i'iiapt. ix. el P ttmi Fl'i'jht of Hooks. 115 



Colonel Parsons' live bait llight of honks is mounted as follow - : 

 — A single length of good stout salmon gut being doubled in the 

 middle, so that the two ends lie equally side by side, a common 

 knot, Buoh as one ties at the end of a whip lash, is tied at the end 

 of the gut, so as to keep the ends together, and to keep the knot 



that follows from slipping. Close above this is tied just such 

 another knot, but this time through the eye of hook B (Plate IX). 

 The necessary space being left, just such another knot is tied 

 round the shank of hook A, and another through the eye of 

 hook A. The knots on A can easily be slackened and worked 

 further from or nearer to B, so as to accommodate the intervening 

 e i" the size of the bait. With reference to the bait, Colonel 

 •ons writes: "Six inches in length is a good size for aMahseer, 

 " but you will observe that if you can't get the size of bait you 

 " like, tie- small, or mouth hook, can easily be shifted up or down 

 "to suit a larger or smaller bait. I have frequently used a bait 

 " 1 lb. in weight, and occasionally as much as 1£ lb., the fitting up 

 " of a mount to suit him is only the work of a minute, as I have 

 " larger eyed hooks. 



" I am afraid you may consider me somewhat of a barbarian,* 

 " but press of time, and the not over susceptibility of the Mahseer 

 " in rough or thick water, induced me to these inventions. In 

 " slack, char water of deep pools, the Mahseer is a very wary 

 '• wight, and I advocate care, and as neat tackle as is consistent 

 " with the gnat strength of a large Mahseer to effect his capture. 

 " How very seldom one gets two large .Mahseer in one day out of a 

 "clear slack pool? No. 1 may succumb to a minnow, skilfully 

 '■ worked by a knowing hand well out of sight .... but No. 2 

 " betakes himself to cover lor the rest of the day, at any rate wheii- 

 " ever he sees anything in the form of a line or cast.'' 



In a subsequent letter, Colonel Parsons writes: " I have paid a 

 " short visit to Tangtot (the proper name is Dhangrot). I found 

 " both .Jhelum and Pooncb flooded with snow-water and thoroughly 

 " discoloured, instead of the <i\ -tal streams of the early year. The 

 " Bungalow book informed me that the locality had latch been 

 \ i sited by a good fisherman, wdio, the boatmen informed me, had 

 ■ worked hard at spinning with Bpoon for Mahseer with blank 



• Far from it. The eonlrivnnec is neat and simple, and I doubt not my reader* 

 will feel as mueh indebted as I do to our friendly mentor. 



TI1E ROD IS ISDIA. 1 - 



