The Giant Fish of Florida

Part 1

THE GIANT FISH OF FLORIDA

THE GIANT FISH

FLORIDA

BY J. TURNER-TURNER

WITH 48 ILLUSTRATIONS

LONDON C. ARTHUR PEARSON LIMITED PHILADELPHIA: J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 1902

PREFACE

The sea has its big game as well as the land, and there are some of us--the name of Mr. W. H. Grenfell, M.P., at once occurs in this connection--who have derived much sport from its pursuit. Whether, as Mr. Grenfell and others would seem to indicate, the tunny of the Mediterranean, which is identical with the tuna of American waters, may yet be recognised as a sporting fish by British anglers has to be seen; meanwhile the coast of America, and more particularly that of Florida and Mexico, is the recognised resort of those who angle for the biggest that the sea has to give.

In this volume I have endeavoured to lay before fellow sportsmen at home some of the charms of fishing for tarpon and the other rangers of the Gulf. The tarpon, of course, stands first; indeed, there are many visitors to those parts who will fish for nothing else, thus losing many excellent opportunities of sport on days that are too rough for them to get out on the tarpon grounds. No attempt has been made at anything in the nature of an exhaustive list of the sea fish of Florida, which might easily have been gathered from one or other of the American standard works on the subject, such as the invaluable volumes by Jordan and Evermann, published under the auspices of the United States National Museum. Only fish that are likely to attract the notice of the angler have been figured and briefly described, and this from the sporting rather than from the natural-history point of view. Nor have I devoted much space to the remaining fauna of the coast and islands; although a few conspicuous birds like the cormorant and pelican, and an occasional reptile, such as the turtle and alligator, the pursuit of which may pass an otherwise wasted hour, have claimed a place in these notes.

Much interest attaches to the realistic photographs with which these pages are illustrated. One of the first anglers in this country to inspect them was Mr. F. G. Aflalo, a fishing enthusiast to whom I am indebted in no small measure for the final arrangement of my notes, and he at once pronounced them to be certainly the most remarkable in their own way that had ever passed through his hands. They are all from the natural (not mounted) fish, and the effects were obtained by a simple, though careful, arrangement of pegs and sheeting. I think that I may claim for them a correctness that, while combining the impressions of both, could never have been obtained by either the brush or camera unaided. My thanks are also due to Professor George A. Boulenger, who, with Mr. Aflalo, identified as far as possible the subjects of my photographs.

There are but one or two really successful photographers of living fish under water, and these artists must obviously confine their efforts to comparatively small fish in the confinement of aquarium tanks. Now, a considerable observation of fish at home and abroad under every variety of conditions has persuaded me (though I hardly expect the statement to pass unchallenged) that the narrow confines of the aquarium tank tend to cramped and unnatural attitudes in the subjects; and this contention seems to me abundantly substantiated by a careful comparison of the otherwise excellent photographs from time to time published, and the best studies of the best fish painters. My own system of illustration combines the two, and in great measure, I venture to think, obviates many of the faults of both. Constant observation of the fish in their natural habitat impresses on me their every attitude, and, while unfortunately not possessed of the necessary talent to transfer these groups to canvas, there is no insuperable difficulty in the way of pegging the various subjects in just the positions they assumed before my eyes an hour or two earlier. The camera does the rest.

Tarpon fishing is still in its infancy. New methods and grounds will be discovered. Meanwhile, it is a congenial task to tell the story of the big fish of Florida seas, not from hearsay or printed reports, but from personal and vivid experience.

J. T. T.

Cavalry Club, Christmas, 1901.

CONTENTS

PREFACE.

CHAPTER I.--THE GIANT TARPON.

“ II.--AMONG THE ALLIGATORS.

“ III.--HOW TO CATCH TARPON.

“ IV.--A LIVELY MORNING IN THE PASS.

“ V.--LADIES WHO LOVE THE SPORT.

“ VI.--ENORMOUS RAYS OR DEVIL-FISH.

“ VII.--HARPOONING A MONSTER.

“ VIII.--THE LOGGERHEAD TURTLE.

“ IX.--CATFISH AS SCAVENGERS.

“ X.--BONY FISH--JACK--GARFISH--JEWFISH--SQUEATEAGUE--AND BASS.

“ XI.--SPOTTED EELS--CRAB-EATERS--SURF-WHITING--MOONFISH--LEATHER JACKETS--TRIGGER-FISH--AND MULLET.

“ XII.--STRIPED MULLET--SHARKS--BIRD LIFE.

Part 2

INDEX.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE.

1. A WHIP RAY LEAPING Frontispiece

2. THE TARPON 23

3. THE FLOATING HOTEL 27

4. INTERIOR OF AN ALLIGATOR ISLAND 31

5. THE ALLIGATOR MADE STRAIGHT FOR THE OPEN SEA 37

6. A TARPON GUIDE 45

7. A GOOD CATCH OF TARPON FOR A LADY 56

8. A HOOKED PIECE OF CORAL WHICH WAS MISTAKEN FOR A JEWFISH 57

9. KINGFISH ACCIDENTALLY FOUL-HOOKED 62

10. WITH LIGHTNING SPEED THE KINGFISH CHASED THE LIVELY SKIPJACK 63

11. THE KINGFISH LEAPT SOME TWENTY FEET INTO THE AIR 67

12. A BIG JEWFISH FOR A WOMAN TO LAND 76

13. JEWFISH WITH SUCKER CLINGING TO IT 77

14. A VANQUISHED WHIP RAY 82

15. THE WHIP RAY TURNED HELPLESSLY ON ITS BACK 83

16. THE HOOKED TARPON FOLLOWED THE BOAT TOWARDS SHORE 83

17. THE CREWS OF SIX BOATS TOWING A HARPOONED WHIP RAY 83

18. A STRANDED WHIP RAY 95

19. HARPOONED DEVIL-FISH IN SHALLOW WATER 102

20. HARPOONED DEVIL-FISH WITH JAWS PROPPED OPEN 103

21. A TURTLE SWIMMING 109

22. HARPOONING A TURTLE 114

23. PLAYING A TURTLE 115

24. HOISTING A TURTLE ON BOARD 119

25. DEAD GROUPER BEING DEVOURED BY CATFISH AND BREAM 127

Part 3

26. GAFF TOPSAIL CATFISH AND YOUNG HAMMERHEAD SHARK 131

27. THE SHEEPSHEAD 135

28. TOAD FISH WATCHING BONY FISH AS THEY LEAP 139

29. GARFISH PURSUED BY A KINGFISH 143

30. A MARMORATUS LYING MOTIONLESS 146

31. A CARANX HIPPOS 147

32. THE MIGHTY PERCH AND HIS DEEP-WATER COMPANION, THE RED GROUPER 149

33. PIECE OF SNAKE-LIKE CONCH SPAWN, AND SEA TROUT 156

34. CHANNEL BASS AND RED GROUPER 157

35. CURIOUS, SNAKE-LIKE EEL 163

36. THE COBIA, OR CRAB EATER 168

37. SURF WHITING AND MANGO SNAPPER 169

38. A MOON FISH 174

39. A LEATHER JACKET 175

40. THE TRIGGER FISH AND THE ANGEL FISH 180

41. SILVER MULLET 181

42. MULLET LEAPING 187

43. CAPTURED SAWFISH WITH SUCKER 192

44. HAMMERHEAD SHARK 193

45. HOOKED SHARK SEIZED BY ANOTHER 193

46. EXTRACTING A FIRMLY EMBEDDED HOOK FROM A SHARK 198

47. ALL HANDS GIVE THE SHARK A MIGHTY HEAVE ASHORE 199

48. LEOPARD SHARK 203

CHAPTER I

The Giant Tarpon

CHAPTER I

THE GIANT TARPON

In the old country the sport of sea-fishing, though yearly more popular with its own votaries, can never oust the sport on inland waters, until at any rate these are fished out. Always excepting sharks as vermin, there is no British sea fish so mighty as the salmon, or so game as the trout. American waters, however, provide more than one salt-water giant calculated to test, if not, perhaps, the finest skill, yet certainly the greatest endurance that man is likely to bring to its capture. Of these, the big game of the Atlantic, the tarpon stands easily first.

Part 4

Better than any detailed description of the fish and dentition, with measurements, is its picture to be found in this volume. Suffice it to say that the tarpon is to all outward appearance, bar the long dorsal fin ray, a gigantic herring, with scales four inches in diameter. It may weigh over two hundred pounds, and the length of such a monster would be about seven feet. The qualities that recommend the tarpon to the sportsman are--first, its power of leaping clear of the water, which lends excitement to its pursuit, since it may, and not infrequently does, land in your boat; and further, its mighty strength, endurance, and cunning, which combine to render it a worthy antagonist. It will, very often, indeed, completely tire out an angler, who then hands the rod to his guide, leaving him to finish off the half-exhausted fish, an alliance that, however unsporting it may seem to the hypercritical, may be absolutely necessary if the fish, or, indeed, the tackle, is to be saved. Not that the fish, except as a trophy, is of much use when gaffed. As food it is of little worth, and it is quite a pity that the pioneers in tarpon fishing should have thought it necessary to gaff through the gills and kill every fish, and leave it dead on the foreshore. Nowadays a more economic and sporting spirit prevails, and fish are often landed without being gaffed at all, and then allowed to go free.

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