The Tarpon

Part 1

THE TARPON

COMPLIMENTS OF F. GRAY GRISWOLD

THE TARPON

BY F. GRAY GRISWOLD

NEW YORK PRIVATELY PRINTED 1922

THE TARPON

(Tarpon Atlanticus)

This game fish has the local names of Tarpon, Tarpum, Grand Ecaille, Savalo, Sabalo, Savanilla, Savalle, Silver Fish, and Silver King.

He belongs to the family of Elopidea, and is the largest of the herring tribe. His habitat at sea is in the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean and of the Gulf Stream. He is found along the coasts of Brazil and Central America, as well as among the islands of the West Indies and also along the gulf coast of Mexico. In the summer time tarpon are numerous all around the Gulf of Mexico and on the east coast of Florida.

A few fish have been known to appear in midsummer as far north as the New England coast. I have seen some in the New York Aquarium that had been taken in nets in New York Bay. In the summer of 1919, I saw a fine specimen that was caught in a net in Narragansett Bay near Newport.

Little is known of the habits of the tarpon when in the open sea. I never met them at sea but once, and that was in the month of February along the edge of the Gulf Stream off New River Inlet. On that occasion I sailed through a large school on the surface swimming south.

Tarpon are often taken in the nets off Hillsboro Inlet, which is not far from where I met them.

They arrive among the Keys of lower Florida in small schools of an average weight in February, and from then on their numbers increase until midsummer. These schools of fish dwell in Bahia Hondo, Matecumbe Sound and other channels for a few days before working their way into the Gulf of Mexico. If a Norther blows they go to sea, and return later. Other fish enter the rivers of the east coast of Florida.

The building of the East Coast Railway greatly disturbed their customs, for many of the fairways they were in the habit of journeying through were closed by trestles and viaducts. At that time schools of fish appeared in Biscayan Bay, and many were taken off the mouth of Arch Creek. These fish were evidently looking for a passage through to the west coast, having found their usual route further south barred by the railroad.

On the west coast tarpon are to be found in Shark, Harney, Broad, Turner’s and Losman’s rivers, and among the Thousand Islands. In Surveyor’s Creek, Estero, and the Caloosahatchee River, also in the Passes that divide the outer islands such as Captiva and Boca Grande, and up along the Gulf of Mexico.

These fish are supposed to return south in early November, but many remain in the deep holes of the rivers during the winter and do not show unless the water is at least as warm as 68 degrees.

Where these fish come from is not known, but they appear to arrive from the West Indies via the Gulf Stream.

There is another migration up the west side of the Gulf that appears to come from the rivers of Mexico. They begin to arrive at Aransas Pass in March.

It is not known where they spawn. Some people believe it happens at sea but, from what I have seen, I believe they spawn in brackish water at the headwaters of streams, or at the head of the tide, for it is there only that you find small fish.

Fifteen miles up rivers in Cuba I have taken large tarpon that were evidently spent fish, not only from their appearance but because they had little strength. It is possible they also spawn on the flats and sandbars inside the outer islands.

Tarpon are very susceptible to the cold, and love warm water. When in the rivers and not looking for food they will lie on the bottom, coming up from time to time for a mouthful of air and then retiring to their resting place, after which air-bubbles will arise to the surface.

It is this action that makes the natives insist that these fish have lungs and use them for breathing. Then again they will lie on the bottom for hours as other fish do, with little or no motion of the fins.

I once saw quite a school of large tarpon lying on the bottom in the Los Angeles River in the Isle of Pines. They took no notice of the launch, although we passed over them twice in seven feet of clear water.

I once caught a baby tarpon five inches long in a gill net in New River. He was badly gilled, yet lived all day in a tub. He did not act as other fish do, but allowed me to stroke him gently and, tarpon-like, showed no fear. From time to time he would rise to the surface as the large fish do in the rivers, then go to the bottom of the tub again, and in a moment the bubbles would slowly issue from his mouth.

The long lower jaw of the tarpon shows that he is a bottom feeder, and lives on crabs; yet he also feeds on school fish such as mullet, needle fish, and the like.

Although the tarpon’s mouth is as hard as stone, there is a very sensitive cuticle that covers the roof of the mouth. When you see a tarpon in a river jump you may be sure that a crab has nipped this cuticle. When they jump in the sea it may be done to get rid of ramoras.

I believe that the tarpon not only come to the rivers of Florida in the spring and early summer for the purpose of spawning, but that like the salmon they return to the same river as a rule, and that many fish remain in deep holes in the rivers throughout the winter.

This belief is based on the fact that in the late 80’s and early 90’s there were many tarpon to be found in the Peace River. During the freeze in 1894 many hundreds of tarpon were killed by the cold in this stream. The banks were lined with dead fish of the largest kind. Since that time, few tarpon are to be found in the Peace River.

Part 2

I was in Florida at the time of the “Big Freeze,” living in a houseboat on the St. Lucie River. The mercury went to 18 degrees, and the river water steamed and smoked. It was not the cold that directly killed the fish, but the cold seemed to have consumed the oxygen in the water, for the fish died from asphyxiation.

For two hundred miles both shores of the shallow Indian River were banked with dead fish, mostly so-called surface feeders such as snook, bluefish, and the like. The bottom fish did not seem to be affected.

I saw many bluefish of five pounds flopping along on the surface, but no mullet. These wise fish went to sea in schools the day before the Norther arrived.

We picked up nineteen green turtles that were benumbed by the cold and floating on the surface. These turtles were stacked on the lower deck of the houseboat and revived much to the consternation of the crew, although they were compensated for their troubles the following day when they disposed of the turtles at Fort Pierce for $200.

I have fished for tarpon in the St. Lucie River in midwinter. For days you would not see any fish, but if you waited until after a few days of hot sun had warmed the water to 68 degrees they would begin to roll and show themselves and would then take live silver mullet bait.

It took me some time to find out how to keep mullet alive, for if you put them into a well in a boat they bruise their noses against the sides of the well and die.

I procured oat bags and laced barrel hoops around them on the outside. I then ran drawing strings around the mouths of the bags. After placing half a dozen live mullet, taken by cast-net, in each of several bags I practised with them to find out in what depth of water the mullet were most comfortable. I then tied the bags to the roots of trees along the bank of the stretch of river I proposed to fish. In this manner I always had fresh, live bait at my convenient disposal.

I found the new moon was the best day of the month to fish. One winter, on the new moon in January, I took a 187-pound tarpon; and on the following new moon, in February, I landed a fish weighing 165 pounds.

This fishing was done from a row boat; but in later years and since the advent of the Wilson spoon I have fished in a small launch. A live bait behind a launch soon dies and revolves like a pin-wheel which destroys one’s line, but the Wilson spoon skitters and does not revolve in the water.

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