view raw text
JARPON FISHING PERILS Bold Warrior of the Deep Always Ready for a Battle Some Attack Water Wanderers With ¬ out Being Hooked Many Flftbermen Maaled Many are wont to consider fishing in the light of a peaceful Wnltpnian pleasure hut those who have Bought after the big game fishes of the sea the devilfish black sea bass or Jewfisli swordfish tar ¬ pon and tuna have another tale to tell In the fol ¬ lowing article published in the New York Sun Alex McD Stoddart graphically describes the thrills and perils experienced in angling for the fighting silver king or tarpon which is considered by many to provide the grandest sport with rod and reel to be had upon the globe globePerils Perils always attend the sport of tarpon fishing yet thousands fish annually and never come close to danger Still danger always lurks in the path of King Tarpon the high leaper of the sea and the knight in warriors mail mailTwo Two years ago not far from St Petersburg Fla Mrs Freda Solombnson of Tampa Fla came near losing her life when her necktie became entangled in the reel and tightened around her neck almost clicking her into lifelessness lifelessnessMrs Mrs Solomonson was angling in St Johns Pass when she got a strike from a tarpon estimated to weigh more than 150 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 resultedThe The tarpon when it leaps is no respecter of per oii8 or of tilings Just what force a tarpon flying through the air can exert may be seen from the re ¬ sults of an air line 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 plumbIn In the same river a negro boatman was sitting In the bow of a small skiff when a leaping tarpon struck him and knocked him over backward into the nen The man was stunned by the blow ami drowned In Galveston Bay a number of years ago an angler was found dead in the bottom of his boat The cor ¬ oner stated that the mans neck was broken and attributed death to the blow of a tarpon tarponFISH FISH KNOCKS HEN OVERBOARD OVERBOARDWhat What happened to Charlie Cross the presiding genius 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 and dispose of them Cross was returning from one of these trips and he had turned from that part of Marco Inlet known as Colliers Bay lie 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 boatlie lie 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 into the boat and the fish was beaten to death It weighed 1C3 pounds poundsAt At Useppa Island twelve years ago an Englishman tarpon fishing had hooked a tarpon and was vainly trying to hold the fish as it rushed under the boat Suddenly the tarpon went into the air and leaped across the bow knocking a pipe out of the guides mouth The guide was not hurt but the tarpon struck the boat so hard that it broke its spine and died Incidentally the blow caused a small leak in the boat boatCaptain Captain C C Pettit of Galveston Tex once had a narrow escape in Galveston Bay He was casting for shrimp in his twelvefoot skiff and a tarpon jumped into the boat knocking the oars an1 net overboard Capt Pettit then was sixty years old but no weakling He drew his knife and a fight commenced Finally after an hours strug ¬ gle he cut the fishs spine The tarpon weighed 170 pounds ten more pounds than the Captain The man was severely bruised bruisedA A like battle was once fought though not so long by Judge William King formerly a district judge of southern Texas The judge was angling with several friends from a yacht in Aransas Bay One of the men hooked and played a tarpon for an hour three times getting the fish within five feet of the boat but at the fourth time the fish finding itself close to the yacht leaped into the boat the sweep of its tail carrying the judge with Jt into tiie cockpit cockpitBotli Botli the judge and the fish struggled in the semi darkuess and there was a good deal of blood and scales everywhere when one of the crew with a atchet stopped the battle by killing the fish It weighed 120 pounds poundsMANY MANY TARPON FISHING MISHAPS MISHAPSThree Three men in a boat R D Jackson M L S toner and W I Straub went tarpon fishing from Peusa cohi Plt Jackson got a strike and the other men started to reel in their lines Straub was in the Btyru of the boat and suddenly Jacksons fish leaped and hit Straub in the back knocking him into the bout proper In the excitement the hook came out of thu 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 blueE E A Mcllhenny whose wonderful pictures of wild life have been seen by thousands of sports ¬ men recollects a tarpon tragedy near 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 deathGeorge George W Wagner Jr son of Doctor Wagner of Johnstown Pa1 off Egmont Key Florida was pulled out of the boat by a tarpon A shark got the tarpon and a boathook was used to haul the boy out outLouis Louis S Grenner of New York at Biscayne Bay Florida some time ago was pulled out of the boat by a tarpon weighing eightyseven pounds The line became wound around one of his legs and if it had not been for the quick action of the guide Victor Cassell Mr Grenner believes he might have been drowned drownedAnother Another New Yorker Louis E Bates fishing for tarpon in Boca Grande Pass Florida early in 1917 had his fish leap and fall into the boat of another angler fifty feet away The fish struck a hand pump amidship and in falling barely missed the guide sitting near the engine box Yes the tarpon is warrior bold
