Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1901-10-25
WHERE TARPON SWARM,
30 Thick in Galveston Waters That They
Have Become a Nuisance.

DO THICK In Galveston Waters That They
Have Become n Nuisance.
Tarpon are becoming so thick in
Galveston waters that the fish is a
nuisance for those who desire to en-
gage in the sport of capturing fish.
Not that the tarpon is not an edible
fish, for it is; but it is not considered
when there are mackerel and trout
and reddish and sheephead and q few
others.
The trouble is that the tarpon in its
eagerness to get square meal, gets
after these edible fish, steals bait and
often runs away with the hooks and
lines Of the fishermen. But for real,
genuine, hard-work sport the tarpon
will furnish enough for an able
bodied fisherman for q couple of
hours. He is a game fish, if ever
there was one. He takes hold Of the
hook with swoop, lunges, jumps,
spars for wind, ducks for time and
makes the water churn to a foam
in his endeavors to get away. A good,
stout hook and line, with real, are
the implements necessary to effect
his capture, but even with these In the
hands of an amateur he is apt to
break the line and get away. Tarpon
has to be worn out before he can be
landed, unless by deft bit Of assist
ance he may be landed on n rock
during one of his famous leaps and
plunges.
In fishing for tarpon most people
prefer boat, so that they can follow
the fish in his runs and lunges with
out endangering the line. He Is not
such a monster fish, but he is lively
one. Few tarpon will touch the beam
at 100 pounds, and the biggest known
here was six feet ten inches in length.
In appearance as they come from the
water they are like great ingots of
silver, the tips Of their scales being
of that hue. But they put up lively
fight, and in no place are there so
many as at Galveston. Galveston
fishermen say that they will get forty
five strikes here where they get one in
Florida waters. The waters at times
seem alive with them. Their chief
diet Is mullet.
These little fish come along in
schools covering acres. When the
water is quiet out along the jetties
the mullets will come up, play in the
surface and keep the water agitated
with little ripples. They move along
with the jetty slowly, when suddenly
they will stop, act bewildered, dart
this way for few rods and then turn
and run in the opposite direction.
Soon on all sides the tarpon will begin
to plunge above the surface of the
water in diving for mullets. 1t ap-
pears that the tarpon is quite a gem
attacking. Tarpon is also fond of
menhaden, but these do not appear
in such numbers as the mullets.
But the tarpon is an enemy to any
thing that swims which is small
enough to be contained in his stomach,
and for that reason he is a nuisance.
After the jetties were. completed AMI
the workmen with their noise and dis
turbance We're disbanded fish found
the rocks a good place for breeding.
AS q consequence the jetties have be-
come the finest place for fishing to
be found in American waters any
where. They furnish the finest place
because of the many different game
fish that abound, as well as the great
variety and the enormous quantity.
The fact that small fish find the Jet
ties such comfortable places for the
establishment Of homes has attracted
the tarpon and the shark and the pro-
poise, the Junefish and the rayiisn.
These all feed on the smaller fish
and each preys upon the other. 1t is
pure case of the survival of the
fitttest, and were it not for the fact
that millions Of small fish exist to
where there is one big fish the race
of small fishes would soon become eX-
tinct and the big fish would go hungry
or have to go on health food for a
time.-Galveston News.