n he springs straight up high out of the water,
as much as six to ten feet, shakes his head exactly as a terrier does
with a rat, falls back to make another rush and another noble spring. He
will make many springs before you dare take liberties and approach the
landing shore. But the peculiarity of this fish is that his runs are not
all in one direction. His second run may take quite a different line;
and at any time he may run and spring into or over your boat. When two
anglers have fish on at the same time, and in close neighbourhood, the
excitement and fun are great. The tarpon's whole mouth, palate and jaws
have not a suspicion of muscle or cartilage about them; all is solid
bone, with only a few angles and corners where it is possible for the
hook to take good hold. Unless the hook finds such a fold in the bones
you are pretty sure to lose your fish--three out of four times. Probably
by letting him gorge the bait you will get him all right, but it would
entail killing him to get the hook out. In winter the tarpons go south,
and perhaps the best place to fish them is at Tempico in Mexico. But let
me strongly recommend Aransas Pass in September. There is good
quail-shooting, rabbits, and thousands of water-fowl of every
description; also a very fair little hotel where I happened to be almost
the only visitor. At Catalina Islands, by the way, whose climate is
absolutely delightful, where there are good hotels, and where the
visitors pass the whole day in the water or on land in their
bathing-suits, one can hire glass-bottom boats, whereby to view the
wonderful and exquisitely beautiful flora of the sea, and watch the
movements of the many brilliantly-coloured fish and other creatures that
inhabit it. The extraordinary clearness of the water there is
particularly favourable for the inspection of these fairy bowers. One
day I determined to try for a Jew-fish, just to see how such a huge,
ungainly monster would act. Anchoring, we threw the bait over, and in a
short time I pulled in a rock cod of nearly 7 lbs. weight. My boatman
coolly threw the still hooked fish overboard again, telling me it would
be excellent bait for the big ones we were after. Well, I did not get
the larger fish; but the sight on looking overboard into the depths was
so astonishing as to be an ample reward for any other disappointment. On
the surface was a dense shoal of small mullet or other fish; below them,
six or eight feet, another shoal of an ent