Smyrna times., 1908-02-05
TARPON TACTICS.
Wonderful Fests, Flights and Leaps Of
the Silver King.

Wonderful Fests, Flights and Leaps Of
the Silver King.
In the big pass tarpon can best be
caught from near the bottom of the
channel and should lie tished for with
fifty feet of line ana Il heavy sinker.
In shallow water the tarpOn leaps
high in air the instant he feels the
hook, but in the pass he often fights
for minute or two before coming to
the surface, More than once when
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 Il four ounce
leaden sinker flying over my head from
nearly twice that distance. Other tar.
pom when struck came straight up
from the bottom. one grazing our gun.
vale as he rose and another leaping
over the stern of the canoe. AS soOr
as tarpOn was tired enough to let us
pull the canoe beside him we removed
the hook from his mouth and let him
swim home to his family. 1t happened
once that tarpOn was less tired than
We had assumed. On that occasion we
swain home. and he had Il good man
story 10 tell his friends.
1t had been counted Il poor year for
tarpOn. yet in fifteen consecutive days
of fishing we were fast to fOrty-fOur
tarpOn. each of which had jumped for
/ tn IVn
high water mark of twelve jumps was
made 10y Il tarpOn which was stimu.
lated to his later efforts by the pres.
encc Of pursuing shark. and the
| twelfth jump was Il double number.
There was cOmmOtiOn in the crimsOned
water. new Vi%Or at the other end Of
my line. and it WAS an hour later when
| finally landed on IL yGHI bar a shark
with IN aldermanic stomach A knife
| drawn across this diS:cnded 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, unP-fifth the size
Of our hig 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. | was fishing in the pass with
| fifty feet of line ana the bait was di.
rectly under the canoe when Il tarpOn
struck fiercely quickly carried away q
hundred more feet of line and theu
swan so swiftly toward CS that fear.
ed from the lOOSened l'np thlt he had
escaped. Then. fifty feet f"o:I the ca
noe. there shot into the air Il giant tar,
pom, measuring, as we learned after
ward. an even seven feet. Up. up. up
he rose until the camera seemed to he
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 whicl
marked twenty-five feet on the line az
it hung plumb down from the tarpOn.
Once | gave my own estimate of tht
height of the jump to a group o.
friends and after a glance at thei
grieved expressions appealed to the On'
of most experience on the coast ant
with the tarpon. After a single mo
ment of hesitation he remarked firmly
I'VE fishermen must stand together
| believe the stOry."-A. w. DimOck il
AppletOn's.