Evening star., 1898-05-07
FIGHT WITH A TARPON.
4 Specimen Weighing 155 Pounds
Landed After q Hard Struggle.
Ero,,,


From Forest and Stream.
One of the most hotly contested and
thoroughly satisfactory fights between a
man, armed with light rod and reel, and
tarpon in the fullest possession of his
powers that has ever come to my knowl-
edge. occurred in Biscayne waters last
week. The date was March 23. the man
was Mr.. Fred. H Benton of New Haven,
Conn, and the tarpon, who was feet s
inches long, feet 2 inches around the body
and weighed 155 pounds, was a resident
of Caesars creek, deep. narrow channel
lying between Mangrove Island. beloved OF
all fishermea who know it, and forming the
southern entrance to Biscayne bay. On
returning from a cruise among the Florida
KEYS the yacht Susie b. came To anchor on
Wednesday evening in Caesars creek, and
Mr.. Benton and his brother, Lewis, went
out to fish while supper was preparing:
Darkness was settling over the scene, and
they were about to return to the yacht
without having caught a thing, when Mr..
Fred Benton, who had never before exper-
fenced a tarpon, suddenly became very
much aware that a member of that family
was in possession of his hook.
Right here it Should be explained that
although tarpon have swarmed in Caesars
creek all winter, they had positively re-
fused to take bait UP to this time. More
over, the present fish seems only to have
made a playful snap at Mr.. Benton's lure
in passing, for the hook barely caught in
his lower lip, where it may still be seen in
the mounted specimen. Thus in the pro-
longed struggle that followed the strain of
pulling it did not come on his inwards, as
is the case when the bait Is gorged, but on
the powerful lower jaw. where 1t was
hardly felt. This fact makes the tight in
question particularly Interesting.
As he felt the hook the great fish gave
three tremendous leaps high in the air,
shaking his head savagely, and then start
t1 tow in 40 nU.aU h.sh
him as though 1t were toy boat After
awhile he changed mis- tactics, and began n
series Of short rushes and counter rushes.
leapings, rapid circlings of the boat, and
darting to and fro directly beneath it. This
was kept up for an hour, during which
time the night became intensely dark and
a furious squan of wind and rain swept
across the black waters.
At the end of that first hour the tarpon.
still as vigorous as ever. decided to travel
and started UP the coast Up the whole
length of Elliot's Key and past Sands Key,
distance Of more :han six miles, he ran:
making break to ding himself high out Of
the water every few minutes as he went.
Each time he did this, the patient angler.
standing in his boat, reeled In a few yards
of line. of which 600 feet were out. only to
lose all that he had thus gained a moment
later, when the great fish again started.
on the Ragged Rocks the tarpcn again
stood out to sea. crossing the broad Hawk
Channel directly in the yellow CLEAN Of
outer reef, he was brought to gan at IL 80
O'Clock. or five and a-half hours from the
be ginning Of the fight.
As the monster. lay alongside the little
dingey. barely discernible through the
0arkness Of second squall, which was at
that moment howling down the reef, he
appeared completely exhausted. The mo-
.ent he felt the gan, however. he showed
a mighty reserve OF strength, lashine the
water into foam with tremendous strug-
giles, thfashing the boat with his powerful
tail until Il seemed as though the sides
would surely be crushed In, and taxing the
utmost efforts Of two strong men to finally
drag him from his native element.
BY this time both men were pretty well