FISHING IN INDIAN WATERS. 195 



dained that these shoals or packs of ravenous monsters shall collect, probably to 

 compare notes, on this one given spot ; and as this is fairly accessible, anyone 

 " in the know " and given to the gentle art, who cares to time himself and 

 appears at the rendezvous, will generally find that he has hit off a rea 

 soft thing ; and here, before going any further, I may state a curious fact 

 the reason for which I have never been able to solve. For the upper waters 

 of the harbour, at flood tide seems to be the best ; in the lower reach, to 

 which I have first referred, nothing can ever be got on the flood tide, and 

 the best time is invariably from quarter to three quarters ebb, I feel con- 

 vinced that the conformation of the bottom and the set of the tide have 

 something to do with this, probably in the distribution of their food-supply. 

 Such is however the fact. 



In size they run from 3jlbs. to 14 lbs. Day, in his '' Fishes of India," says 

 that they run from 25 lbs. to 30 lbs., and on one or two occasions I have 

 seen natives with even heavier fish in their possession ; but they had 

 always been caught far out in the deeper waters and in nets. A 3^,-lb. fish 

 is looked upon as small ; but one very rarely comes across them more than 

 15 lbs. I have fished for them pretty constantly, off and on, for about 18 

 years, not only in Bombay, but up and down both coasts, and the largest 

 I have ever managed to land was 18f lbs. : next to that I got one 14;! lbs.; 

 then I dropped down to the common or garden weight of from 5 lbs. to 

 12 lbs. ; but they must not be despised because they do not run larger. A 

 Bahrain in good order and condition fights as hard, and partly owing to the 

 very heavy water in which he is always taken he is as hard to kill, as a 

 salmon nearly double his nominal weight, and he fights game to the very last. 



Having thus described our friend, and but faintly done him justice, let us 

 now discuss the best means of catching him. The natives of course have 

 their own ways — nets, traps, &c. — but these I do not propose to discuss. As 

 he is a real gentleman, there is only one right and proper way of going for 

 him — I mean with a rod and line — and I have found that ordinary heavy 

 pike or salmon tackle will generally hold him. 



Some years ago I used to fish with an 18 feet English-built salmon rod 

 with a short stiff top. I discarded that rod later on, as I found it difficult 

 to bring a large fish alongside the boat with so long a rod, I had built some 

 two years ago, by Farlow, a rod which, when I ordered it, I said must be 

 powerful enough to give me command over a 401b, fish, and yet supple 

 enough to allow me to spin. I told them at the time it was for boat work 

 and the result was a rod which I always maintain cannot be matched for the 

 class of work for which I use it. It is some 12 feet 3 inches in length, green- 

 hart throughout, fitted with bridge and snake-rings, and the top with .Jones' 

 patent roller end. It is of the very best material, and springs in one's hand 

 like a piece of tempered steel ; and I have now accounted for large numbers 

 of Bahrain and other fish (one being 73 lb. weight) with it, and it shows no 



