144 Paste Baiting for Mahseer and Others. CHAP. x. 



and hand line. The native fashion is to hold the line in the hand after 

 taking in the slack, trusting to the fingers for following the bite. 



An improvement on their method is the following ingenious plan : 



" A shingly bed in the deepest pools is ground baited (not necessary) for 

 some evenings with balls of ragee paste. The fishing is night work. I 

 usually have three or four reels out, with 300 or 400 yards of line each. 

 They should not be thrown out too far ; the reels are planted vertically 

 on the bank, and have an arrangement of bells to signal a fish on. The 

 line has a couple of turns round a stone of 3 or 4 Ibs. to strike the fish. 

 I have seen these stones jerked 10 feet away into the water. The bait 

 used is a bunch of big crabs, a fowl's entrails, or a ball of ragee paste as 

 large as the fist. From 8 till 12 P.M., and again towards morning, are 

 the most likely times. With a mattress, and coffee, and cheroots, one 

 can pass the night in fine dry weather very pleasantly. I have had eleven 

 runs in three nights from heavy fish. One cleared out with 350 yards 

 despite every effort to stop him. The river there was about 200 yards 

 broad, clear of rocks, but running n feet deep, and strong. As the reel 

 was all but out I was obliged to call a halt, when the line went like rotten 

 thread. I have no doubt my big fish was a minnow compared to this." 



I gather from the description that there were no rods used, and 

 therefore no means of taking toll of the fish while running out the 

 line. Rods could easily have been used in addition, and would have 

 added to the sport, as well as to the chances of tiring out and killing 

 a big one. 



Another method, which I have tried once, and with success, is to 

 use a No. i Limerick hook, baited with a ball of paste, from the size of 

 the thumb nail to that of the end joint of the thumb, and without sinker 

 or float. Cast out as far as you can into the deep water below the run, 

 and let it be carried out. When as far as it will go, and at rest, take 

 in the slack between the rod and the bait, but leave two or three yards 

 of slack between the lowest ring and the winch. Hold the rod, or set 

 it as on page 142, not at an angle with the water, as that may check the 

 first nibble, but parallel with the surface of the water, so that the slack 

 line, carefully laid out or coiled on the ground, may run quite freely 

 through the rings when the fish moves off with your bait taken. If you 

 are holding the rod, with a very light finger on the line, you will feel 

 that it is gliding out ; if you have set the rod, you will see it. This is 

 your time for striking, and in either case put your finger firmly on the 

 line, and strike. Habet. 



