Part 6

Formula: (Girth^2)/16 × length/2 = cubic volume

The specific gravity of fish is approximately 1.15 so that about 25 cubic inches of fish weigh 29 of water or one pound.

So that if you divide the number of cubic inches in a fish by 25 you will have his weight in pounds:

Formula: (Girth^2)/16 × length/2 × 1/25 = weight in lbs.

which simplified is Girth^2 × length over 800.

My friend says a more simple formula is:

(1/4)Girth^2 × 2 times length = weight.

Tarpon must be measured when first taken from the water in order to obtain their true weight for they shrink when exposed to the air. A heavy fish that is hung up over night will stretch inches in length by the following morning. The length should be measured from the tip of the closed mouth over the swell of the fish to a line drawn between the flukes of the tail.

RECORDS

As far as my personal knowledge is concerned the first tarpon was landed with rod and reel by Mr. W. H. Wood on March 25th, 1885, bottom fishing in Surveyors’ Creek, Florida. Mr. Wood’s great ambition was to land a tarpon while fishing from the shore or beach.

I know of over a dozen fish that have been taken that weighed 200 pounds or more.

The first was landed by Mrs. Stagg and weighed, I believe, 205 pounds.

Edward Vom Hofe’s fish followed on April 30, 1898, 210 pounds at Captiva Pass, Florida.

N. M. George took one of 213 pounds at Bahia Honda, Florida, on April 8th, 1901.

Dr. Howe wrote me from Mexico that he had captured a 223-pound tarpon at Tampico.

The largest tarpon I ever saw was caught off Tea Table Key, Florida, on May 15th, 1904. I was told that it weighed 224 pounds. Charlie Thompson, a professional fisherman, was the lucky angler.

W. A. McLaren holds the record for a fish taken in the Panuco River, Mexico, on March 27th, 1911. Length 7 ft. 8 ins.; girth 47 ins. Weight 232 pounds.

Mrs. W. Ashby Jones caught a tarpon in the Caloosahatchee River, Florida, in 1916, that weighed 210 pounds.

Mr. B. W. Crowninshield has a record of 25 tarpon taken between sunrise and sunset at Boca Grande and I believe Mr. L. G. Murphy has a like record at Aransas Pass.

The greatest fishing I ever heard of was done by Mr. and Mrs. Magill on a cruise along the west coast of Florida in 1915. They captured 176 tarpon that weighed 16,377 pounds. The heaviest fish weighed 196½ pounds, eleven weighed over 180 and forty over 150 pounds each.

There were 785 tarpon weighed at Useppa Island in 1917 and but 23 of them weighed over 150 pounds.

At Aransas Pass, Texas, the following fish were liberated after being measured:

1906 1,573 1907 1,333 1908 700 Beginning of light tackle 1909 720 1910 800 49% on light tackle 1911 718 66% “ “ “ 1912 530 64% “ “ “ 1913 960 78% “ “ “

The falling off between 1907 and 1908 was partly owing to the introduction of light tackle but also to the extension of the jetties which made the channel dangerous and rough.

In the 90’s the tarpon that were weighed would average about 100 pounds but of late years the average has fallen to about 80 pounds. This would lead one to believe that the number of heavy fish is decreasing.

I believe that the tarpon of over 150 pounds in weight are of great age and that they grow very slowly. I judge this from the fact that they are dainty feeders, for there is very little undigested food found in them when examined.

Several thousand fish have been destroyed yearly for over twenty-five years and although it is now the custom to liberate most of the hooked fish many of these tired tarpon become the victims of piratical sharks and those that are taken in nets are usually destroyed by the fishermen owing to the damage they do to the nets.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES