nearer shore, and was torn to pieces 
before he had gone a dozen yards. 
And now a few words about what I have learned con- 
cerning tarpon tackle and apparatus during the last twelve 
months. 
The leather-butt socket for screwing on to the seat 
of one's chair is an excellent contrivance, and every tar- 
pon fisherman should possess one and use it. Edward 
vom Hofe keeps them and charges for them, if I re- 
member rightly, $2.50 each. 
The patent handle drag offered for sale by Wm. Mills 
& Sons is the best thing of its kind yet evolved, although 
it. needs a couple of improvements to make it perfect. 
In the first place, the thumb screws should be taken 
out and replaced by ordinary screws like the others of 
the attachment, otherwise the skin will surely be taken 
off one's knuckles if the handle slips. I took this pre- 
caution before using the apparatus. 
In the second place, the friction should be increased 
fully 100 per cent, by the insertion of washers. My 
handle gave an initial resistance of seven or eight 
pounds, which soon reduced to five pounds, which is not 
enough for tarpon fishing. I have since had the manu- 
facturer increase the tension to ten pounds, but would 
like to be able to augment it to fifteen; and tliere is no 
reason why this cannot be done. 
One great advantage of this brake is that with it no 
sound line can ever be broken. Another advantage is 
that when the fish pulls too hard it is not necessary to 
drop the handle and risk the skinning of one's knuckles. 
I prefer to supplement this patent handle with the or- 
dinary leather brake, so that when the fish is close to 
the boat I can put on more resistance than the appara- 
tus affords, and thus stop the fish frora getting any 
further away. 
In order to prevent breakage of the line under such 
conditions, I double it for about twenty feet and take 
care to fasten it to the swivel by running the doubled 
line through same and fastening by a bowline knot. 
The placing of this new brake on the market has in- 
cited Mr. Ed. vom Hofe to improve his patent drag, 
so that it can now be adjusted for any resistance up to 
the breaking strength of the line. I had suggested 
this to him several years ago, but he paid no attention 
to my suggestion. He has fixed one oi my reels with 
this improved drag, and, as soon as I have had an op- 
portunity to give it a test, I shall report upon the merits 
of the modification. 
My tarpon fishing experience has convinced rne that 
not only one's hands but also his legs need protection; 
for, when the fish pulls at right angles to the boat, one's 
leg gets pinched and bruised by the butt piece of the 
rod. To prevent this I am going to have made a pair 
of stiff leg-pads, each about eight inches long and six 
inches wide, and furnished with two broad straps to pass 
around the leg. The stiffening is to be effected by nar- 
row longitudinal ribs of wood sewn into the padding. 
As I am not patenting this device, anyone is at lib- 
erty to manufacture, use or sell it. Later on I shall re- 
port concerning its efficiency. 
By this time I had hoped to be able to report finally 
upon the best kind of wire for snells, but cannot, as yet. 
Thus far I have tried fine steel wire (such as furnished 
by Ed. vom Hofe), coarse steel wire, copper, brass, 
phosphor-bronze and German silver, but not one of 
them is satisfactory. The fine steel wire soon gets too 
brittle, the coarse steel wire curves after being put un- 
der tension and is too stiff to bend back; the copper is 
too soft, the brass too. brittle and weak, the phosphor- 
bronze, which is composed of fine twisted strands, is 
so refractory that it untwists at the connection, no mat- 
ter how many turns may have been used, and the Ger- 
man silver breaks at the connection. , 
I have found a coarse, soft, Bessemer steel wire, 
which is sold in straight pieces of four feet length, and 
have mounted a number of hooks with this. It promises 
to prove satisfactory; but I cannot recommend it until 
after it has been tried. 
The requisites for a good snell wire are as follows: 
A. Straightness before being used. 
B. Strength. 
C. Pliability. 
D. Resistance to corrosion. 
E. . Lightness. 
The soft Bessemer steel wire has the first three prop- 
erties, and on account of its comparatively large diame- 
ter has probably also the fourth; but its weight may 
be so great as to sink the bait too great a depth. 
I am trying to arrange for a few days' tarpon fish- 
ing at Galveston next September, as I am anxious to 
experiment Upon, those, as yet, practically untried tarpon 
waters. If I find time to go there I shall report to you 
latest, not- only about the fishing, but ?ilso concerning 
the new wire 9n4 the merits of the improved brakes 
previously mentiQ.t3-pd, 
■ " ■ ■ _^ _ J. A. L. WAmstu 
MR. A. B, KOSS AND ONE DAY S CATCH AT TAMPICO. 
Photo by Dr. Howe. 
to the scales, so it may have lost the four pounds by dry- 
ing; or, perhaps, the girth measurement was not - quite 
accurate, being made with a piece of tarpon line. 
Dr. Howe took several photos of my two largest fish 
of this morning's catch; but they were all failures. A 
Mr. Sargent, of Chicago, who spent several days with 
me on this fishing trip, took a couple of shots at the 
same fish with a larger camera, and promised to send 
me prints therefrom, but has not yet done so. Perhaps 
this letter will jog his memory. If it does, and if the 
said prints be good ones, I shall send you one later on. 
In the afternoon I went up stream som.e four miles 
to the mouth of the Tamise River, where I found many 
tarpon, getting six strikes and as many more bites, and 
landing but one. My line had become weak and failed 
me, thus losing a fine fish, and there was not sufficient 
time before sunset to put on a new one. 
As the wind was blowing pretty stiffly up river, we 
went through a small canal over to a chain of lakes, 
then down the small river that flows through Tampico 
and empties into the Panuco, or main river, some two 
miles below the center of the citJ^ 
In the four and a half days I had thirty-six tarpon 
strikes and landed fourteen, beside the jewfish and the 
three jackfish previously mentioned. Had I had a strong 
and experienced boatman I could certainly have landed 
half a dozen more fish, as I had ofi several occasions 
to ease up on my small boy, and I could not trust him 
to gaff a fish into the boat, so had him haul them out 
on to the bank by the snell, generally after 1 had put a 
bullet or two into them. 
On this trip I had with me Dr. Howe's gun-camera 
and an ample supplj'' of films; btit to my great regret all 
the photos taken with it before I left were failures, 
owing, probably, to the inexperience of the operators. 
Dr. Howe afterward took a number of shots at leaping 
tarpon, but with rather poor success. I send you three 
specimens thereof for illustration, if 3'ou see fit to vise 
them. The fish were hooked by Mr, Sargent and photo- 
graphed by Dr. Howe, 
I secured also an excellent photograph of Mr. A. B. 
Ross with a 6-foot 8-inch tarpon caught earlier in the 
season. Its weight was only 125 pounds, which is very 
small for a fish of that length. 
As a matter of curiosity, I would like to know how 
much a 6-foot 8-inch tarpon can weigh. The Tampico 
fishermen vow that there must have been some mistake 
made by Dr. Howe in weighing his 223-pound record 
fish, of which the length was just 6 feet 8 inches; for 
they say it is impossible for a fish of that length to at- 
tain such a great weight. In future the dimensions as 
well as the weight of all record fish should be taken; 
The month of March is probably the best month in the 
year for fishing at Tampico, because the weather there 
is perfect, the thermometer ranging from 75 to 85 de- 
grees P'ahrenheit, and the heavy northers being about 
ever. 
This fishing ground is "beginning to become known to 
sportsmen; for one day I counted seven boats, each con- 
raining a tarpon fisherman. 
My friend, Dr. Howe, of Mexico Gty, arrived two 
days before I left; apd Mr. Geo, Ros§ ^nd two other 
December, January, February and March. Probably De- 
cember and March are best, btit excellent Sport can be 
had in January and February, and I ^understand that 
the fishing is fine in November and April or even May; 
but the weather is pretty hot after the middle of April 
and does not begin to cool off much before the middle 
of November. Beside, there is a little risk of fever be- 
fore Dec. I and after April i, although last year there 
was only one case of yellow fever at Tampico, and that 
was imported from Vera Crtiz, Still, there are other 
fevers beside yellow fever, but there is no danger of 
contracting them during the four cool months, unless, 
perchance, one were to get caught out in the swamps 
after dark and let the mosquitoes bite him, in which case 
he would be likely to become inoculated with simple 
malaria. " " . 
It appears to me that the tarpon at Tampico average 
more in both length and pounds per foot than do those' 
LEAPING l.'VKPON. 
Plioto by Dr. Howe, 
on the Texas coast. Tlirowing out one Uttle fellow that 
I caught, the remaining thirteen woidd average 6 feet 
in length. 
Again, I am certain that the Tampico tarpon strike 
more voraciously than do those at Aransas, and I be- 
lieve that they fight harder and jump higher. One that 
I had on this last trip jumped fully twelve feet high and 
afterward escaped, while never before ha:d T seen a tar- 
pon leap over ten feet high — these heights, of course, 
are merely estimated, but I believe they are quite ac- 
curate, jbepause I judge the height by the length of the 
