Chapter III: Part 3

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Where the red-throat trout grows to a larger size than usual, as in the Yellowstone and other lakes, it is often called "salmon-trout," and the bull-trout of the Pacific Slope is also sometimes known by the same name, but the only "salmon-trout" is the steelhead trout. The red-throat trout rises to the fly more freely than the Eastern brook trout, though in gameness and flavor it is hardly its equal. Its habits are also somewhat different. It usually lies in pools and holes, and does not frequent the riffles so much as the Eastern trout. In size it is somewhat larger than the Eastern trout in streams of the same relative width and depth, and like all trout species grows to greater weight in lakes and large streams. I have taken them on the fly weighing from three to five pounds in Soda Butte Lake in the Yellowstone Park, and in Yankee Jim Cañon on the Yellowstone River. In Yellowstone Lake some are infested with the white pelican parasite, rendering them emaciated and lacking in game qualities; this condition, however, seems to be disappearing somewhat, while those in the river below are well-nourished and gamy.

[Sidenote: Tools and Tackle]

The same tackle and artificial flies used for the Eastern brook trout are as suitable, as a rule, for the red-throat, though preference is given to the stone fly, coachman, professor, black gnat, cinnamon, Henshall, and the various hackles by Montana anglers. The red-throat seldom breaks water when hooked, but puts up a vigorous fight beneath the surface. As the mountain streams are usually swift and rocky and fringed with alders, willows and other small trees, the angler must be wide awake to land his fish and save his tackle.

[Sidenote: The Steelhead Trout (_Salmo gairdneri_)]

The steelhead, or salmon-trout, is the trimmest and most graceful and the gamest of all the trout species, being more "salmon-like" in shape and appearance. On the Pacific Coast, where it is native, and runs to salt water, it grows to twenty pounds or more in weight, when it is known as steelhead salmon, and many are canned under this name. Its spots are smaller than in the other black-spotted species. It has, sometimes, especially the males, a pink flush along the sides, but not so pronounced as in the rainbow trout. Its color is also of a lighter hue, with steely reflections. Its scales are somewhat larger than those of the red-throat, but not so large as in the rainbow trout.

[Sidenote: As a Game-Fish]

[Sidenote: Remarkable Growth]

It seems to be pretty well established in Lake Superior, where it was introduced by the United States Bureau of Fisheries, some fine catches having been made of late years. It has also been introduced into several states on the eastern slope of the Rockies, which seem to be very suitable for this fine fish. In Montana I have taken it up to five pounds. It rises eagerly to the fly, and when hooked breaks water repeatedly like the black bass. It is very trying to light tackle, and must be carefully handled by the angler. The flies named for the red-throat trout are just as killing for the steelhead. Like the red-throat it is also susceptible to bait, which in Montana is the "rock-worm," the larva of the caddis fly. As a food fish it excels all of the trout species as might be surmised. In fresh water lakes it should grow to eight or ten pounds. Near Virginia City, Montana, is located Axolotl Lake, so named from being inhabited by a species of axolotl, but it contained no fish of any kind until stocked with a few thousand steelhead trout fingerlings from the Bozeman Fisheries Station, in 1902. In September, 1907, two of my friends, while trolling from a canvas boat on this lake, caught eleven trout weighing in the aggregate seventy pounds, the largest weighing thirteen pounds, an extraordinary weight for a five-year-old trout. But this is easily explained when it is considered that the trout had been feasting for several years on such nutritious diet as these curious amphibians afforded, and in great abundance, but which now are said to be scarce.

[Sidenote: The Rainbow Trout (_Salmo irideus_)]

The rainbow trout has also been introduced to Eastern waters by the United States Bureau of Fisheries, and seems to be well adapted to ponds of considerable extent, where water plants and grasses flourish. Such waters seem to be more congenial than the colder mountain streams; and moreover it has a way of disappearing from the smaller streams to seek those of greater depth. It will thrive in warmer water than the other trouts. The rainbow is similar in contour to the red-throat, though somewhat deeper, and with shorter head, smaller mouth, and larger scales. Its distinguishing feature is the broad red band along the lateral line, common to both male and female. It is a handsome fish, with considerably more gameness than the red-throat, but is not so vigorous on the rod as the steelhead of the same size. Owing to its tendency to descend streams it is particularly liable to enter irrigation ditches, in which event its doom is sealed. As a food-fish it is superior to the native red-throat trout.

[Sidenote: In New Waters]

In no new waters has the rainbow done so well as in those of Michigan and Colorado. In the former state it has populated streams that were once the home of the grayling, more's the pity. In Colorado, in the Gunnison and neighboring streams, it furnishes sport galore to hundreds of delighted anglers, who visit the locality especially for the fine fishing. No trout surpasses the rainbow in rising to the artificial fly, and almost any trout fly will capture it, though the silver doctor, coachman, and the different hackles, seem to be more favored than others.

[Sidenote: The Dolly Varden Trout (_Salvelinus parkei_)]

The Dolly Varden, or bull-trout, sometimes erroneously called "salmon-trout," is the only red-spotted trout native to Western waters. It belongs to the same genus as the Eastern brook trout, but grows much larger. It is found only on the Pacific Slope, in both lakes and streams, growing to twelve or fifteen pounds under favorable conditions. In the streams it is a gamer fish than in lakes, though the larger fish are rather lazy and logy. Compared with its Eastern relative it is hardly so vigorous on the rod, when of similar weight, and not quite so good for the table.

It takes the fly readily, also any kind of natural bait, and in lakes or broad streams succumbs to the trolling-spoon. It is not so great a favorite as the other Western trouts, except in Alaska, where it is abundant in all lakes and streams.

[Sidenote: The Brown Trout (_Salmo fario_)]

The brown trout is the brook trout of Europe, and was introduced to the United States from England and Germany, under the auspices of the United States Bureau of Fisheries. Those from Germany (the eggs), were donated by Von Behr, and his name was unfortunately applied to the fish as "Von Behr trout," also "German trout," two most unfortunate and ridiculous names. It is the "brook trout" of Europe and "brown trout" of Great Britain. In Germany it is "_bach forelle_," which means brook trout. Among English-speaking people it has been known since before the day of Walton and Cotton as "brown trout," and brown trout it should be world without end. To rob this fine fish of its good name and substitute the misnomers mentioned was both unwise and absurd.

[Sidenote: Absurd Names]

I sincerely hope that those names, together with the equally absurd name of "black-spotted trout," as applied to the red-throat trout, will soon be relegated to the shades of oblivion, never to be mentioned in polite angling society. If the fish mentioned was the only black-spotted trout inhabiting its native waters, it would be a good and suitable name, but unfortunately its congeners, the rainbow and steelhead trouts, are also "black-spotted" as before mentioned. The name originated, I think, about the same time as "Von Behr." When the first eggs were taken East and hatched the fry were called Rocky Mountain trout and California trout, the former name being more applicable than the latter, but neither were very suitable. Our technical knowledge of the Western trouts must have been sadly deficient, however, when they were displaced for "black-spotted trout."

[Sidenote: As a Game- and Food-Fish]

The brown trout has both reddish-brown and black spots, of a larger size than those of its American cousins. Altogether it is a fine fish, much prized in Great Britain, but in American waters it is hardly so gamy, and not quite so good a food-fish as our native trouts. It grows to a larger size than our brook trout, and will thrive in warmer water. A variety of the brown trout, the Loch Leven, was introduced into Firehole River, in the Yellowstone National Park, some years ago, and it is remarkable how well they thrive in the warm geyser water. They must have been planted in some stream in the Park tributary to the Yellowstone River also, for I know of two being taken near Livingston, Montana, one weighing more than ten pounds, the other about twelve. In a pond near Bozeman, Montana, some brown trout fry were planted, and at the end of four years two were taken weighing six pounds each, both of which were weighed by myself.

[Sidenote: Fly-Fishing]

The brown trout rises well to the fly, as well if not better in American waters than in England, and does not seem to be so fastidious as to the color or shape of the fly offered. Any of the popular trout flies will answer, and it seems to have an inherited fancy for the imitations of the May-fly, the green and gray drakes, when the natural May-fly is on the water. This fly is also known as the sand-fly.

[Sidenote: Golden Trout of the Sierras]

High up in the Southern Sierras, about 10,000 feet, in the neighborhood of Mount Whitney, California, are several species or sub-species, of "golden trout," apparently related to the rainbow trout. For beautiful and varied coloration they excel all fishes of fresh waters and rival those of the coral reefs of the tropics.

[Sidenote: Varieties of Golden Trout]

For many years the golden trout of Mount Whitney has been described at various times by enthusiastic anglers in the sportsmen's journals, but not until lately have these fishes been properly systematized. In the summer of 1904 a party headed by Dr. Barton W. Evermann, under the auspices of the United States Bureau of Fisheries, proceeded to the locality mentioned, and thoroughly explored the different streams, and collected hundreds of specimens of the trout inhabiting them. As a result of this expedition the following species of golden trout have been established by Dr. Evermann:

Golden Trout of Soda Creek (_Salmo whitei_),

Golden Trout of South Fork of Kern River (_Salmo agua-bonita_),

Golden Trout of Volcano Creek (_Salmo roosevelti_).

These trout are all small, averaging six to eight inches, but are quite gamy and very free biters. The golden trout of Volcano Creek is the handsomest and gamest. Of this fish Dr. Evermann says:

"This is the most beautiful of all the trouts; the brilliancy and richness of the coloration is not equaled in any other known species.... In form it is no less beautiful; its lines are perfect, the fins large and well proportioned, and the caudal peduncle strong; all fitting it admirably for life in the turbulent waters in which it dwells. It is a small fish, however. The largest example collected by us was eleven and one-fourth inches in total length, and the heaviest one weighed ten ounces."

"As a game-fish the golden trout is one of the best. It will rise to any kind of lure, including the artificial fly, and at any time of day. A No. 10 fly is large enough, perhaps too large; No. 12 or even smaller is much better. In the morning and again in the evening it would take the fly with a rush and make a good fight, jumping frequently when permitted to do so; during the middle of the day it rose more deliberately and could sometimes only be tempted with grasshoppers. It is a fish that does not give up soon but continues the fight. Its unusual breadth of fins and strength of caudal peduncle, together with the turbulent water in which it dwells, enable it to make a fight equaling that offered by many larger trout."

[Sidenote: Propagation of Golden Trout]

In the autumn of 1906 several hundred golden trout from Volcano Creek were brought by a fish-car to the Bozeman Fisheries Station. In the following spring several hundred eggs were taken from a few of the largest fish, about six inches long, and it is hoped that this beautiful trout may be successfully propagated, if only for its handsome coloration.

[Sidenote: Sunapee Golden Trout (_Salvelinus aureolus_)]

This fine fish was first described by Dr. Tarleton H. Bean, in 1887, from Sunapee Lake, New Hampshire. It exists, also, only in one or two ponds or small lakes in the vicinity. It is almost identical with the European char (_Salvelinus alpinus_). It is generally supposed to be native to the waters mentioned, but there is a possibility that it was introduced from Europe. However that may be it is now recognized as a different species and a fine example of American trout. It grows to about twelve pounds in weight, but unfortunately does not rise to the fly. I have had no experience with this fish, but Dr. J. D. Quackenbos, who, more than any one else brought the fish to notice, says:

[Sidenote: Not a Fly Fish]

[Sidenote: Trolling with Smelt]

"As far as known it does not rise to the fly.... Through the summer months it is angled for with a live minnow or smelt, in sixty or seventy feet of water, over cold bottom, in localities that have been baited. While the smelt are inshore, trolling with a light fly-rod and fine tackle, either with a Skinner spoon, No. 1, or a small smelt on a single hook, will sometimes yield superb sport."

HIS MAJESTY: THE SILVER KING

[Sidenote: In Florida Waters]

In Florida the tarpon may be found during the winter east of Cape Sable in Barnes and Cards Sounds, and in Biscayne Bay. As the water becomes warmer, in February and March, it ascends the coasts. On the Gulf side it appears first at Marco, back of Cape Romano, then in the vicinity of Naples and Charlotte Harbor. Punta Rassa was formerly, and is yet, a favorite resort for Northern anglers, but Fort Myers, twenty-five miles above, on the Caloosahatchie, is now the principal rendezvous for tarpon fishing from March to May. Later the silver king wanders farther north, and during summer good fishing is abundant at any of the inlets. It is also abundant on the Texas coast. On the east coast of Florida, Jupiter and Indian River inlets are the best grounds for tarpon. The largest I have ever seen were at Indian River inlet.

The tarpon is a fish of the tropical seas and is peculiarly sensitive to cold. I happened to be in Florida during the winters of 1886 and 1895 when most of the orange groves were killed by freezing. At Tampa the temperature fell to 19° F. As a result of the sudden chilling of the water I saw windrows of dead fish along the shores of the bays, especially at Charlotte Harbor. They were mostly sub-tropical fishes, and among them were hundreds of tarpon, large and small, many upward of a hundred pounds.

[Sidenote: Bait Fishing]

While the tarpon will take any kind of fish bait, or artificial bait for that matter, especially at the inlets or up the streams, mullet bait is generally used; and the prevalent method of allowing the fish to swallow the bait so as to hook him in the gullet will probably always be practiced, for it is the only sure plan to bring him to gaff. If hooked in the mouth or tongue when trolling or casting, he almost invariably shakes out the hook and escapes. Once in a while, however, one will be landed in this manner, and even with the artificial fly, in which event the honest angler feels a just pride in his happy performance and is the envy of them all.

[Sidenote: Fly Fishing for Tarpon]

I have had the best sport with tarpon, as early as 1878, up the fresh water rivers, using a salmon fly-rod and large gaudy flies. These were the small fry, however, running from ten to forty pounds, but even at these weights they demanded the best skill of the angler, inasmuch as they were hooked in the mouth, and only occasionally could one be landed.

[Sidenote: Fishing at Mayport]

At that time my old friend, Dr. Kenworty, of Jacksonville, Florida, was wild over tarpon fishing at Mayport, at the mouth of St. John's River. But the Doctor and his friends were using handlines, believing it impossible to kill one on the rod, and moreover, thought it quite a feat to land one with the handline, hooked in the mouth, as indeed it was. I remember well a wonderful array of big hooks attached to a metal strip that the good Doctor showed me as his latest invention to hold fast to a silver king. I think it was owing to Dr. Kenworty's enthusiasm in the matter that induced Colonel W. H. Wood, of New York, an old striped bass angler, to go to Florida to try conclusions with the tarpon with striped bass rod and tackle. At any rate, to Colonel Wood belongs the credit of bringing rod fishing for tarpon into the prominence and popularity it now holds.

[Sidenote: The First Tarpon on a Rod]

In the winter of 1880-1 Mr. Samuel H. Jones, of Philadelphia, while trolling with the spoon in the Fort Pierce channel of Indian River Inlet, hooked and landed, after a contest of two hours, a tarpon weighing one hundred and seventy pounds with striped bass rod and tackle. This was the first tarpon of more than one hundred pounds killed on the rod. I was at that locality the following winter, and learned the full particulars of the extraordinary performance from Mr. Thomas Paine (son of Judge Paine, of Fort Capron), who was Mr. Jones's boatman on the occasion. Afterward I received a full account of it from a son of Mr. Jones, who was with him and witnessed the capture of the immense fish. It is worthy of note that the fish was hooked in the mouth and not in the gullet. Honor to whom honor is due.

[Sidenote: Record Tarpon]

In 1885 Colonel W. H. Wood, of New York, made rod fishing for tarpon famous at Puntarassa. In March, 1886, I was present when he brought in from Estero Bay his record fish of one hundred and forty-six pounds, and two others weighing nearly a hundred each. They were hung up and photographed by my shipmate, Judge Nicholas Longworth, of Cincinnati.

[Sidenote: The Largest to Date]

My friend, Mrs. T. J. Bachmann, of Florida, formerly Mrs. Stagg, of Kentucky, was high hook for many years with her two hundred-and-five-pound fish, which was mounted and exhibited in my department at the Chicago World's Fair, together with one of one hundred and ninety-six pounds caught by Mr. McGregor, of New York. Mr. Edward vom Hofe, of New York, in 1898, caught one at Captiva Pass weighing two hundred and eleven pounds, and Mr. N. M. George, of Danbury, Connecticut, afterward took one at Biscayne Bay of two hundred and thirteen pounds.

[Sidenote: Tarpon Tackle]

The equipment for tarpon fishing consists of a heavy striped bass rod, seven or eight feet long, a first-class multiplying reel, 100 to 150 yards of Cuttyhunk line of from 18 to 21 threads, and knobbed hooks, Nos. 8-0 to 10-0. The tarpon has no sharp teeth, but the edges of its jaws are sharp enough to cut an ordinary line, and open vertically. Owing to this fact it is imperative that a snell of wire, whit-leather, or of heavy braided cotton line be used.

[Sidenote: Tarpon Bait Fishing]

Tarpon fishing, as usually practiced, requires a level head, considerable muscle, and a just appreciation of the tensile strength of tackle. With no thought of disparagement, it is none the less true, that not much real angling knowledge--as that term is understood in relation to salmon, trout or black bass fishing--is required. The hook is baited with mullet or other fish bait, a long cast made, and the bait allowed to remain on the bottom until "negotiated" by the huge fish. Usually a lot of slack line is pulled from the reel and coiled in the boat, in order that the fish may carry off the bait without hindrance, and so be induced to swallow it, when he is hooked in the gullet. Then the trouble begins. Feeling the prick of the hook he vaults into the air several feet, and continues to do so until exhausted, when he is reeled in to the gaff or taken ashore into shallow water, the latter plan being the best.

[Sidenote: Pumping Them In]

Huge fishes like the tarpon, jewfish or tuna are sooner brought to gaff by "pumping," as it is called. It is effected in this way: The rod is raised upward and backward and then quickly lowered to a horizontal position, when advantage is taken of any decreased tension or slack line by reeling it in as rapidly as possible. This operation is repeated whenever practicable, and as often as possible.

[Sidenote: Tarpon Reel]

The plan of having a quantity of slack line in the boat, as mentioned, is really not necessary with a reel of the best quality, and is open to several obvious objections. A tarpon would not notice the slight pull on the line from such a reel, as it renders on the slightest provocation. A leather brake sewed to one of the bars of the reel, or one of the patented drag-handles, is absolutely necessary in playing a tarpon, otherwise the fingers are likely to suffer in consequence of the fierce rushes of the fish for freedom.

[Sidenote: A Tarpon Enthusiast]

My good friend Major-General Eustace Hill, a retired officer of the British army, whom I initiated in tarpon fishing, declared to me--after an experience of thirty-five years in India, and ten summers in Norway, salmon fishing--that the two finest sports in the world were pig-sticking and tarpon fishing, notwithstanding he has a record of two hundred salmon in a single season--and there you are. But the General is one of the "strenuous" type of sportsmen. By the way his grandfather, Admiral Keppel, the ranking officer of the British navy, died a few years ago at the advanced age of ninety-four years; by a special Act of Parliament he was continued in active service until the day of his death.

[Sidenote: Some of His Habits]

During the winter months the tarpon may be found in the shallow water of bays of southern Florida, basking in the sun, under the mangroves. In such situations many are speared, or "grained," as it is called by native fishermen. But during the summer they may be seen by hundreds rolling and playing on the surface, at any of the deep inlets of either coast. At this time the angler, by trolling or surface fishing, may get scores of strikes in an hour, but as to landing them--that is another fish story.

[Sidenote: Breeding Grounds]

The tarpon breeds in the West Indies and Central America, but not, I believe, in Florida. At all events, as a collector of fishes I have combed the shores and rivers of Florida, with a fine-meshed seine, from Titusville on the east coast to Tampa on the west coast, but never found a tarpon of less size than a foot in length. If they breed in the bays or rivers I certainly would have found some smaller ones.

[Sidenote: A Tussle with a Tarpon]

Late in the winter of 1892, when engaged in the preparation of the United States Fish Commission exhibit for the Chicago World's Fair, my duties took me to Florida to collect fishes for the purpose of making gelatin casts of them for the great exposition. I was very desirous of obtaining a tarpon, but the season being backward and the water cold, none had been taken on the west coast up to that time--about the middle of March.

[Sidenote: Chance for a Tarpon]

One day John Savarese, a prominent fish dealer of Tampa, informed me that he was putting in a pound net in Sarasota Bay as an experiment, it being the first ever introduced on the west coast of Florida. Here, then, seemed to be my only chance of getting a tarpon, as the time allotted for my stay in Florida was rapidly drawing to a close. Mr. Savarese promised to give me _carte blanche_ instructions to the man in charge when the net was ready.

[Sidenote: Sarasota Bay]

Accordingly, in a few days I left Tampa on the steamer for Braidentown, on the Manatee River, at the beginning of a norther. At Braidentown I engaged a carriage and drove across country, through the pine woods, to Sarasota Bay, arriving at The Palms, the charming little hotel built by good Mother Jones, who is now in Heaven. I enjoyed one of her matchless suppers after my drive through the rain and in the face of the fierce norther.

[Sidenote: Interviewing the Captain]

I found that the shanty of Captain Faulkner, who had charge of the pound net, was adjoining the hotel grounds. I interviewed him that evening, when he promised to go out to the net the next afternoon if the wind abated. As I knew that the northers of Florida lasted several days, and my time was limited, I replied that I would visit the net the next day.

[Sidenote: The Start for the Pound Net]

On the next afternoon the norther was in full force and the sea running high. It required a good deal of persuasion for Faulkner to consent, but fortunately he yielded at last to my entreaties. We embarked in a sixteen-foot rowboat--Faulkner, a white man, a negro, and myself. The net was two miles down the bay. The wind was behind us, so we were soon there, drenched with spray, and quite cold.

[Sidenote: The Expected Happens]

The painter of the boat was made fast to one of the net stakes, and the men got into a large bateau that was moored alongside the trap of the net. After closing the tunnel of the net and loosening the stays they began hauling up the trap. Then the expected happened. A tarpon leaped high in the air in his attempt to escape, but striking one of the stakes, he fell back again into the trap.

"Captain!" I cried, "don't let him get away; that's the fellow I'm after!"

The net was swarming with fish of all kinds and sizes, from a ten-inch mullet to a ten-foot shark. Finally Captain Faulkner got his gaff-hook into the tarpon's gills. "What shall I do with him?" he asked.

"Put him in my boat," I answered.

[Sidenote: The Coveted Prize]

Which was easier said than done, for it took the three of them to transfer him to my craft, from which I removed the middle thwarts to make room for his silver kingship. He was deposited on the bottom of the boat and the men resumed work.

[Sidenote: He Rose in His Might]

Then the silver king rose up in his majesty and stood on his tail, towering above me, for he was over six feet tall. I immediately grabbed him in my arms with a grip born of desperation, for I knew it was my last and only chance to secure a tarpon. The boat was dancing about on the crest of the sea and the north wind howled. The palmettos on shore lashed their broad fronds as they bent before the gale. It was a difficult matter at best to keep one's feet, but with a slippery silver giant in one's arms it was a wonder that we both did not go overboard.

[Sidenote: A Slippery Customer]

But I held on to him and got him down in the bottom of the boat. No sooner down, however, than he was up again. This time he slipped from my grasp and went down full length on the bottom with a noise like the felling of an ox in an abattoir, causing the men to pause in their work and look around.

"Let him go!" shouted the Captain. "He'll knock the bottom of the boat out and drown you!"

"I'll risk it," I replied. "I won't let him go if I have to go overboard with him. I am bound to land him in Washington if I have to go by water."

[Sidenote: A Wild Dance]

I tried sitting on him then, but he would not be sat down upon, and up he came again. Again we had it, dancing about in the slippery boat on a raging sea. It was a medley of waltz, two-step, polka, and galop, with a slimy silver king for a partner. He seemed to weigh a ton and to be ten feet tall. At last I got him down again and replaced one of the thwarts above him. I got out my knife, lifted up his immense gill cover and severed his heart.

The men were scooping out their fare of mullet, red-fish, and sea-trout. The large shark, a number of smaller ones, plenty of rays, and hundreds of other fish were still in the trap. Seeing a fine whip ray some four feet across and as spotted as a leopard, I shouted, "Captain, I want that whipparee!"

[Sidenote: A Whipparee]

[Sidenote: The Stingaree]

They soon gaffed him and deposited him on top of my tarpon. Then observing a huge sting ray, larger than the whip ray, I again called out: "Cap, gaff that big stingaree!"

"Not much," he answered.

"Yes," I continued, "I really want him; put him in my boat."

"You don't mean it. Why, he'll kill you."

"I'll risk it," I said; "haul him over in my boat."

"I'm afraid of him. His sting is six inches long!"

I prevailed on him finally, and after much careful management they hove it into my boat. "Look out for his sting!" cried Faulkner. "It's sure death!"

[Sidenote: A Scared Darkey]

"'Fore God! Marse Doctor," said the negro, "I wouldn't stay in de boat wid dat debbil stingaree for a hundred acres in de promise' land!"

[Sidenote: A Blue Norther]

But I covered the sting, the dreaded weapon, with a piece of sailcloth and planted a foot on each side of it. The men then put their fare of marketable fish on the top of my specimens, which kept them in place, and then emptied the trap of the rest of the fish. Strange to say, the large shark, at least ten feet long, was completely smothered under the mass of fish and had to be gaffed and hauled overboard by main strength. It was now dark, with two miles to row in the teeth of a blue norther. We arrived at the hotel pier nearly frozen.

"Captain Faulkner," said I, "it's ten dollars in your inside pocket if you get my fish up to Hunter's Point by morning to meet the Tampa fish steamer."

The wind lulled somewhat at midnight, when they started in the sailboat; but it took them until daylight to beat up the fifteen miles to Hunter's Point, where my specimens were put on ice with the market fish and taken on the steamer _Mistletoe_ to Tampa.

[Sidenote: Sorry Plight of the Captain]

The next day but one I went to Faulkner's shanty, by previous appointment, for another trip to the pound net. I found the Captain sitting by his stove in a sorry plight. His head and face were swathed in bandages and badly swollen.

"Why, Captain!" I exclaimed, "what's the matter? I want to go out to the net this afternoon."

[Sidenote: Tic Douloureux]

"Matter enough," he replied ruefully. "I've been nearly dead with neuralgia from going out to the net day before yesterday. Look at my face! I wouldn't go to-day for all the fish in Sarasota Bay. You must be made of whit-leather or whalebone!"

Next morning the storm subsided and I returned to Tampa. At the fish house of Mr. Savarese, I found my specimens in fine condition in an immense icebox. We at once began to pack them for shipment to Washington. As the tarpon lay on the floor Mr. Savarese asked, "What will he weigh?"

[Sidenote: A Sure Thing]

"Well," I replied, "you may guess his weight, but I have had a Græco-Roman wrestling match with him and I know his weight to a pound."

Mr. Savarese then measured him with a tape line.

"Six feet and three inches," he announced, "and he will weigh one hundred and fifty pounds."

"No," I rejoined, "not so much. He might weigh your figure in a few months with plenty of food and warmer water, but his present weight is one hundred and twenty-five pounds."

We put him on the scale, which he tipped at one hundred and twenty-four pounds.

[Sidenote: A Fair Specimen]

The hundreds of thousands of visitors to the World's Fair who admired the graceful proportions of this tarpon, in the gelatin cast, painted in life colors, and hung in the Government building, little imagined the hardships and excitement attending its capture, or the subsequent swelled face of poor Captain Faulkner.

FLORIDA FISH AND FISHING

[Sidenote: At the Yuletide]

At the yuletide, or during the Christmas holidays, the lakes and streams of the North and West are locked fast in the icy chains of winter. The waters are then a sealed book to the angler, who, unless he indulges in the questionable sport of fishing through the ice, is consoled only by retrospective pleasures when overhauling his rods and flybooks. Not so, however, in the sunny waters of Florida, where fishing is, on the whole, at its best at the time of the Christmas festivities, if such a season can be realized by the Northern angler amid the profusion of fruits, flowers, and foliage.

[Sidenote: A Pleasant Transition]

To one accustomed to the merry jingle of sleigh bells and to coursing swiftly, steel shod, over the frozen pools he loves so well, it is really a marvelous, but pleasing, transition to be able to cast his bait or flies during the season of the yuletide.

[Sidenote: Climate of Florida]

Florida has one of the finest and most genial continental winter climates in the world. One can live in the open air the winter through, without discomfort, as it seldom rains during that season, and therein lies the great and lasting benefit to the invalid who requires an open-air life and nature's great restorers, fresh air, warm sunshine, moderate exercise and sound, refreshing sleep. He will be told that Florida has a damp climate by his physician who has never been in the state, and will be advised to go to a dry climate. But the dampness of Florida is not an exhalation from the soil, which is dry sand, but is the humid, salt air from the sea, which with the balsamic fragrance of the pines, conduces to the health and well-being of the invalid, and to the pleasure and enjoyment of the angler and sportsman.

[Sidenote: Better than the Mediterranean]

[Sidenote: Good Shooting]

I have suffered more from raw, chilly weather in the much-lauded winter climates of southern France, Italy, and even Morocco, than in southern Florida. And while the shooting along the Mediterranean in winter is very fair for the red-legged partridge, migratory quail and snipe, it is not to be compared with the shooting to be had in Florida, either for abundance or variety of game. In fact, Florida is hardly excelled by any state in the Union in its possibilities of fishing and shooting. And then these sports can be practiced at a time when the streams and lakes of the North are bound in icy fetters, and the woods and fields buried beneath the hibernal mantle of snow.

[Sidenote: Florida Fishing]

The angler can hardly go amiss in any section of Florida for his favorite sport. Wherever there is reasonably pure or uncontaminated water he will find some species of the finny tribe. And the true angler, he who loves the sport for its own sake, can be satisfied so long as his tackle is commensurate with his quarry. With his stout tools and tackle he enjoys the phenomenal leaps of the tarpon, or the leviathan struggles of the jewfish. With his delicate split-bamboo wand, silken line, gossamer leader and fairy flies, he enjoys equally well, perhaps more, the wary bream or crappie of the fresh waters. Better still, with suitable tackle the acknowledged game fish, _par excellence_, of America, the black bass, will yield him sport galore.

[Sidenote: The Sheepshead (_Archosargus probatocephalus_)]

The lover of sheepsheading will find his quarry about the piling of old wharves or about the oyster reefs, while his bait--fiddler crabs--abound in myriads on the beaches. I once saw the catch of a man who took three hundred on a single tide from Summerlin's cattle wharf at Puntarassa. He should have been indicted, tried and convicted by a jury of honest anglers and sentenced to a term of imprisonment by a judge of fair sport. The sheepshead, with its human-like incisors, is very adroit at nibbling the bait from the hook, and must be circumvented by a quick, sharp turn of the wrist upon the least provocation or intimation of its intentions; this will drive the hook into its well-paved jaw six times in ten. When hooked, the sheepshead makes strenuous efforts to reach the bottom, which is very trying to a light rod. The fish should be kept near the surface until the spring of the rod compels it to give up the contest. A school of sheepshead, in their striped suits, reminds one of a gang of prison convicts, begging their pardon for the comparison; of course all comparisons are odious. The same rod and tackle hereafter recommended for cavalli, etc., answers for sheepshead.

[Sidenote: The Cavalli (_Carangus hippos_)]

The cavalli, or jack, with its second cousins, the runner, the horse-eye jack, the leather jack, amber jack and the pompanos, are closely allied to the mackerels, and all are game-fishes. The cavalli can be taken with the fly, bait, or trolling-spoon, and when hooked puts up a vigorous fight. It is a handsome silvery fish, bound in blue and yellow, and can be found about the inlets and tideways. In rare instances it reaches twenty pounds in weight, but is usually taken from two to ten pounds. Ordinary black bass tackle is suitable for the cavalli, with a sinker adapted to the strength of the tide. For baits, any small fish, as anchovy and pilchard, will answer, while shrimp and cut bait can also be used. Gaudy and attractive flies are the best for fly-fishing, which can be practiced from piers, a boat, or from the points of inlets. The most popular way of fishing is by trolling in the channels, when a spoon with but a single hook should be used.

[Sidenote: The Sea Trout (_Cynoscion nebulosus_)]

The sea-trout is a surface-feeding fish, and a game one. It is not a trout, of course, but is akin to the Northern weakfish, and is called a trout, by courtesy, because of its black spots. It takes the fly because it cannot help it, and will give the angler ample exercise with a light rod before it is landed. Being more high-minded than the sheepshead, it does its fighting on the surface. The sea-trout is not a bushwhacker nor yet a guerilla. It sometimes runs up the streams to fresh water.

[Sidenote: The Spanish Mackerel (_Scomberomorus maculatus_)]

The Spanish mackerel is not a whit behind the sea-trout in gameness, or in its aptitude or fancy for the feathers and tinsel of an artificial fly. It is the trimmest built fish that swims, and always reminds me of a beautiful racing yacht. It feeds and fights on the surface and in the open, displaying its silver and blue tunic with gold buttons to good advantage. They move in battalions along the outer shores during winter, but in March and April enter the inlets in companies, and then afford fine sport to the angler.

[Sidenote: Shore Fishing]

When the Spanish mackerel is running into the bays and inlets, it is often accompanied by the sea-trout (spotted weakfish). Both fishes are surface feeders and take bait or the artificial fly eagerly, as stated. They run in schools at this season, and are readily seen as they plow along the surface, creating quite a ripple.

The fishing at this time is practical from wharves or the points of inlets and passes.

The long piers at Port Tampa and St. Petersburg on the west coast are favorite places. The fishing is done on the flood tide, mostly, but often at the last of the ebb. No special directions are needed when the fish are running in schools, except to keep the bait or fly in constant motion on the surface--the fish will do the rest.

Both are game-fishes of high degree, and the angler will have all he can attend to after hooking one on light tackle. As food fishes they are excellent. I prefer to fish from the sand-spits at the mouths of inlets, or if near a pier to fish from a boat moored alongside, as the fish are not so likely to see one, and they are more easily landed.

[Sidenote: Bait Fishing]

Ordinary black bass tackle is quite suitable for either fish, with fly or bait. Braided linen lines are preferable, however, to silk ones, as the latter soon rot in salt water. A gut leader about four feet long and snelled hooks, Nos. 1 to 3, are all right for bait-fishing. The best bait is a small sardine, anchovy or mullet, though the casting spoon, with a single hook, or a pearl squid of small size may be used if kept in constant motion on the surface.

[Sidenote: Fly-Fishing]

For fly-fishing a single fly is sufficient, of any bright pattern, with some gilt or silver tinsel on the body, as the silver doctor, tied on No. 3 hooks. A long-handled landing-net is indispensable.

[Sidenote: The Kingfish (_Scomberomorus cavalla_)]

The kingfish--not the fish known by that name in Northern waters, but a second cousin to the Spanish mackerel--is found along the reefs from Cape Florida to Boca Chica. It is one of the principal food fishes of Key West, and is taken by the fishermen trolling with a strip of bacon rind, which is something in the nature of an indignity, for it is a grand game-fish on the rod, and will take fly or bait on long casts. It grows much larger than the Spanish mackerel, often to twenty pounds or more, and is of a more somber hue. Its cousin, the cero, is very similar in size and appearance, but has dark spots along its graceful sides. All of this genus are among the best for the table, as all real game-fishes are.

[Sidenote: The Redfish (_Sciænops ocellatus_)]

The best member of the drum family is the redfish, or channel bass. It is one of the common game-fishes of the brackish water bays on either coast. It is a handsome fish with a coat of old red gold and a vest of silver and pearl. It is characterized by a large black spot near the tail; sometimes there will be two spots, and occasionally these are split up into a half dozen. While the redfish is very susceptible to bait it often rises to the fly, if a large and gaudy one. In either event it offers a stubborn resistance when hooked, and when of large size--from twenty to forty pounds--a good strong rod is a _sine qua non_, though I once killed one on a Henshall rod of eight ounces, which was fully thirty-five pounds in weight. Most of the fish-scale jewelry and artificial flowers are made from the scales of redfish.

Fig. 2. Cero. (_Scomberomorus regalis._)]

[Sidenote: Groupers and Snappers]

[Sidenote: Rag-Time Dude]

All of the groupers, the red and black, the scamp and gag, are game-fishes worthy of the steel of the angler, and grow to goodly size, twenty to forty pounds. They inhabit comparatively deep water about the inlets, or along the outer shores and keys, especially in rocky situations. Being bottom feeders they must be taken with natural bait, though the trolling-spoon has its attractions. Those named are rather sober in their garb, which is more or less marbled or spotted with black, but some of the groupers about Key West are remarkably handsome fishes, and are much given to very gay and bizarre attire; their coats, like Joseph's, being of many colors. They also bear more aristocratic names, as witness: John Paw, Nassau, Hamlet, Cabrilla, etc. But the dude of the family is the niggerfish, which is a rag-time dandy, always in full dress for a cake walk.

The snappers are worthy members of the finny race. The red snapper is the most widely known, commercially, being shipped from Pensacola and Tampa to all Northern cities. It is a large, handsome fish, dressed, like Mephistopheles, from snout to tail in scarlet. As it is taken only in deep water, on the snapper banks, by hand lines, it is of no importance to the angler. But the gray, or mangrove snapper, is a wary, active fish and good game. It lurks under the mangroves and must be fished for cautiously, when it will rise eagerly to the fly, and on light tackle is no mean adversary. Its usual weight is from one to three pounds.

[Sidenote: The Gay Snappers]

The lane snapper, dog snapper, yellowtail and schoolmaster, are fine pan fishes, clothed in royal raiment, and frequent the channels amid the coral reefs near Key West, where they are readily taken with sea crawfish bait. The muttonfish is larger and an esteemed table fish, and with the other snappers is like the lilies, of which we are told, "Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." It is a genuine pleasure to the observant angler to capture one of these fish, if only to gaze upon its beauties, and watch the play of prismatic colors as reflected in its gorgeous attire. Fishing with light tackle for these lovely denizens of the coral banks, with one's boat rising and falling on the rhythmic swell of the pure emerald green sea, is both a joy and a delight.

[Sidenote: The Ladyfish (_Albula vulpes_)]

The highflyers, or finny acrobats, are the tarpon, kingfish, ladyfish and ten-pounder. The first-named is so well known that further mention here is unnecessary, and moreover I have accorded it a special article, for it trots alone in its class; but while the ladyfish and ten-pounder are only a couple of feet in length, they are still worthy to be named in connection with his silver majesty. They are built for aërial as well as for submarine navigation, and dart so quickly from one element to the other that it is somewhat bewildering to watch one at the end of a line. Twenty-five years ago I compared the ladyfish to a "silver shuttle," for such it appeared in its efforts to escape when hooked.

[Sidenote: The Ten-Pounder (_Elops saurus_)]

The angler visiting the region of Biscayne Bay will find considerable confusion existing, not only among Northern tourists, but among the residents, concerning the proper identification of the ladyfish and ten-pounder. They are two silvery, spindle-shaped fishes that resemble each other very closely in size, general outline and appearance, and are known as the ladyfish or bonefish, and the ten-pounder or bony-fish; the latter is also sometimes called Jack Marrigle in Bermuda, and both fishes are not infrequently alluded to as "skip-jack." They are game-fishes of a high order and of equal degree.

The confusion alluded to has been aired in our angling papers for several years, sometimes with photo-illustrations of the fishes concerned, which, however, only served to make confusion worse confounded. For instance, I remember one communication with an illustration of the ladyfish, but which was stated in the text to be the bonefish and _not_ the ladyfish.

[Sidenote: Confusion of Names]

This confusion of names arose originally from the fact that the names bone-fish and bony-fish were applied indiscriminately by native fishermen to both ladyfish and ten-pounder; indeed, the names ladyfish, ten-pounder, and their synonyms bonefish and bony-fish date back to our earliest history. In Natal it is called "springer."

[Sidenote: Of Ancient Age and Lineage]

Their scientific names were both bestowed by Linnæus more than two hundred years ago. Catesby, in 1737, called the ladyfish of the Bahamas "bonefish," while Captain William Dampier, one of the early explorers, called the bony-fish of the Bahamas "ten-pounder." While the two fishes are both allied to the herring tribe, they belong to different families, though the young of both species undergo a metamorphosis, or pass through a larval stage, in which they appear as ribbon-shaped, transparent bodies, totally unlike their parents.

[Sidenote: Nomenclature]

As just stated, they belong to entirely different families. The ladyfish (_Albula vulpes_), or bonefish, as it may be called, is the only fish in its family (_Albulidæ_), while the ten-pounder (_Elops saurus_), or bony-fish, belongs to the tarpon family (_Elopidæ_), and like the tarpon has a bony plate between the branches of the lower jaw (hence bony-fish), which bone does not exist in the ladyfish. The proper identification of the two fishes is really easier than to distinguish between the two species of black bass, or to differentiate a pike from a pickerel.

[Sidenote: Differentiation]

The most pronounced difference is in the conformation of the mouth. The ladyfish has an overhanging, pig-like snout, the mouth being somewhat underneath, while the ten-pounder has a terminal mouth, that is, with the upper and lower lips meeting in front, the same as in most fishes. The scales of the ladyfish are nearly twice as large as those of the ten-pounder, otherwise, as to the general contour, silvery appearance, and shape and disposition of fins the two species are much alike to the ordinary observer. So, if they are called ladyfish and ten-pounder, their proper names, and not bonefish or bony-fish, the confusion at once disappears.

[Sidenote: Tools and Tackle]

Black bass tackle, the rod not less than eight ounces, is sufficient for either ladyfish or ten-pounder. Sproat hooks, Nos. 1 to 3, on long gut snells if no leader is used, are large enough, for both fishes have rather small mouths. Usually no sinker, beyond a small box-swivel, is required when fishing on the flood tide at inlets, unless the tidal current is very strong, when it may become necessary to use one of suitable weight. The best fishing is at the mouths of inlets during the flood tide, when the fish are feeding on beach fleas, pompano shells, shrimps and other crustaceans which roll in on every wave, and are the best baits to use. A small fish, an inch or two long, also makes a good bait. The smallest casting-spoon, with a single hook, or a small shell squid, may often be employed with advantage, as well as a small, bright artificial fly.

The fishing may be practiced from a boat anchored just within the inlet, or from the sand-spits at its mouth. At other stages of the tide, especially at high water slack, good fishing may be had in the shallow water of grassy flats and sandy shoals, by making long casts, for in such situations these fishes are quite shy.

[Sidenote: The Snook (_Centropomus undecimalis_)]

The snook is a good game-fish, strong and active, rises to the fly in shallow water, and will take any kind of fish or crab bait, or the trolling-spoon. It is shaped somewhat like the pike-perch, with the flattened head and jaws of the pike minus its sharp teeth. It is attired in a silvery mantle with a broad, black stripe running along the side from head to tail. It is a fair food-fish if skinned instead of scaled. It is known as snook on the east coast, and as rovallia on the west coast, a corruption of its Cuban name, robalo. It grows to two or three feet and twenty to thirty pounds. Heavy black bass, or light striped bass, tackle is necessary to withstand its fierce rushes when hooked.

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