68 



Spimiing for Mahseer. 



CHAP. v. 



less tough sort, or if from not being quite fresh it is inclined to get 



rotten, which it will very quickly 

 do in India, then, as the bait 

 softens from being sodden by use 

 in the water, the sinker in the 

 stomach slips down the line, and 

 by its weight breaks a way for it- 

 self out of the stomach or vent, 

 and trailing visibly outside your 

 bait spoils its appearance utterly. 

 For such spoiling, too, there is no 

 remedy but a fresh bait, and of 

 these you may not have too many. 

 At any rate you grudge the time 

 lost in changing, especially if the 

 fresh bait is not with you, but with 

 your attendant, who, for better 

 concealment, is not quite at your 

 side. In such case try the sinker 

 used in the " Dee minnow tackle," 

 only of a larger size, say i|- inches 

 long, as in the margin. 



There should be no fear of 

 these sinkers fraying the line if it is 

 wire, and I see no reason why you 

 should not use wire or wire gimp 

 on this tackle, because there is no 

 need to double or bend it in bait- 

 ing, and it is doubling that tries 

 wire. I have always used treble 

 gut or single salmon gut myself, 

 but wire had not then been brought 

 to such perfection. Please see the 

 single vent hook in the chapter on 

 tackle. 



This bait, though originally the 

 product of my own untutored in- 

 tellect, is, I now see, much the same in principle as the " Dee minnow 



