view raw text
SOME DANGERS OF TARPON FISHING Instances of Fishermen Put in Peril by the Great Fijhtinjr Fish. That the adventurous angler who wishes to capture this well-known American game fish has literally to take, his- life in his hands upon occasions may be news to many. Always an exciting sport, it Would seem from nn article in the New York . Sun by Alex McB. Stoddart that it sometimes develops an element of danger that should be sufficiently thrilling for even the hardiest devotee of the piscatorial art. -Here is, what the writer says: "By many angling. is considered a. gentle pastime. Anglers who seek the big game fish of the sea, like the devilfish, black seabass or jewfish, sword-fish, tarpon and tuna, frequently come back with tales of being towed to sea for hours. In ironing devilfish it is essential in driving home the barb to put the small boat ou the big fishs back. That type of angling .is regarded as the most thrilling sea sport ih the. world. "Perils always attend the sport of tarpon fishing; yet thousands fish annually and never come close to danger. Yet danger always lurks in the uath of King Tarpon, the. high leaper of the ea and the knight in warriors mail. "Last year not far from St. Petersburg, Fla., Mrs. Freda Solomonsou of Tampa, Fla., came near losing her life when her necktie became entangled in tho reel" ami tightened around her neck, almost choking her into lifelessness. "Mrs. Solomonson. was .angling in St. Johns. Pass when she got a strike from a tarpon estimated to weigh more than 100 pounds. In her excitement to bring the fish in quickly she failed to notice that the necktie had been caught in the reel until It was too late to tear it off, and If the line had not broken by the tugging of the tarpon undoubtedly death would have resulted. , THE TARPONS MIGHTY LEAP. "The tarpon when it leaps is no respecter of persons or things. Just what -force a tarpon flying through the air can exert may be seen from the results of an .. air-ling trip .made . by a. tarpon leaping across a tugboat, some .years ago at the mouth of the -Brazos River. It struck an iron stanchion half an inch thick and knocked it out of plumb. "In Galveston Bay m number of years ago an angler was ftfurid dead in the bottom of his boat. The coroner stated the mans neck was broken, and attributed death to a blow of a tarpon. "What happened to Charlie Cross, the presiding genuis of an alligator hunters camp situated on the Gulf of Naples, has been substantiated by Dr. Green of Naples, Fla. At the end of the season in March it was Charlies custom to carry his skins, to. Marco aiid dispose- vt them. Cross was returning from one of these trips, and he had turned from that part of Marco Inlet known as Colliers Jlay. He was holding the rudder with his knee, in order that he might light his pipe, when a mullet leaped from the water, darting across, the stern of the boat. "He was surprised, but more astonished to see a tarpon rise from the water, and before he could move out of the way the fish struck him in the chest and knocked him overboard. The fish fell into the boat. His companion pulled the injured man back jnto the boat and the fish was beaten to death. It weighed 103 pounds." ..Sometimes the fjsh may land in the boat unexpectedly without injuring itself in any way, when a lively battle is likely to occur between the occu pants of the boat and the intruder, which often proves itself a formidable antagonist. Such a cast; is next described by the writer: "Capt. C. C. Pettit, of Galveston. Tex., once had a narrow escape in Galveston Bay. He was casting for shrimp in his twelve-foot skiff and a tarpon jumped into the boat, knocking the oars and net overboard. Captain Pettit then was sixty vears old, but no weakling. He drew his knife, and a fight that lasted sixty minutes commenced. Finally, after an hours struggle, he cut the fishs spine. The tarpon weighed 170 pounds, "ten more pounds more than the captain. The man was severely bruised. HAD TO BE KILLED WITH A HATCHET. "A like battle was once fought, though not so long, by Judge William King, formerjy a district judge of southern Texas. The judge Was angling with several friends from a yacht in Arkansas Bay. One of the men hooked and played a tarpon for an hOur, three times getting the fish within five feet of the boat, when the fourth time the fish, finding itself close to the yacht, leaped into the boat, the sweep of its tail carrying the judge with it into the cockpit. ... "Both the judge and the fish struggled in the semi-darkness, and there was a good deal of blood and scales everywhere, when one of the crew with a hatchet stopped the battle by kjlling the fish. It weighed 120 pounds. "Three men in a boat, R. 1. Jackson, M. L. Stoner and W. L. Straub, went tarpon fishing from Pensacola, Fla. Jackson got a strike and the otiier men started to reel in their tines. Straub was in the stern of the boat, and suddenly Jacksons fisli leaped and hit Straub in the back, knocking him into the boat proper. In the excitement the hook came out of the fishs mouth and the tarpon flopped back into the water. One of Straubs legs was battered and bruised, and his head on the left side was black and blue. "E. A. Mcllhenny, whose wonderful pictures of wild life have been seen by thousands of sportsmen, reeolleqts a tarpon tragedy iiear Avery Island, Louisiana. The man was fishing from a skiff when a tarpon in leaping struck the angler, squarely in the chest, smashing two ribs and causing death. "George W. Wagner. Jr., son of Br. Wagner of Johnstown, Pa., off Egmont Key. Fla., was pulled out of the boat by a tarpon. A shark got the tarpon, and a boathook was used to haul the boy out. "Louis S. Grenner of New York at Biscayne Bay, Fla., last vear was pulled out of the boat by a tarpon weighing eighty-seven pounds. The line became wound arpund one of his legs,, and if it had. uotbeen for the quick action of the guide, Victor Cassell. Mr. Grenner believes he might have been drowned.
