Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-04-02
Saxon block was called an -al-mon-
heed or observation Of all the moons.'
"From .al-mon-heed our word alma
nae comes"
TARPoN TACTICS. |
Wonderful Feats, Flights and Leaps Of
the Silver King.

WohoeSIui reatS, Flights ana Leaps "
the Silver King.
In the big pass tarpon can best be
caught from near the bottom Of the
channel and should be fished for with
fifty feet of line and a heavy sinker.
In shallow water the tarpon leaps
hook, but in the pass he often fights
for minute or two before coming to
the surface. More than once when I
| had come to fear that my tarpon was
a shark he has suddenly shot above
| the surface like bullet from a gun
and in the first wild shake of his head
| thrown hook and bait fifty feet in the
air, and one even sent four ounce
ieaden sinker flying over my head from
| nearly twice that distance. Other tar
pom when struck came straight up
from the bottom. one grazing our gum
vale as he rose and another leaping
| over the stern of the canoe. AS soon
| as tarpon was tired enough to let VI
pull the canoe beside him we removed
| the hook from his mouth and let him
swim home to his family. 1t happened
we had assumed. On that occasion we
swan home. and he had a good man
story to tell his friends.
1t had been counted poor year for
| tarpon. yet in fifteen consecutive days
| Of fishing We were fast to fOrty-four
| tarpon, each of which had jumped for
| us from one to twelve times. This
high water mark of twelve jumps was
made by n tarpon which was stimu-
| lated to his later efforts by the pres
ence Of pursuing shark. and the
| twelfth jump was double number.
| There was commotion in the crimsoned
| water, new vigor at the other end of
| my line, and it was an hour later when
| finally landed ON h sand bar q shark
| with an aldermanic stomach A knife
| drawn across this distended organ dis
| closed the tarpon in sections. With the
hook still fast in his jaw. and enabled
| the camera man to photograph to.
| gether the subjects he had recently
| photographed separately. Although
| this shark was only one-fifth the size
| Of our big hammerhead. yet he made
but two bites of his victim.
| Our work at Boca Grande ended with
the red letter day of the season of all
| seasons. l was fishing in the pass with
| fifty feet of line and the bait was di-
| rectly under the canoe when a tarpon
struck fiercely. quickly carried away a
hundred more feet of line and then
swan so swiftly toward us that fear
| ed from the loosened line that he had
escaped Then. fifty feet from the ca
noe. there shot into the air giant tar.
| pom, measuring, as we learned after
| ward. an even seven feet. Up. up, up.
he rose until the camera seemed to be
| pointed at the zenith. and before the
| ratified camera man could get his aim
the silver king had turned gracefully
in the air and was plunging downward.
The captain swears that he saw. swing
ing clear of the water, the ribbon which
marked twenty five feet on the line as
1t hung plumb down from the tarpon.
Once gave my own estimate of the
height of the jump to a group of
friends and after a glance at their
grieyed expressions appealed to the one
Of most experience on the coast and
with the tarpon. After a single mo
ment of hesitation he remarked firmly
"We fishermen must stand together
believe the story."-A. w. Dimock II
| AppIeton'S