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.
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