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ANGLING FOR GAME FISH AT USEPPA About one hundred miles south of St Petersburg Fin on the west coast is Useppa Island with its picturesque Tarpon Inn writes A C Nang to the New York Sun SunUseppa Useppa Island lying about midway between Boca Grande Pass and Captiva Pass is in the center of the worlds most famous fishing grounds The principal fish caught is of course the tarpon Anglers come here from every part of the globe to try their skill at catching the gamy silver king and May and June always finds these waters crowded with anxious and ambitious fisher men and women womenI I have often seen more than thirty guide boats trolling for tarpon at Captiva Pass on a May evening On one occasion while fishing there I saw a huge shark lunge at a tarpon that had been hooked and almost bite the silver king in half What was left of the tarpon was badly mutilated when the shark got through and I was told im ¬ mediately afterward that the man who had hooked the fish had been working for over an hour tp land it and was so exhausted by his efforts that he WTIS almost fainting when the shark so gener ¬ ously relieved him himIn In a former article I mentioned the exploit of Mrs Thomas W Magill of Chicago who caught a tarpon iu the pass at Boca Grande in the spring of 1915 welshing 196 pounds It took her two lioura and thirteen minutes to land it Mr Magill had this par ¬ ticular tarpon mounted and it is a beautiful specimen It was over seven feet in length It is now in the winter home of the Magills at Sanibel Island Fla FlaTwo Two of my friends from New York Edgar Wes sel and Maurice Drey have been down here on the west coast since March 1 on an extended fishing trip tripA A short time ago I was fishing with them on the gulf for kingfish red snapper and groper and on one of our trips we caught eightyeight kingfish weighing over 1100 pounds stillfishing with rod and reel reelThe The men are now at Useppa Island on a quest for tarpon At this writing Mr Drey has suc ¬ ceeded in catching a small tarpon weighing sixty pounds poundsMr Mr Wessel killed a jewfish weighing 245 pounds a few days ago after a battle lasting fifty minutes Several times the 600 feet of twentyone thread line were almost run off the reel before the violent rushes of the fish could be checked and Capt Billy Bartlett the guide remarked after the fish had been towed in and weighed that in his long ex ¬ perience fishing in Florida waters he had never seen a fish of this species put up such a game fight fightThere There are many tarpon in the passes now but they have been slow to take the hook because of the large schools of herring with which the waters are alive at tlie present time
