Mexico weekly ledger., 1896-02-06
The Tarpon At Home.
THE GAMEST OF FISH PLENTIFUL
IN SOUTH FLORIDA
WATERS.
A Tickle Fish at Taking the Bait
How They are Caught Skilled
Fishermen Sometimes
Lose Them

A oNaSE1 rlAA.s jail. ZI.-N we
are almost at the south end of Flor
ida and here is where we expect to
catch tarpon, the largest and gamest
of fish. Mat Quay and Crocker have
been here some time and they got the
best of it, as usual. We are going
after what is left.
From Punta Rassa south to Key
West the finest specimens of tarpon
have been caught, and the waters
along this coast r the natural win
ter quarters of the gamy silver fish.
The fishing here is superb, and one
should add a boat to his list of hunt
ing accessories unless willing to hire
boats from the local fishermen at ex-
orbItant rates. While it is true that a
native can take a stranger to places
where the tarpons are most likely to
be found, they cannot fulfill any of
their cxtravagant promises. The tar
pom is in one place to-day and another
tomorrow.
Besides, he is the most tickle of
creatures when it comes to taking a
bait. A tempting morsel of mullet
may dangle before his nos for hours
aud he will dlsdain to touch it, but at
another time he may swim after it
with the ayidity of a starving creature.
When the tarpon does bite he let's
the fisherman know it. The bait is
er-,Iral lnuvn vrif1, ., oaor, aTnl tho limo
spins out go rapidly that the reel al
most jumps from the pole. The sleepy
fisherman, who has probably been
waiting four or five hours for his prey,
is aroused to activity in an instant
and a royal battle begins. The line
used for the tarpon is not much larger
than that employed by the ordinary
boy for catfishing, while the fish may
weigh from two to three hundred
pounds.
/ If the line is made taut for one in
slant the game is gone, and the fish
erman has nothing to pay him for his
hours of patience. An unskilled fish
erman will lose his tarpon every time.
The old-fashioned method of using a
heavy line and letting the tarpon drag
the boat around until dead from ex-
haustion is no longer resorted to by
the sportsmen. 1t is skill rather than
brute strength that must land the sill
yer king.
When the creature rushes headlong
out to sea the five hundred yards of
line are played out rapidly, and by
gentle pulls and twitches the tarpon
is persuaded to change his direction
before the limit of the line is reached.
His next course may be at right
angles from the first, or straight back
upon his tracks, or again deep down
into the Gulf waters. In either case
the fisherman must be ready to wind
up or unwind, and to keep the line
moderately tight. A slack line is as
dangerous as one too tight, for the
tarpon will turn upon it and snap the
strands in two pieces. Heis prevented
from doing this when the line is tight
by several feet of soft cottony SUBJ
stance next to the hook, which gets
into his teeth and refuses to be parted.
The tarpon is beyond doubt the
gamest fish in this country, and to
land one is a real honor. For several
long hours he Wal thresh about in the
water, leaping ten feet out of it a
score of times, and dashing back and
forth and up and down until a white
foam gathers all about the boat. One
moment the fisherman will bring him
within ten feet of the boat and his
heart will beat exultingly, but the
next instant he has rushed away like
an express train, carrying nearly five
hundred yards of line behind him.
Not until he was more dead than
alive with his own violent exertions
will the monster permit his captors to
land him with the gait. The battle has
been a royal one, and if the fish Ii
dead the fishermen are nearly SO, fol-
every joint and muscle of the arm
and shoulder aches and trobs witt
the exertion.
The shooting is equal to the fishing
There are deer here and all kinds o.
small game in the forests. The alliga'
tors are the most sought as their hide
and teeth are very valuable, and some
of the plumage of the birds sell at higl
prices.
The professional hunter makes goo'