836 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[May 26, 1906. 

utes. Twenty-five was consumed on the beach, 
the other forty-five being before we got there. 
Weight, 137 pounds; length, 6 feet 8 inches. The 
Oe for the West Florida Coast up to April 
I, 1906. 
Mounted with the hook still in him he rests on 
the wall of a friend’s house. The moral of this 
is, do not hook your tarpon through the back or 
tail. 
The next three days were spent in the usual 
daily grind of catching small fish, but on April 
5, at about the same time and place, a tarpon 
came again to me. This fish showed the speed 
with which a tarpon can move when he feels the 
hook. My line was leading off to the left at the 
time, about fifty feet being out, while another man 
was fishing about the same distance to my right. 
This time I had a fair bite and can now answer 
question I asked of many and never could get 
any clear answer to, what is a tarpon bite like? 
The best way I can define it is to say, it is harder 
than a big grouper and not so fast as a kingfish. 
That, to my mind, defines it perfectly and will, | 
think, to anybody who has caught these fish. Of 
course, I hit him as hard as I could, using both 
hands with the automatic on and one thumb on 
the drag. The rod buckled pretty well, and the 
next moment, to my surprise, a tarpon leaped into 
the air just back of the other boat to my right. 
I thought the other man had him, but the rushing 
line told me that again luck had favored me, This 
fish was properly hooked in the mouth and 
promptly jumped again. He took off considerable 
line but nothing like the first one, and I soon cut 
off the automatic and fought him with the left 
drag and thumbs on the brake. He soon became 
rather quiet and I began to get in line and we 
started for the beach. 
About half way to shore I had recovered all 
the line up to the white piece of string, the tarpon 
being suspiciously quiet when the line began to 
slacken, Julius yelled, “Look out, sir,’ and began 
to row hard, and straight for the boat came Br’er 
Tarpon, and nothing but hard reeling and the fact 
that Julius quickly swung the boat off to the 
right saved us, the line missing the stern by a 
few feet. When the line tightened out I fetched 
him up all standing and he promptly went up in 
the air, shaking his head like an angry cat. Once 
more he tried the same tactics, but again we luck- 
ily dodged him and then he came like the pro- 
verbial lamb. This was too good to last and I 
was suspicious of him, and luckily, for he sud- 
denly did the same thing over again. My feelings 
were not improved by Julius remarking, “Dat 
fish sure raise de debbil when he gets to de 
beach.” Surely enough, when he realized we were 
taking him ashore he suddenly turned and made 
a tremendous run, taking line at a great rate. I 
did not dare try and put the automatic on, be- 
cause I have said it works hard under much pres- 
sure, so held him with the lever and both thumbs 
on the brake. Finally he stopped and again I 
got back line and we finally reached shore. Julius 
carefully beached the boat and then took the rod, 
reaching over my shoulder, and I had a chance 
to land and stretch my arms. 
Being held close to the beach seemed to enrage 
the fish, and during the minute or two while 
Julius was holding the rod, he went in the air 
three times, making six jumps in all. Then I 
took the rod and fought him till he became good, 
when the idea seized me to try to gaff him my- 
self. Julius brought him in beautifully head on 
and I went quietly to him but he saw me, and 
just as I reached him he turned and bolted out, 
but the strain of the line made him pass me side- 
ways and I hit at the head, missed and gaffed 
him through the tail. (Reader, don’t gaff your 
tarpon through the tail.) That tarpon fairly 
pulled me off my feet and rubbed my nose into 
the gravel. Under the next wave we both went, 
I hanging on to the gaff fortunately. When I 
came up I got partly to my feet only to be yanked 
under again on ‘the next wave, but when that 
went back I finally got my feet on the sand and 
dragged him ashore, much to the relief of my 
friend Julius. 
Of the two fish this was much the more fun, 
the first being more like hard work, as hooked so 
far back he could not jump much and could get a 
side run when on the beach, which accounts for 
the long time it took to land him. The time of 
the second fish was forty minutes. Length, 5 feet 
Ir inches. Weight, 100 pounds and some ounces 
after being out of water twenty-four hours, so 
he probably weighed a little more. 
Where to Go for Tarpon. 
Should any of your readers be afflicted with a 
desire to catch a tarpon, the following directions 
will surely get them a fish: 
Having outfitted with good tarpon tackle, and 
I won’t specify any particular make, though pri- 
vately I may have my own idea on the subject, 
take train to Ft. Meyers, Fla. There you can 
get a small boat which runs to Useppa Island, 
where there is a fair hotel, the Useppa Inn, and 
you are within three miles of the fishing grounds, 
and a launch will tow you déwn each morning 
and bring you back at night. As for guides I 
would write to Punta Gorda to Julius Whitehead 
or his partner All, Billy Washington or Stanley. 
They are the men who were with Turner, as I 
mentioned, and their names are household words 
in the world of tarpon. Tell your guide to meet 
you at Useppa Island with his boat. J mention 
the Useppa Inn simply because it is the only one 
within twenty-five miles of Boca Grande and 
looks clean and respectable. Of course, being on 
our own houseboat we were independent of hotels. 
Another good and probably less expensive way 
would be to go to Punta Gorda and hire a small 
bugeye or smack and sail to the grounds and live 
on her. Two men could run her and one do the 
cooking, 
Coast Chart No. 175, which you can buy at any 
chart store on Front street, will give you a good 
idea of this country and your place to fish. 
Time to Go to Florida. 
To shoot, go in the months of December, Janu- 
ary and February, because the game laws permit 
shooting then and because there are no rattle- 
snakes then. To fish, go from April 15 to June ft. 
Fish and Fishing. 
ADVICES just to hand from Lake Edward are 
to the effect that the lake has been only a few 
days clear of ice. Almost as soon as the ice dis- 
appears, however, or within ten days of it, the 
best of the spring fishing is generally to be had. 
From Lake St. John a rather peculiar condition 
of affairs is reported. The rising of the lake by 
the immense volume of water brought down by 
the rivers in consequence of the melting of the 
snow has lifted the ice from the shores of the 
lake, and ouananiche are already being caught - 
from the wharves at Roberval and wherever 
there is open water quite close to land. The fish- 
ing is, so far, all done by the residents, who fish 
entirely with bait; but I see no reason why flies 
should not prove successful, and a party of Que- 
becers intends to make the experiment in a few 
days. Meanwhile, the field of ice upon the center 
of the lake is still very heavy, and may not break 
up for a week or two, 
Dr. A. B. Johnson, of New York, and Miss 
Johnson passed through here on the 1oth inst., 
en route for Lac La Peche, in the St. Maurice dis- 
trict, which is now easily reached by a beautiful 
series of canoe trips and easy portages from Lake 
Edward, on the lhne of the Quebec & Lake St. 
John Railway, and to which a new and direct 
railway route will be opened next autumn by 
means of the La Tuque branch of that line. Dr. 
Johnson may have.a few days to wait for good 
fishing, but he has splendid camping accommoda- 
tion and knows how to enjoy it, whether fishing 
is on or not. In June he will go down to his 
salmon river in Labrador. 
There is quite-a probability of new northern 
fishing waters being opened up to the public in 
the near future, through the discovery of rich 
mineral deposits at Chibagamou, some 170 miles 
northwest of Lake St. John and within fifty miles 
or so of Lake Mistassini. Several American and 
British capitalists have already become interested 
in them, and Captain and Mrs. Machin, of Eng- 
land, have arrived here to visit the locality, which 
will have to be done at present by canoe and port- 

age from Lake St. John. The agitation for the 
construction of a railroad is so great that in all 
probability one will be built at least part of the 
way before very long, and in any case the portage 
paths will be so improved that it will not be 
difficult for anglers to make their way to the many 
well-stocked waters intervening between Lake St. 
John and Chibagamou, almost all of which are 
practically virgin ones. 
Prince Arthur has Some Fishing. 
Fortunately for Prince Arthur of Connaught, 
the lakes in the Ottawa country lose their winter 
covering much earlier than those in eastern Que- 
bec, and His Royal Highness was thus enabled to 
have some very good trout fishing before return- 
ing to England. It is said that he was very.much 
disappointed, however, to have been unable to 
experience the delights of ouananiche fishing at 
Lake St. John. He spent Saturday, the 5th inst., 
Sunday, and part of Monday, at Lake St. Ger- 
main, seven miles distant from Low station on the 
line of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The fish 
rose freely to the fly, and the party’s catch was 
quite a large one. So greatly did the Prince 
enjoy it that he would not be paddled back to 
camp for the evening meal on Saturday, until 
the fish stopped rising, because of the darkness, 
and he rose at an early hour on Monday morn- 
ing to enjoy more of the sport, before breaking 
camp to catch the train, continuing to fish through 
quite a heavy shower of rain. 
The Prince’s father, the Duke of Connaught, 
his aunts, Queen Alexandra and the Princess 
Louise, and his cousins, the daughters of the 
King, and the Prince of Wales, are all accom- 
plished anglers, their favorite sport, naturally 
enough, being salmon fishing. King Edward cares 
less for fishing than for shooting, however, and 
does not appear to share the success of other 
members of the royal family when he does go 
a-fishing, 
Does the Season Need Changing? 
Mr. A. A. Wilson, of Montreal, urges a change 
in the season for catching pike-perch or doré and 
black bass.’ He declares that he has caught them 
full of eggs as late as the end of June, and con- 
sequently that they should not be caught before 
July 1 in each year. Doré can now be taken as 
early as May 15, and it is a well known fact that 
while fishing for them anglers often catch the 
black bass as well. The attention of the proper 
authorities is being called to the matter. 
E. T. D. CHAMBERS. 
Fastening the Reel Band. 
New Yorx.—Editor Forest and Stream: It 
hardly seems like the proper thing for a fisher- 
man of only one year’s experience to attempt to 
write anything that would be of interest to men 
who were “fishing when he was a child,” but 
when he sees one of the past masters in the art 
in trouble and fast on a snag that he has been on 
and got off of it is his duty, at least, to, try and 
show him the way. My education, so far, has 
consisted in practical work, of one trip a week, 
for fifty-one weeks, to the fishing banks, on one 
of the fishing boats, and the book end of it.lies 
before me now in fifty-one copies of my new- 
found friend, Forest AND STREAM. 
Mr. A; St. J. Newberry, a friend whom I have 
met only through his welcome letters to “my 
paper,’ tells of the trouble and aggravation of 
having his reel band slip just when it should be 
firmest, and wonders why they are not made on 
salt-water rods to lock, as on a salmon rod. I 
can tell him and any other brother anglers who 
have had trouble because the reel band slipped 
just when it should be firm and solid, how to 
fasten it, and so that it will hold, too. I have 
used this all winter cod fishing, and while I do 
not know how hard the big game fish pull, I do 
know that a 30-pound cod on the end of a 100- 
foot line is like rolling in so much pig-iron, and 
when the fish is half way up, if your reel is not 
solid you'll wish that it were. 
In my fishing basket I carry several spools of 
tire tape, or more properly insulating tape. Any 
hardware dealer keeps it, and it is used by elec- 
