To What Size Do Tarpon Grow? 
[Editor Forest and Stream: 
The main object of this letter is to evoke other 
communications that will throw some light upon 
j the question of the size to which the tarpon at- 
tains. I hope that those of your readers who 
ire fishers of the silver king will give to their 
mother anglers what information they possess 
•oncerning the matter. 
. Unfortunately, my personal knowledge of large 
! arpon is limited, as the biggest specimen that 1 
'ever landed weighed only one hundred and 
sixty (160) pounds; and I do not think that I 
?ver hooked any heavier ones. For many years 
he weight of the record tarpon was two hun¬ 
dred and nine pounds, the length being eight 
feet two or three inches. This fish was landed 
jpn a heavy hand-line by a man and a boy at 
j \ransas Pass. The specimen was evidently a 
| nale, because a female a foot shorter would 
; lave exceeded that weight. 
Early in 1900 I sent you a communication, 
llustrating what I then deemed to be the record 
arpon catch. It was made at Tampico by Dr. 
.Howe, of Mexico City. The length of the fish 
: vas six feet eight inches, and the circumscrib- 
ng rectangle at maximum section measured nine 
nches by fifteen inches. The recorded weight 
,vas two hundred and twenty-three pounds. Al- 
hough the weighing was done on a Vom Hofe 
[scale of mine that I had loaned Dr. Howe, I 
im now convinced that there was an error, 
either in the apparatus or in the reading; for 
I have since caught a fish that was almost a 
duplicate of Dr. Howe’s, the length being ex¬ 
actly the same and the sides of the circumscrib¬ 
ing rectangle eight inches by sixteen inches. 
The weight of my fish was exactly one hundred 
and sixty pounds, and the maximum girth a full 
forty inches. Applying the standard rule would 
make the weight 80X40X40^-800=160, which is 
the exact figure at which the fish tipped the scale 
within half an hour after it was caught. If the 
weights of these two fishes were directly pro¬ 
portional to the areas of their greatest circum¬ 
scribing rectangles, Dr. Howe’s fish would have 
weighed 160X9X15-=-f8X16) =169 pounds. It is 
therefore evident that the true weight must have 
been between one hundred and sixty and one 
hundred and seventy pounds. 
With the possible exception of this fish of Dr. 
Howe’s, the largest tarpon yet landed on rod 
and reel of which I have heard, weighed two 
hundred and fifteen pounds, and I believe it was 
caught by Mr. Edward vom Hofe. If I am 
wrong about this, I trust that some correspondent 
will correct me. 
I have a rather hazy recollection of reading 
many years ago about a tarpon caught in a net 
off the coast of Florida, the weight of which was 
three hundred and sixty-five pounds. Can any 
of your readers locate the article or verify the 
weight mentioned? 
Three cases indicating the existence of mam¬ 
moth tarpon have come within my experience; 
and I shall give them for what they are worth. 
Unfortunately, the records are rather vague; but 
I think they are authentic enough to show that 
there exist tarpon of far greater dimensions than 
any yet caught with rod and reel. 
1 he first case was related to me by my friend. 
Dr. Howe, whom I have already mentioned. He 
was fishing a short distance above the mouth of 
“Old River,” which empties into the Panuco, 
directly opposite the city of Tampico. For 
some hours he had been out of luck, and 
suddenly had a heavy strike; but the fish did not 
jump after the Doctor had set the hook, and he 
concluded that it was an immense foul fish of 
some kind, for sharks and saw-fish abound 
there. Wishing to avoid a long, hard struggle 
with such a monster, he concluded to save as 
much line as possible and sacrifice a snell; con¬ 
sequently he backed up the boat, reeled in all the 
line he could, and surged on the rod. At the 
instant the line parted, there appeared above the 
surface of the water an enormous tarpon head— 
as big as a cow’s head, the Doctor stated. He 
has never since forgiven himself for his pre¬ 
cipitancy. This record contains a moral for 
fishermen, viz., “never cut loose from a fish until 
you have determined beyond the peradventure of 
a doubt to what you are attached.” 
For my part, I do not believe in cutting loose 
from any big fish; and only once have I done 
so. I was then fast to a sting-ray some ten feet 
long and weighing about three hundred pounds; 
and as I had killed a similar fish the day before, 
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Oarfish, Regalecus russelli, on the beach at Newport, orange county, cal. 
Photograph by C. P. Remsberg. From Dr. Jordan’s “Fishes.” 
