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.