236 
FOREST AND STREAM 
IMarch 25, 1905. 
Either that day or later on, Mr. Eaton landed a male fish 
6 feet 8 inches long weighing only 125 pounds. 
But to return to the narrative of the fishing at Tamos. 
On the way up, after leaving the mouth of Jhe Tamesi a 
mile or two behind, I landed two large fish and donated 
them to residents on the river bank; and a mile or two 
below Tamos I struck a big school of tarpon covering 
the entire width of the river for a length of nearly a mile. 
On previous occasions I had seen what I considered large 
schools of tarpon, but never anything to compare with 
this. They were there in countless thousands, not jump- 
ing, but rolling over on their sides and splashing the 
water. I hung several and landed two, besides several 
jackfish before my friends joined me, then we proceeded 
to Tamos, where we wasted two hours or more on lunch 
and in restinsf, then went at it again late in the after- 
noon. That day I had eighteen tarpon strikes and landed 
six, besides several jackfish. My friends took two or 
three tarpon each, besides a number of jackfish and 
two or three other fish that we could not name, and _ 
v/hich proved to be very fine for the table. We left the 
boats and most of our paraphernalia at Tamos and took 
the evening train to the city, in order to make an early 
start the next day, the morning train arriving at 6:20. 
Vv'^e fished at and below Tamos the next forenoon and 
found the tarpon as plentiful as ever, but not taking hold 
quite so freely; however, I found that by rowing swiftly 
through them they could be induced to strike. Before 
noon I had taken five or six besides some jackfish, the 
number of tarpon strikes being eighteen, the most that 1 
had ever had in one day. My two friends and some other 
people who had come up the river had fair luck. In the 
afternoon there arose suddenly a stiff norther that put a 
stop to all fishing for the day. A passing tug took us all 
aboard and towed our boats to the city. We did not 
return to Tamos until the iSth, the last day that I spent 
on the river, and I put in three hours before lunch and 
three hours in the evening, _ getting fourteen tarpon 
strikes and landing eleven, besides two jackfish, the total 
estimated weight being over one thousand pounds. My 
friends did about as usual; in fagt, they caught all they 
wanted and quit early. There were eight boats in the 
fleet that day, and all scored, one lady landing four, and 
the total catch being twenty-eight, exclusive of jackfish. 
In my opinion, such fishing as this is not to be had in 
any tarpon waters yet discovered. 
Previous to the present trip all my fishing trips in 
Mexico were incidental to my work, but this last time 
I made a special trip alone from Kansas City for the 
fishing, arriving on the evening of February i, exactly a 
year from the time of my last arrival. I found quite a 
number of fishermen at the Hotel Hidalgo, besides those 
on the yacht before mentioned, but nobody had as yet 
fished above the mouth of the Tamesi. The fishing had 
been fair, but no great catches had been made, the most 
successful fisherman haying been my old friend. Dr. 
Louis Hough, a Missourian, who has spent many years 
practicing medicine in various portions of the Mexican 
Republic, especially where yellow fever has been rife, for 
he has been making a special study of that disease, and 
has been eminently successful in its treatment. He is 
working upon a theory of his own, and when, he has 
carried his investigations a little further, the medical 
world is going to hear from, him concerning the proper 
treatment of yellow fever. It is to be hoped, though, that 
he will have to leave Tampico temporarily in order to 
continue his investigations. There is always an oppor- 
tunity to study the disease at Vera Cruz, as it exists there 
continuously; consequently he is figuring upon going to 
that city next summer. 
The doctor did not take the tarpon fever till last Octo- 
ber, his sole previous experience with the silver king 
being half a day spent in my boat during the preceding 
February. He has a bad attack of it, though, and the 
case bids fair to be incurable, as he spends all his spare 
time on the river with rod and reel, and, mirabile' dictu! 
in a narrow 16-foot Canadian canoe. When I saw him 
starting out in the little coffin for fish as heavy as him- 
sef, I remarked: "Doc, after running the Horsefly in 
British Columbia last summer from Harper's Camp to 
the mouth (an almost continuous rapid for over twenty 
miles), I thought I had earned the distinction of being the 
greatest blooming idiot in North America, but I take off 
my hat to you." (It is t' be hoped the doctor will not 
see this letter, for he told me not to mention his canoe 
when writing it, but I cannot resist the temptation.) 
Notwithstanding its crankiness, the doctor has landed 
with it (and sometimes in it) a number of large tarpon, 
and has not yet come to grief. The canoe is all right for 
legitimate purposes, as I have proved by using it for duck 
shooting ; but it takes more nerve than I possess to tackle 
from it any large fish in waters that are shark-infested. 
By the way, I hear a great deal about sharks in the 
Panuco River, but I had never seen any on the surface 
except near the outer ends of the jetties, and have never 
seen any caught from the bottom any further up stream 
than La Barra. There are far more sharks at Aransas 
Pass than there are in the neighborhood of Tampico. 
On Fel)ruary 2, Dr. Hough in his canoe, I in my boat, 
and two others in another boat started up river at ten 
o'clock. The doctor killed one near the mouth of the 
Tamesi, but I did not see any till I reached the old fish- 
ing ground, some two or two and a half miles below 
Tamos. My first strike was from a small jackfish, which 
I landed, then when letting out line a 6-footer took hold 
and rather to my surprise I managed to get the hook set 
into it, for one is at a great disadvantage when a tarpon 
strikes while the line is being put out. Its first struggle 
resulted in the cracking of my butt piece, which con- 
tinued to bend more and more until it finally snapped off, 
leaving me to finish the fight with reel and tip. This 
I succeeded in doing by tiring the fish, running the boat 
ashore, and having the boatman wade out in the mud 
and hand it up on the bank. Its girth proved to be a_ lit- 
tle over thirty-six inches, which would make its weight 
about 125 pounds. Fortunately, as usual, I had in the 
boat another rod fully rigged; hence my sport was not 
spoiled; but the occurrence for quite a while made me 
distrustful of my other rods. 
This fish was hooked a little after one o'clock, and be- 
tween then and 6 :20, when I stopped fishing, I 
landed ten more tarpon, making for five hours' sport 
(half an hour being lost at Tamos for lunch) eleven tar- 
pon and one jackfish, tying, as far as tarpon were con- 
pemed, my prevjou^ ^.ff fgCQr^. I di4 level |>esf 
break it, and nearly succeeded, for I held a 6-footer for 
ten minutes, then lost it just before dark. In all I had 
that afternoon nineteen strikes, my record number to 
date for one day. After lunch the doctor fished from my 
boat, catching one while I took in three or four. Had 
I been above I might have taken one or two more; but, 
as there was quite a stiff breeze on, I was averse to the 
doctor's going out in the canoe, hence persuaded him to 
join me. The other boat, being overloaded with two men 
and badly handled by a lazy and incompetent oarsman, 
did not reach the fishing ground at all, therefore took 
nothing but a jackfish. 
Leaving the boat and canoe at Tamos, the doctor and I 
returned to Tampico by train, he very kindly putting the 
canoe at my disposal for duck shooting, and I being only 
too willing to deprive him of its use, for, as I told him, 
his charming young wife has not yet been married long 
enough to desire to become a widow. 
Next day I went up river in a naphtha launch as a 
guest of Col. T. A. St. Quintin, a retired veteran of the 
British Army, and an all-around sportsman and good fel- 
low. He had yet to catch his first tarpon, but his travel- 
ing companion and relative, a Mrs. Wallace, who has 
been all over the world and who is an enthusiastic fisher- 
woman, had already taken one, although she claimed it 
was more by good luck than by good management, be- 
cause neither of them knew am/thing at all about the 
science of tarpon fishing. It was' arranged en route that 
when the fishing grounds were reached I should get into 
Mrs. Wallace's boat, stand behind her chair, and instruct 
her how to handle properly the first fish. This I did, and 
she landed it successfully without any aid from me other 
than advice — much to her delight. Meanwhile the Colonel 
had a strike or two, but failed to hold the fish. Then I 
took the launch for Tamos, fitted out my boat, and tried 
the fishing on my own account. In two hours I had eight 
strikes and landed three, one very heavy 6-footer; and 
at three o'clock I quit, stowed away the tackle, got on 
rubber boots, took out gun and cartridges, and went to a 
neighboring laguna for ducks. I had visited the place the 
year before for jacksnipe, and knew the locality. It con- 
sisted really of two shallow lakes connected by a short 
thoroughfare a gunshot wide, the ground being only a 
few inches higher than the water. At the narrowest part 
close to the edge there was some comparatively dry 
ground with a small clump of weeds or brush about fif- 
teen inches high. By lying on the left side with my head 
behind the brush, I was sufficiently concealed. Then I 
sent the boatman, who had accompanied me to carry 
shells and game, around one end of the laguna to stir up 
the ducks. As anticipated, they almost all followed the 
thoroughfare to the other half of the laguna, flying low 
and within good range. Shooting about as usual, I made 
a number of good shots, but, of course, scored many 
misses. On several occasions I bagged a pair with one 
barrel, and once I made the most successful duck shot of 
my life. Four teal came along about three feet above the 
water_ in a perfect horizontal line at right-angles to the 
direction of the thoroughfare. After they had passed me 
only a few feet so that one duck would not protect an- 
other, I fired one barrel, using No. 8 shot, and all four 
birds fell everyone dead — not a cripple among them. 
Years ago I bagged five ducks with two barrels, four of 
them falling to the right and one to the left out of a flock 
of eight rising from the water; but this was the first 
time that I ever killed a whole flock of ducks with one 
barrel. 
While lying in the blind — if such it could be called — a 
roseate spoonbill sailed over me pretty high up, but came 
down to the call of a load of No. 6's. This was the first 
bird of the kind that I had ever shot, but later I bagged 
four others. It is a wader with a spoon bill, standing a 
little less than three feet high, and is most magnificently 
colored, the general shade being a light pink running into 
scarlet^ toward the tail. Mrs. Wallace had it dressed for 
mounting. 
After my boatman had made the round of one half 
of the laguna, he collected the dead birds and went 
around the other half, driving the ducks to me as before. 
In less than two hours I had bagged thirty-seven ducks 
and the spoonbill, and had fired seventy-three shells. It 
was then getting dark and time to return to the station, 
where I met the Colonel and Mrs. Wallace, also some 
other fisheimen who had come up river later. All had 
had good luck except Mrs. Wallace, who had sprained 
her right thum.b in handling a tarpon, and who in conse- 
quence had to stop fishing. 
The Colonel had had a most exciting experience. He 
had hooked a fish that did not jump; consequently, think- 
ing it a jackfish, he had reeled it close to the boat by 
keeping a steady strain on the line. Suddenly the fish, a 
C-foot tarpon, jumped from close alongside the boat and 
landed between the Colonel and the boatman, making a 
turn of the line around the leg of the latter, and raising 
Cain generally. The excited Colonel grabbed the gaff 
hook and began to pound the fish with the handle, to 
which treatment the tarpon objected, and jumped over- 
board. Fortunately the boatman had by this time released 
his leg, consequently the fish ran clear of all obstructions 
except the hook, which still held. The Colonel seized 
the rod again and fought the fish to a finish, landing it in 
good style after a long, hard struggle. Dr. Perkins, of 
Des Moines. Iowa, who witnessed the entire proceeding 
from his boat, states that the tarpon was in the. Colonel's 
boat for three or four minutes before it jumped out. Both 
the Colonel and his boatman were very lucky to escape 
being hurt; because an uninjured tarpon in a boat is 
liable to do considerable damage to the other occupants. 
Next day we all took the six o'clock train for Tamos, 
and started fishing about seven, but there was nothing 
doing at that hour, therefore I went again for the ducks, 
and in two hours bagged ' twenty-five, returning to the 
river at eleven o'clock.- In the afternoon I had eight 
strikes and landed three. The Colonel landed two besides 
some jackfish. His last fish was a big one, and gave 
him considerable trouble. Fearing that he would not land 
it before train time, I told him that if he would tire it out 
so as to bring it belly-up to the surface, I would shoot it 
for him with my revolver, an offer which he was very 
glad to accept, notwithstanding the fact that he had pre- 
viously expressed the opinion that shooting a fish was 
not legitimate. He confessed next day to Mrs. Wallace 
that he could not have landed it in any reasonable time 
without shooting, and that for very large tarpon, shoot- 
ing is perfectly proper before tMefof thesn I»t0 % t^t 
The Colonel was very proud of this fish, and in spite ©£ 
the lateness of the hour, had it carried to the train, and 
took it to Tampico, so as to have it skinned and the skin 
sent to England for mounting. This was the Colonel's i 
last day on the river, and he left Tampico more than 
satisfied with the sport, promising to return next year. 
Next day I went alone to Tamos, bagged twenty ducks : 
in the forenoon, and landed five tarpon ont of seven 
strikes in the afternoon. 
The next day I bagged nineteen birds in the forenoon, 
and landed five tarpon out of six strikes in the afternoon. 
This brought my total catch to twenty-seven out of forty- 
eight strikes. As I am always striving to do better than 
50 per cent., I was well satisfied with the record, which - 
would have been better yet had I not broken three or ' 
four snells and one line and bent one hook so that it 
would no longer hold. Being pretty well tired out, I 
spent the next day in Tampico, not resting as I had in- 
tended, but in writing a reply to an attack in the Mon- 
terey News on my methods of tarpon fishing. 
It seems -that after my first afternoon's catch of eleven 
tarpon, a number of fishermen in the hotel who had 
hitherto been contented with averaging one a day, got to- 
gether and scored me, although they were all tyros at 
the sport. A reporter for the Monterey News took it all 
in and wrote it up, giving me a most undeserved roast- 
ing that necessitated a reply. After meeting me and 
learning the true state of affairs, he was very sorry for 
his action, and did what he could in a later issue to re- 
move the false impression concerning me which he had 
caused. I shall send you three copies of the News re- 
lating to the matter, so that you may draw your own 
conclusions. ; 
Next day I took the canoe across the river, had it 
portaged to a large laguna full of vilely smelling weeds , 
and filth, shot twenty-seven ducks and a roseate spoon- 
bill, and returned to the river at noon, as I could stand 
the stench no longer, fearing malaria by inhalation. In 
the afternoon I had eleven strikes and landed four 
tarpon. 
Next day I killed a few ducks and one roseate spoon- 
bill at the old stand, then walked some two miles further 
to another chain of shallow lakes. Ducks were fairly 
plentiful, but wild, and ahhough I killed several the 
boy could not find them. A short distance out in the 
lake I saw a pass opening into a larger lake, and waded 
to it, thinking it would be good for a duck flight, but it 
was not. However, I had not been there long before the 
cocos began to fly by, and I dropped half a dozen of them 
ii.'to the big lake. _ The boy coming along then refused to 
go for them, saying that it was deep and he could not 
swim. In consequence, after that, I let a number of fine 
chances go by so that I could drop the cocos in the 
swamp after passing in front of me, thus making the 
shooting much more difficult. However, I kept knocking 
them down and the boy brought them in from the swamp. 
Finally, without saying a word to me, he took off most 
of his clothes and waded into the lake for some birds that 
had fallen near the shore. The water, after all, was not 
deep, consequently I sent him for some of the first birds 
that had not floated too far away. 
In about an hour and a half the flight stopped, and we 
tied the birds together preparatory to departing. There' 
were twenty-four of the cocos, and I must have killed . 
half a dozen more that were not retrieved. Had I known 
that the boy could wade the lake, I could readily have 
doubled the bag, as the birds flew comparatively close to 
my Wind. Later on I discovered that it was fear of alli- 
gators and not inability to swim that made the boy balk 
the wading at first. I did not see any of the big lizards,, 
but have no doubt that there were plenty of them in the 
lake. 
The coco is a white bird of the curlew type, but larger,, 
weighing about two and a half pounds, and standing 
about two feet high. It has a curved yellow bill and black 
tips to its largest wing feathers. It is a very choice bird 
for the table, and is preferred by many to ducks. 
By the way, most of the ducks that I shot were green- 
winged teal, blue-winged teal, and spoonbills of two 
varieties, but there were also a few pintails, bluebills and 
widgeon. Occasionally I bagged a jacksnipe, but there 
were only a few in the marsh, and none of ihem got 
away. I shot also a few green ibis. These are not very 
,sood eating, but were acceptable to the residents of 
Tamos. 
In the afternoon I_had eight strikes and landed three 
tarpon. About this time there arrived a special car from 
Canada containing some ladies and gentlemen who de- 
sired to try the tarpon fishing, consequently I devoted 
two or three days to them generally without attempting 
to fish, although I still shot in the forenoon, with less 
success, however, as the laguna was becoming burned 
out. 
One afternoon I went with one of the ladies in my 
boat and showed her how to handle tarpon. She had two 
strikes and landed both fish, the last one measuring five 
feet ten inches and weighing about eighty pounds. 
Another afternoon, after catching four big tarpon in 
two hours, I took into m.y boat one of the Canadian 
party and instructed him "how to fish. He had three 
tarpon strikes and landed one big fish besides a jackfish. 
About this time my percentage began to reduce, and 
after fishing ten afternoons I recorded ninety-five strikes 
and forty-seven tarpon, besides one jackfish. 
One day, owing to carelessness, I let a little jackfish 
snap one of my rods into three pieces, then the boatm.an 
muffed the fish with the gaff and lost it. Toward the last 
of my stay the weather became so bad as at times to be 
unfit for fishing, consequently my personal sport was 
really confined to about ten days. I did not keep an exact 
record of the game killed, but the total must have 
amounted to^2So birds. On the 17th I made a trip on 
horseback with two _ other sportsmen to some marshes 
north of Dona Cecelia, a station half-way between Tam- 
pico and La Barra.; but the birds were scarce, the walk- 
ing was vile, and the guides did not know the country, 
consequently the expedition was a failure, although we 
managed to shoot and retrieve a few birds. This fin- 
ished my outing, and early on the morning of the 19th 
I started for home. 
Judging by my own experience and the information ob- 
talped by questioning both natives and foreigners, I. have 
ceme to the conclusion- that the best fishing early in the 
season is at La Barra ai^ out near the ends of the jetties, 
fof t iiad ggod sport there early in December, 18^, an4 
