The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1939-05-02


hundred. pounds. One fishes for
these with, live grunts, funny lit
tie fish which grunt when caught,
hence their name. 1t took US
about l " hours to get out to the
creeks, and I was introduced to a
. new kind of. fishing with a line.
The way the sgrunts swallowed
the bait-lQbsefs, by, the way,
tickled tremendously, and ! pull
ed, up, one, after another with
great gustD, We = caught three
? huge Jewish, one about 100 lbs,
before, ito was decided we must
make a move and commence the
serious business of the evening,
and, by the way, there was no
moon. So we dined-half chick
en- each in our fingers seemed
mighty good, and by Z o'clock it
was dark and we were ready and
out in a water favoured by Mr..
Tarpon. Truly it is strange how
novice's luck holds good. soon
hooked a 50-lb. one, and had to
call the assistance of Mrs. CRIES.
to reel him in, and if anyone
thinks this is a small task I adj
wise them to try their hands at
bringing in a fish of this weight.
In about an hours time / had
another, and with the "do or die"
feeling / was determined to bring
him in myself. rift was 9 o'clock
and pitch dark I reeled for all
was worth, and nwould accept
no help. Suddenly the mate
said, He's gonen. mo he hasn't !,
replied, cor else there is young
whale on the end of my line. I
was right. Mister Tarpon was
duly hooked and landed, and
proved great beauty. About 10
p. M, with two tarpon and three
Jewish, besides oddments in the
way of grunts and snappers, we
decided we might turn home
wards as Capt. Key said the tide
was against us.
The night was black as ink.
Mrs. Griess settled herself down
to sleep, and I. dosed. About IL
o. m. I heard an ominous sound
from the engine, and though we
seemed to be going full steam
ahead did not appear to be NOV
ing. After watching Capt. Key
and his brother doing great work
with poles which seemed to re-
suit in nothing, ventured to ask
if we'd struck a sand. bank, and
the answer was in "the infirm-
ary' as it were, and the mate told
me it would be morning before
we'd get off when the tide would
rise. I resigned myself to our
fate-did not wake Mrs. Cries.,
and retired to rest on the hardest
] bunk i've ever struck. Capt. Key
/ and, his brother stretching out on
the floor-the exasperating part
was that we were only half an
hour from Key West, but for all
the help we might expect we
could just as well have been in
the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
! At 6 p. m. / came out and. a
consultation took place which re-
suited in Mrs. CRIES., who'd slept
on the floor as preferable to a
hard bunk, and the mate going
overheard and doing valiant work
in the way of pushing the boat
! off the bank. For the first time
since I came here / did not t Ike
my camera, and how l regretted
it. Never will I forget the scene
in the rising sun of Mrs. CRIES.
and the mate standing up to their
middles on a sand bank in the
Gulf of Mexico, and 1 watched
the sunrise with a whisky and
soda in one hand and cheese
!. sandwich in the other, whilst we
/ got the boat moving and left
them. =, /. - d@s ss. ~
/ In due course we picked them
up and otsinto' the harbour soon
after a. ms,, and when we land
ed our catch the jewish and the
tarpon, we found we had once
! more achieved "the catch of the
season.. Mrs. CRIES., 'phoned
i the hotel for my camera and her
Poodle, Oh. Amour of the Misty
Isles, to come down to the dock
! Immediately, and discovered that
our absence had caused consid-
cradle anxiety, a car had waited
I till / a. m. to bring us back, and
they had sat up till the small
hours waiting for us. However,
all's well that ends well, only we
felt a little crushed. when the
manager of the Casa Marina said,
."If you plan to spend all night
fishing. just let me. know and l
swiil have your dog looked after.
for In the ordinary course of
events we planned to be back at
| 1880. whereas it was just 10 a.
M. the following morning when
! we entered the hotel and being
out all. night was anything but
what we wanted. But what an
experience. I wouldn't have