February, 1920 
FOREST AND STREAM 
89 
Wasn’t I sore that night! Every bone 
and muscle in my body ached intensely, 
and I could barely crawl around. No one 
who has failed to try tarpon-fishing can 
realize what strenuous work it involves, 
and how it often takes a man’s last foot- 
pound of energy to secure a big fish. 
■ Before starting operations in the 
morning, Charlie told me of a sportsman 
whom he had rowed, who made a practice 
of cutting the line when the tarpon were 
too big for him, and asked me whether I 
do so. This remark sounded like an in- 
sinuation concerning my advancing years, 
consequently I replied: “It is evident 
that you are totally unacquainted with 
my record at Aransas.” The only time I 
had ever been guilty of cutting loose a 
fish was once when I had hung a ten-foot 
stingray weighing fully 300 pounds, and 
when there was a big bunch of leaping 
tarpon up the Pass feeding on shiners 
and headed towards me. As only the 
previous day I had landed one of those 
brutes of the same size, I let it go without 
any compunction. 
I N the evening of the 23rd, I received a 
telegram from Leonard saying that he 
would not arrive until Sunday, much to 
my disappointment, not only because I 
greatly desired his company, but also be- 
cause I missed my good outfit of tackle. 
Next morning four skiffs left the wharf 
about eight o’clock for the fishing 
grounds; and as the wind was a little 
higher and the sea a little rougher than 
the day before, the motor boats were an- 
chored in the Pass a hundred yards or 
more from the outer end of the South 
Jetty. At the latter spot there was a 
bunch of big tarpon waiting for us. I 
saw one man hook a large one within the 
jetty just as I was crossing the sub- 
merged portion of it. An instant after- 
wards I struck one myself, our boat being 
on one side of the rocks and the fish on 
the other. I soon got it headed towards 
me and towed it across to the open sea, 
where I struggled with it for half an hour 
before bringing it to gaff. It was a broad- 
bdcked, heavy, female fish a little over 
6 feet in length. The long struggle from 
a small boat in a choppy sea pretty nearly 
exhausted my strength. Whether for that 
reason or some other, I failed to land the 
next four tarpon that struck, although I 
played almost to a finish a heavy six- 
footer that finally escaped. Incidentally, 
I hung two big jack-fish and secured both. 
Two other tarpon were landed that morn- 
ing, none of the other sportsmen having 
any better luck than I. 
After securing the big tarpon, my rec- 
ord was 12 strikes and 6 fish, conse- 
quently I then had good hope of accom- 
plishing the fifty per cent, score that I 
used to try hard (and often successfully) 
to maintain for each entire outing in the 
years gone by; but my fiasco in subse- 
quently losing four straight ruined my 
chance for attaining the desired percent- 
age. I claim that none but a truly-expert 
tarpon-fisherman can beat or even tie a 
fifty-fifty score. 
^Upon reaching the hotel, much to my 
disgust, I found a telegram recalling me 
immediately to New Orleans; conse- 
quently I quit fishing in order to attend 
to business, leaving word for Leonard 
“Slam -Bang!” 
“They were ‘cans’ — going down 
the wind like blue blazes, a good 
sixty yards away — and I got ’em 
both. Clean hits, too. 
“I tell you, there’s nothing like 
Infallible or “E. C.” They’re 
the hardest hitting, cleanest burn- 
ing powders 1 ever shot. 
HERCULES 
Smokeless Shotgun 
POWDERS 
INFALLIBLE E-C” 
“And they’re reliable — always the 
same. You take no chances when 
you shoot Hercules SmokeTfess 
Shotgun Powders. 
“Better try ’em. You can buy any 
one of fourteen standard shells loaded 
with Infallible or “E. C.” And the 
shell you shoot is one of that fourteen. ” 
HERCULES POWDEH.CO. 
1009 Orange Street 
Wilmington, Delaware 
7 te&T&trv 
V . BLACK SHELLS 
CUMtl 
1 
FOR THESE 
SPECIAL OFFER 
Send $2.50 for all 3 above 
books and get book of 75 
Special Plans, alsoppFF 
Garage folder. TREE 
EXTRA — “Little Bungalows,” 
40 Plans, $750 to $3,000; 50c. 
Money bach if not satisfied 
BUNGALOW BOOKS 
PLAN FUTURE HOMES 
NOW WITH ECONOMY 
PLANS OF 
CAL1FORNIASTYLES 
— noted for comfort, 
beauty and adaptability 
to any climate. 
“Representative Cal. 
Homes’' 
50 Plans, $3,750 to 
$ 12 , 000 ; $ 1 . 
“The New Colonials’’ 
55 Plans, $3,000 to 
$ 20 , 000 ; $ 1 . 
“West Coast Bungalows’ 
60 Plans, $1,800 to 
$4,500; $1. 
E. W. STILLWELL & CO., Architects 
262 California Building, Los Angeles 
This Cruiser Outfit Makes Traveling a Joy 
With a Cruiser Outfit on your Ford Roadster you 
can make camp wherever you please — sleep high 
and dry on a real mattress with a good tent over 
you and do your own cooking. Not a TRAILER. 
Set A— Body attachment only . . . . , S 60.00 
Set B — Body with tent, folding table, mattress 
and fender irons $150.00 
Set O — Complete Cruiser outfit including stove, 
cooking utensils, furniture, bucket and axe, S200.00 
CRUISER MOTOR CAR CO. 
2016 E. Johnson St. Madison, Wis. 
