Evening star., 1936-01-05

Tarpon atlanticus. II you must be
scientific. When he hits it Is as II a
brick wall had fallen on your bait.
He leaves nothing to the imagination
and Immediately he feels the prick
of the hook he Is out of the sea, q
streak of silver against a dark-green
background. The finest sigh in the
sporting world is a tarpon jumping
in the moonlight. The silver fish
itself, feet of FURNISHED metal, Jump
ing 10 feet out Of the waterfall Of
him-with the moonlight reflected on
phorescent water below, make a pic
ture never to be forgotten. But be
careful with him, or you will lose
him. The tarpon is no soft-mouthed
fish. His mouth is composed almost
wholly of bony plates, leaving only
few soft spots for even the sharpest
hook to hold. His first impulse when
he feels the sting of the hook Is
to leave the water, shaking his head
like a bull terrier with a bone, to
throw that stinging object. He fre-
quently succeeds. A good average on
tarpon hooked trolling IS three fish
| in five strikes, and the beginner
probably will lose his first dozen fish
before he boats one.
| Often, after a hard scrap lasting
from 80 minutes to an hour and a
| half, you will, if you keep a tight
line, boat your tarpon with q hole
an inch across worn in one of few
soft spots in his mouth by the hook.
Give him an inch of slack line and
he will be out of the water and throw
that barb. And fast?
One night last Winter Louis w.
Laudick, a Washington angler, hooked
a big one in one of the narrow chan.
| nels Of the Shark. Immediately after
the fish was hooked the boat ran
aground on mud bank and the fight
was all behind the boat, where the
aerial tactics of the fish showed to
best advantage out there in the moon.
light. That fish jumped times in
minutes, once 20 yards to port, and
within a second again 20 yards of the
starboard stern. It was so fast it
| was unbelievable. He was finally
lost when he rose with the gaff and
| threw the hook and gaff. 1t is sport.
ing, also, to turn loose your tarpon,
for he IS useless as food. His flesh
is coarse and faky and he is full
of small bones. Take scale from
about midway down his side in the
middle of the fish, measure his length
and girth, release him and he will
be unharmed, awaiting another sport.
ing battle. The formula will tell his
weight.
IT ATER in the season the tarpon will
come, around April /, to the little
town of Everglades and the town Of
Naples. Shark River is inaccessible
except by boat, and most of the Shark
River fishermen start from Everglades,
run of so miles down the coast;
sleep and eat on the boat, for there
are no beaches or landing places in
the river itself. Down there you will
also catch big black grouper. an ugly
fish which comes up like coal scut-
tie and may weigh so pounds; fast
and gamey jackfish, and small shark,
particularly if you are still fishing
with cut mullet. The shark will bother
you a lot, but the guide has cure
for them, stout wallop on the tip
of the nose, a few dum-dum bullets
and another shark has gone. But If
you happen to hook a mackerel shark
you are in for scrap. The mackerel,
or red shark, leaves the water in
Jump and is a fair fighter.
Farther up the West Coast, toward
Boca Grande, the best fishing spot
for tarpon of them all; Charlotte
Harbor, Fort Myers, with its wide
Caloosahatchee River, and toward
Sarasota, Venice, Point of Rocks and
Tampa, st. Petersburg and Clearwater
the tarpon travel as Spring comes.
4 May Is a good month for them at
Boca Grande, and late May and June
the best time at Sarasota and Venice.
Both places have their tarpon clubs,
where you can weigh-in your catch
and get your button. Like the Miami
Anglers CLUB, which gives buttons for
big sailfish, the various tarpon clubs
on the West Coast reward the lucky
and skillful angler for his silver king.
You'll find jewish weighing 500
pounds, q black bulk that isn't much
fun to catch; you may hook q saw
fish weighing 600 pounds and cut on
his enormous jagged saw, four feet
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