204 Bottom Fishing for Labeo. CHAP. xin. 



appearance. This will be notified by the bamboo jigging to and fro as 

 the fish tug at the worms. Now is your time. Having put a worm on 

 your hook drop it very gently as close to the bamboo as you can. ' Aha ! ' 

 thinks Mr. Rohu, * here's a worm got loose at last,' and he bolts it in- 

 continently. Then get him away from the bamboo as soon as you can, 

 both to avoid fouling your line and to keep the other fish from being 

 frightened. 



" When the bamboo ceases to jig it is a sign either that all the worms 

 are gobbled up, or that the fish have gone off the feed. Pull up the bamboo 

 and in the former case prepare a fresh ball of worms. In the latter case 

 either give up fishing for the day or pitch the bamboo again as far as 

 possible from its first location, so that you may have a chance of attracting 

 fresh guests. 



" The dodge is much practised by Bengalis and is very killing. You 

 can see at a glance when fish are on the feed, and your risk of having the 

 bait stolen is very small. I especially recommend it to anglers who, 

 unlike my friend Blank, have not the patience to sit for hours at a time 

 waiting for a bite." 



Another, while confirming the above generally, adds the rider that 

 the plan is useless unless there is fresh water in the tank from rain. 

 This I can well imagine, because it would be in rainy weather only 

 that worms would naturally come to the surface of the soil and be 

 washed into the water, and fish be expecting them. In the dry 

 weather they would naturally lie deep in the soil. They do so in 

 England, much more must they do it in the tropics. 



Worms dug up from damp soil near a water channel, e.g., at 

 Rohtak, were as large as English lob worms and very tough, but got 

 very flabby the next day. They haven't the stamina of a Britisher. 

 They were shown me as a bait used for Wallago attii and Tengara. 

 Why not for Rohu also, according to this plan ? Would it not be a 

 sort of magnum bonum plum to him ? At any rate a magnum. Tastes 

 differ ! 



'Weather. Changes of weather are also factors ; cold winds, and 

 thunder, and impending rain having, even in the height of the season, 

 the same unappetizing effect on all Indian fish, from the Mahseer 

 downwards, as one recognizes in England, though they will bite well 

 when the rain is falling heavily. An occasional warm day will 

 sometimes bring you fair sport when it is otherwise too late to 

 expect it. 



Seeing how fish are off the feed for days and months together, 



