CHAP. v. Killing your Bait. 65 



be rather to limit it, a Castle Connel rod not being the only pliable rod 

 that is made, and my chief aim has been to give the reason for discarding 

 the barge pole that was formerly accepted by the trade as the ideal 

 Mahseer rod. 



"Once use a i6-ft. Castle Connel rod," writes another, "and you 

 will never use anything else. It is equally perfect for spinning or fly 

 fishing, and you may use a single gut on it for both. It is the perfect 

 rod." And isn't it just that I've been telling him ? 



I have two ways of baiting. One is more troublesome than the 

 other, but it is in my opinion the more killing, so I give it first. 



Having selected your bait alive and fresh out of the bait kettle, 

 humanely kill it thoroughly with a flip or two on the back of the head, 

 but temper your physical energies with a little discretion, so as not to 

 knock it about. 



" There is wisdom in sucking eggs," and there is a right and a wrong 

 way of killing a bait even. If you have the loach-like Ophiocephalus 

 gachua to deal with, as hereafter recommended, you may flip away at 

 his head for a long time without killing him, and though you may half 

 stun him, you will be horrified, when putting the baiting needle through 

 him, to find he is still alive and kicking, whereas if you give him one 

 good squeeze in one hand so as to crush his internal organs, he will die 

 instantly. If he is too slippery for you, a little river-side sand will soon 

 get over that difficulty. 



You must not follow this same plan with dace-like fish, or with the 

 Chilwa, however, for if you do, the silvery scales will all come off, and 

 the bait will at once look dreadfully dishevelled. Moreover it is not 

 necessary, for the dace-like fish have as thin a cranium as a snipe, and 

 a flip on the head soon does for them, and with them it is that you 

 must be careful not to be too rough. 



Your bait being dead, then insert the baiting needle, point foremost, 

 at the anus, and bring it out at the open mouth. Before pulling it 

 through, hook the loop of the gut on to the eye of the baiting needle. 

 Then pull the baiting needle out at the mouth, drawing the gut after it 

 through the fish till the hook comes home to the anus. In doing this, 

 humour the baiting needle by giving it a turn, as a doctor does an 

 instrument, so as to tear the vent hole as little as possible in getting 

 the loop through it. I prefer a single uneyed treble hook, also called 

 a tapered treble hook, of the sort described in the chapter on tackle, 



THE ROD IN INDIA. F 



