The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-06-16
PARTON FISHING AND CATCHING

Fancy a sheet of water 15 miles long by 10 wide, shut off from the outside gulf by low-lying islands pierced here and there by narrow passages. The water is green, because nowhere is there greater depth than 20 feet. The gentlest of summer winds crinkles the surface and many fragrances from my riads of prairie flowers come to the nostrils mingled with the pungent odor of turtle offal heaped high by the tides upon the sandy edges of the land. On every hand the miniature whitecaps rise and fall, and they are broken now and then by a flash of silver. That is the leap of the tarpon upon his prey.
 The tarpon is made of bone, muscle, scales and temper. In length he ranges from three to six feet and in weight from 30 to 200 pounds. His form is of graceful mold and combines in re- markable degree lissomeness with pow CT. His appetite is admirable. His color is beautiful silvern. His natural food is the mullet, small whitely con- spicuous fish that swims in shoals.
 Thousands upon thousands of them
 travelling together, they mottle and dimple the water in a peculiar way. Back of them, sometimes in the very heart of the throng, flash the lightning rushes of the tarpon. Their trail is marked with blood, for their tremen- dous foe stays them in wantonness long after his maw is filed
 The tarpon is a "top-feeder'-that is,
 he seeks his food near the surface. Those who know him best fish for him with live mullet, which Is not allowed
 to sink more than two feet below the waves, being sustained by a large Float" or cork. The inner portion of his mouth is bone and no hook will take secure hold upon it. This being so, it is necessary to allow him to swallow the bait partially, which he will do by the time that he has carried the float Whirl-
 ing along the water for a space of 30 feet AfterWard is the time to swear 'NO feet of line. Not infrequently when he feels the hook the fish will strike the trail for blue water with a seemingly
 irresistible rush and keep going,
 But if that splendid rush is detlected, if the fish dives, If the thumb of an old
 hand be upon the reel, if the man to
 whom the hand is attached is cool of head and knows enough to give his ad-
 versary the butt a battle royal IS on
 For verify, the combat between 150 pound man, sound of wind and science, and 15O pound tarpon, possessed of the
 temper of devil, is a grapple of the gods. The crazed fish time and again | leaps three. four, five feet from the wa | ter and shakes his head like a dog In | his effort to dislodge the, hook mo- | mentary slack of the line is fatal as
 with the rapidity of lightning the sharp | teeth close upon the strands above the shell and they are severed as if with a knife. But when the terrific strug-
 gles have grown fainter, when the steady, strain of the springing rod has
 sapped the strength of the gallant foe man, his 1.-the, powerful body is brought
 near to the boats edge, when the cruel | gaff has smitten the life from it and it's | beautiful length lies along the deck, the | conqueror feels half jubilant and half
 remorseful wholly respectful of the giant whom his prowess has laid low
 and confoundedly weary and dry.
 | Much nonsense has been written of the things necessary to the man who yearns to hang the tarpons hide upon 1 his back fence. Moneyed ones of the I North and East put s100 into a hand l build rod and another S100 into enor-
 nous reel different lines, smells of va 1 rious metals-for the teeth are sharp
 hooks of many patterns, huge phan- | tom minnows and things like that 1 Then they go South and don't catch
 anything and return home and lie. ! have caught some tarpon and sworn at | many that I did not catch, and I have never seen better outfit than heavy eight-foot rod of swamp cane, a good i reeel, line of sufficient strength, the
 "G' string of guitar for a smell, the i stopper of large "chow- chow" bottle ! for a float, hook with a threee-inch | shank and the Limerick bend and fat, ] lively mullet. So armed, I will crowd
 into a summers day more thoughts,
 passions and delights than the legen-
 dary Carter had oats. And if I fail to
 land my fish, I will julep it and fiction
 it with the best of them-Matthew Stan
 ley Quay not barred.