CHAP. vii. Temper of Hooks. 123 



order his hooks from none but the best makers. A cheap hook may 

 do for roach, dace, sticklebacks, and such like, but to economize in 

 hooks when such lordly fish as Mahseer are the game is wholly 

 unpardonable. 



I have, staring me in the face as I write, a treble hook that was 

 taken with one grand rush over one hundred yards across a big river, 

 and then sent back to me by a mighty Mahseer, curled up and twisted 

 about like a ram's horn, with the insulting message : "There; take your 

 wretched hook it comes from the wrong shop." If the temper of the 

 hook had been better I should not have had such an ugly reminiscence. 

 And yet I happen to know that the tackle-maker at least was a most 

 reliable man. It only shows what care should be taken in the making 

 and tempering of Mahseer trebles. 



For ease of reference the special Rohu hooks made by Messrs. 

 S. Allcock and Co., Standard Works, Redditch, may also be shown 

 here. If you use these short shanked hooks, which are on the same 



ROHU HOOKS. 



principle, only eyed and of thicker wire, as the short shanked roach 

 hook called "round roach," there is no room for attaching the lead 

 wire used with the longer shanked Limerick, and you must trust solely 

 to the weight of the paste bait for sinking, as you will see in the 

 chapter on Labeo. It is a question of preference. I have never 

 tried these because I did not know of them, but I expect they will be 

 fancied for the same reason as the round, roach hooks are for roach. 

 The wire of the round roach hook is altogether too fine for a 50 Ib. 

 Rohu, and these hooks were made at the special request of an Indian 

 fisherman, Colonel Manners. 



And now to conclude this troublesome matter of hooks. While I 

 have been bound in common courtesy to acknowledge the civilities of 

 those manufacturers who have kindly helped me to scales of hooks, I 

 wish not to imply that they are the only manufacturers of these hooks, 

 because that would not be fair to other manufacturers who are un- 



