CHAP. xiii. A Big Fish on a Light Rod. 201 



been able to submit it to the test of thorough personal trial, as I like to 

 do, before commending anything to my readers. If it is no improve- 

 ment then it must be accepted that our good little detective float is too 

 true a friend to be dropped for this minor suspicion of a drawback. 

 The india-rubber caps used in roach fishing are not likely to be of any 

 use, both because india-rubber perishes so rapidly in an Indian sun, 

 and because the float is not suited to their use. 



In "Tank Angling" it was rather a presumption (pp. 13, 14) than 

 an ascertained fact, as it now is, that the Rohu, the Mirgha, and the Catla 

 could be taken by the same methods as the Labeo of Southern India 

 better than by the rougher methods formerly followed. Rohu and 

 Catla have also been taken with small fish, spoon, and Phantom, and 

 Catla are said to be very destructive to small fish. But paste is the 

 standard bait. 



For Catla the following remarks by F. R. O. G. are worth con- 

 sidering and experimenting upon : 



" I had been fishing with little result, and had gone to observe some 

 natives who were fishing near. I saw they were tearing their hair over 

 something and soon saw the cause. It was evident to me by the large 

 bubbles that a Catla was around ; they saw too that a fish was there, 

 but what fish they did not know, and so they went fishing along, bait on 

 the ground, and getting nothing but nibs as the soldiers did (p. 5 1 in your 

 book). Now for a Catla one must, I think, fish with the bait off the 

 ground, for his mouth would seem to be formed to take bait from above 

 and not off the ground. At any rate I called for my rod, quietly shortened 

 the depth and caught that Catla at once. That was the only one I got 

 last year, for they do not seem to come to ground bait as other fish do ; 

 that also would be accounted for if my theory is correct that they do not 

 feed off the ground." 



I have only taken them myself when fishing on the ground for 

 Labeos. But one foul-hooked about an inch behind the eye, showed 

 from the position of the hook that he must have been over the bait, 

 head downwards and tail upwards, trying to take the bait off the 

 ground in that uneasy fashion. Being 22 Ibs., and hooked as he was, 

 and on a rod weighing only 8 ozs., he was as good as a 44 Ibs. fish on 

 such a rod, and showed good sport, which seemed to be much enjoyed 

 by a big gallery. 



Ringol rods are the better for being oiled when laid by, not 

 varnished, as otherwise they are apt to split during the hot winds. 



