CHAPT. V. Kinds of Fish forr Bait. 53 



in tin 1 shallowing edges and tails of the pools of the very river in 



which you are fishing. Your boatman is probably a fisherman by 

 and has only to be warned to bring bis casting net with him. 

 The Ophiioaphahw gackua, however, a somewhat loach-like fish 

 in general appearance, and railed in Canarese morant, in Tamil, 

 koravai, and in Hindustani dole, is much tougher, and consequently 

 keeps its good looks ranch longer on a hook. Its lips, which is a 

 great point, are stltnger, and its mouth being wider, it readily 

 takes in a larger sinker. It may be easily recognized by the simi- 

 larity of it- general appearance to that of the marral, Ophiocephalua 

 atriaiw, figured in Plate XIX, for it is one of the same family and 

 genus, though small It has small scales, looking to the ordinary 

 rver like a scaleless skin. It is a bottom-feeder, always among 

 the -tones, and the young are to be found in any small pool adjoin- 

 ing rice-fields, whence they can be readily taken by bailing out, 

 or by small boj B with a worm, or by damming up any small stream 

 and turning it on to a dry reaped rice field, when they will follow 

 the stream out on to the rice field and are easily caught. This is 

 the simplest way of catching a number in a short time. Your 

 grooms or other camp followers can do it for you. These fish keep 

 alive in a bait-can longer than any fish I know; but they are 

 great hands at jumping out if it is not closed. 



Though I say loach-like, the reader will please understand that 

 I mean like in general semblance only to the eye of the casual 

 observer, and not in characteristics to the closer examiner; for it is 

 really of the same genus as the marral, though a span is its 

 utmost length. My desire is to make myself intelligible to the 

 general reader, the more critical one must therefore please not 

 quarrel with me for, or conclude ignorance from, laxity of expres- 

 sion like the above, any more than he would conceive a person 

 ignorant of the earth's rotation for saying the sun set. 



As to what is the best size for a bait to be, it must, I think, 

 remain a moot point, dependent very much on the fancy of the 

 fisherman. Some have an idea that the larger the bait you use, 

 the larger will be the fish you catch. But my humble opinion is 

 that we do nol always take as big a bite of cake as ever our 

 mouths will hold, and I am quite sure very tin md :!() lb. 



salmon have been killed with a very minnow for bait. I have 

 myself seen a pike of 3 feet taken on a roach not as many 



