2O2 Bottom Fishing for Labeo. CHAP. xin. 



The oil dilutes the cobbler's wax on the whipping of the rings and 

 top. You will do well, therefore, to first dress the whipping only 

 with liquid glue, or with sealing-wax melted in spirits of wine. If 

 thin it will penetrate and bind the whipping as well as protect it. 



The cased rod-top ring, recommended for Mahseer, should be used 

 in this fishing also, as I have had a brass one cut in such grooves by a 

 single 24 Ibs. Catla that the line hitched in the grooves. 



For paste bait I would add to the recipe given at page 34 of 

 "Tank Angling," that the ground nut should be ground very fine, 

 and bran omitted. You will then get a bait of the consistency of 

 fresh putty. 



With a good tough putty-like paste there is no necessity for mixing 

 cotton with the paste, as some advocate. I dislike it myself, because 

 some of it remains on the hook every time you strike, till you very 

 soon get a bale of it hanging about the barb. 



In Northern India wheat flour is to be got in any village bazaar, as 

 it cannot be in Madras. Therefore, while the above recipe may be 

 retained for the Madras Presidency, I was converted in Northern 

 India to wheat flour, and saw it well made up as follows. 



Recipe. Mix wheat flour and water into a good stiff dough, as if 

 for making pastry ; roll it into a ball, and put it into a pot of boiling 

 water over a quick fire, and boil briskly from twenty minutes to half 

 an hour, probing with a fork or skewer to see if it is agglutinized or 

 sticky inside. When it is, take out the lump, and, when cool enough, 

 knead it very thoroughly. The result will be a very stiff and white 

 paste. Add any scenting matter. But it may be made too stiff, the 

 hook not passing through it readily enough to hook the fish. When 

 it is so stiff that it does not fall off the hook on striking for a fish, 

 it is too stiff. This fault can easily be remedied at the waterside by 

 kneading it up with a little more water. 



I am told linseed, well roasted whole, and mixed in balls in clay, 

 makes a good, strong-smelling ground bait, and that linseed cake, well 

 roasted, may be used in the same way. The latter is Tisi-ka-kalli. 



I have found that bran and asafoetida mixed, and used as a ground 

 bait while fishing, acted excellently. 



You will remember that Rohu and others can be caught by day or 

 dusk or night with a ground line, as mentioned in Chapter X., p. 145? 



