CHAPTER VII. 

 FLY-FISHING FOR MAHSEER. 



"Away, then, away, 



We lose sport by delay ; 

 But first leave all our sorrows behind us, 

 If Misfortune do come 

 We are all gone from home, 

 And a-fishing she never can find us." 



COTTON. 



Is any one of my readers half as fond of fly-fishing as I am ? If so, 



"A sudden thought strikes me; 

 Let us swear eternal friendship," 



for stoutly though I have argued in favour of spinning for Mahseer, as 

 being the most killing way of fishing for them, and unable though I am 

 to retract, still I could wish that fly-fishing were as killing a way, for it 

 is to my mind the most fascinating style of fishing going. I refer 

 particularly to fly-fishing with a single-handed rod and very light tackle 

 for trout. The nicety of skill that has to be brought into play, to make 

 anything of a bag amongst good and wary trout is sometimes very 

 refined. It is quite distinct from fly-fishing for salmon, and is a much 

 higher branch of the art ; though there is an exultant ruder joy certainly 

 in a hand-to-hand fight with a lordly salmon, when once you have got 

 him on. But any man who is a good trout fisherman will readily fall 

 into salmon-fishing ; though a master at salmon-fishing may be but a 

 rude trout fisherman. But both the real trout fisherman, and the 

 salmon tamer, will want to know what can be done in India by their 

 favourite style of fishing. 



Suppose we commence with the Mahseer fisher. I'll be bound the 

 very first question he asks will be an awkward question ; he will want 



