106 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL BISTORT SOCIETY, Vol. XII. 



signs of stress. I keep also by me two other rods — one a 16 feet spliced 

 salmon rod, also by Farlow, fitted with long and short tops, which I have 

 only lately got, but which is quite as good as my other rod, only being 

 longer is not quite so handy. This rod I use for the spoon or spinning 

 bait, mostly keeping the first-mentioned rod for the prawn. The other 

 is a small trouting rod of the Bickerdyke pattern, by Walbran, of Leeds, and 

 I seldom use it for Bahmin, keeping it more es^pecially.for dapping, or, if you 

 like, dry fly-fishing for garfish with a live cockroach, of wliich more anon 

 some other day. 



The reel may be either a Nottingham, or some modified Nottingham 

 pattern, such as the Bickerdyke sea reel; but the reel I generally use and am 

 fondest of is a heavy 5 inch narrow bronze reel, by Patstone, of Southampton, 

 and on it I carry some 209 to 220 yards of Manchester ('otton Spinning 

 Companies IG-plait Egyptian brown dressing. I have also 150 yards of plain 

 Derby silk twist, but I consider it too good for every-day use, and as I should 

 find some difficulty in renewing it out here, I keep that more for high days 

 and holidays. The bait may be prawn, small mullet, or what is called out 

 here " bomalo " fish, better known as Bombay duck. 



But generally Bahmin are not particular, and they will very often take 

 an ordinary spoon or bright metal spinning bait as well as the natural ; and 

 on one occasion, when fishing from a boat, I had out three rods — one with 

 prawn, one with metal spoon, while I fly-fished over the pair of them with 

 a medium salmon-sized smoky dum, when almost simultaneously I had a 

 run on every rod and, sad to relate, I lost the lot. On another occasion 

 almost the same thing happened, three rods in use, a fish came one after 

 another, the smaller of the three taking the fly first, and by good luck I col- 

 lared the trio. Weights, 3|- lbs., 11 lbs., and 11| lbs., the latter a pair of 

 beauties. 



About the best flight there are many opinions. I used always at one time 

 to use gimp with pike flights, but I came to the conclusion that the simpler 

 the gear the better. From that I went to gimp and ordinary prawn tackles 

 with the needle ; but one serious objection to this is that powerful fish 

 crunch up ordinary English triangles, and the needles seem somehow to 

 get in the way before the hooks have secured a proper hold— at least that 

 is my opinion ; and I can offer no other explanation for the number of 

 misses I experienced when using this tackle. Gimp alr>o has the fatal habit of 

 very quickly deteriorating in this country ; and even new gimp, after being 

 used once or twice in salt water, is utterly unreliable, and more especially so 

 because in the monsoon season on this coast (when the fishing is at its best) 

 and nearly all the year round on the Madras side, the climate and atmos- 

 plicre are more like that of a very hot and damp green-house than any- 

 thing else, and it is well-nigh impossible ever to get the gimp dry after 

 use, and the consequent deterioration is startingly rapid. All these causes 

 combined led me to discontinue its use, and I now never use it at all. 



