102 How, When, and Where to Fish for Mahseer. CHAP. vi. 



for sport, and covers a good deal of water, and the loss of a few feet in 

 the length of the cast is, in my opinion, very much more than compen- 

 sated for by the aid which the pliable top gives you in meeting the 

 suddenness and violence of the Mahseer's onslaught, as already set forth 

 in Chapters II. and V. As the bait is on the point of falling into the 

 water it should be just felt with the top ever so slightly, so as to make 

 it fall lightly and noiselessly. To do this well in a long throw is a 

 delicate operation, requiring, to my mind, a very great deal more skill 

 than is needed for casting a fly lightly for trout. I do not hesitate to 

 say that it is a very much higher art to spin well in this fashion than to 

 cast a fly well, whether for trout or salmon. Besides the casting, there 

 is also so much more room for skill, in the life-like management of the 

 bait in the water, than is needed for the right handling of the fly. But 

 the very difficulty makes the skilful accomplishment all the more 

 pleasurable. 



In passing let me add that a first-class fisherman tells me he often 

 breaks rod or line by a fish taking him just as he has put a great strain 

 on to bring the spoon out and swing it for a fresh throw. Avoid this 

 by always bringing the spoon to the surface and lifting out lightly for 

 the next throw. 



For throwing with a pliable rod the bait must, as I have said, be 

 light. If you use a fish you are somewhat restricted in size ; sinker 

 included, you cannot well swing a fish more than six inches long 

 without straining your top. 



It will be found convenient to hold the rod with the middle finger 

 of the upper hand above the running line, and the other fingers below 

 it ; when swinging the bait for a throw, close the upper finger on the 

 running line to prevent its being jerked out ; when spinning take it off, so- 

 that the line may be perfectly free to run out the instant a fish strikes. 



If fishermen would spin in this manner they would not be so 

 wedded to stiff trolling rods for Mahseer fishing. It is because they 

 have been told that they must spin for Mahseer as for Pike, that they 

 have taken to a thing like a Pike rod, and then, finding they have a 

 much finer foe than a Pike to fight with, they have had their tackle- 

 broken, as was to be expected, and have put down the breaking to- 

 the fish, instead of to their using the wrong rod, or perhaps spinning; 

 wrongly so as to compel them to use the wrong rod. 



But I trust the stiff heavy rod, once styled the Mahseer rod, has 



