<'ii apt. x. Fishing Hours. 187 



■ u green weed called Pas&m freely," but were as tunning as a 

 fox. 



The Camatic Carp was Latroduced into the Bilikal Lake, and 

 the Ootakamnnd Lake, on the Nilagiris. It is known tn lie tlourish- 

 ing in the former water, and is believed to be so also in the latter. 

 Fishermen should try them with a boat 



Tin- beat hours fur fishing are, in my view, from dawn till 11, 

 and Erom •"> t<> du^k. though just at dusk I could frequently do 

 nothing with them. Fishing for such long hours as from dawn to 

 11, and often getting up at half-past .". ot 4 in the morning, to get 

 out to your ground by dawn, one gets a little hit hungry before 11, 

 and if you allow yourself to get faint and hungry under a tropical 

 sun, you are simply tempting a sunstroke, and, what is more my 

 business, perhaps, you are not fishing well, but in a slovenly, tired 

 manner. You are not half enjoying it. and you are not killing 

 nearly as many fish as you would be killing if you were feeling 

 <(iiite tit. Now, to think of sitting down to eat while fish are 

 rising is too Gothic The precious moments cannot possibly be 

 spared for such low uses; so my little plan is to take Abernethy 

 biscuits in the left pocket. They are easily broken with one hand, 

 and eaten without taking your right hand off the rod, or your eye 

 off the line for one moment. Many a one have I eaten while in 

 the act of playing a good fish In England, where you are at it all 

 day, from morn to eve, and are not going home to breakfast and 

 shelter during the heat of the day, there is nothing like sitting 

 down comfortably to a pleasant meal and chat, and bit of a rest ; 

 that's quite another case. Then you should take something for 

 your man as well as for yourself. A gentleman I know of had 

 failed in this little forethought, and was rebuked for it. He had 

 had his snack and was at work again. His man had had none. 

 But no better luck attended the afternoon fishing than had come 

 in the morning; the basket was as empty as the man's inside, ami 

 the master broke the silence with — " The fish won't bite." Thereon 

 the man incisively : " Woant boite, woant 'ey. If they was ait' as 

 'ungry as me they'd be boiting as if the divil was in 'em." 



I have had insufficient opportunitir< for arriving at any con- 

 clusiveness about the time of spawning, but I noticed that fish 

 caught at the end of September had their roe more than half 

 formed, and that fish caught in December were full of milt : the 



