230 The Murral. CHAP. xvi. 



to your hook there is nothing at all showing, and even if you have 

 thinnish wire gimp (p. 228) there is very little to be seen in dirty 

 water. But the more modern Jardine live-bait tackle seems best of 

 all (p. 141), mounted on No. 4/0 wire gimp. Having live baited, you 

 can fish with a rod, or can set trimmers after the English fashion for 

 pike, just as you prefer. 



Another way, and a paying one, to fish for Murral is to dap with 

 a dead frog. The common little brown frog (Rana cyanophlyctis) is 

 the one they like. Run the hook, No. o Limerick in my 

 scale, through the head of the frog, and bring out the 

 point only, not the barb, just through the skin under the 

 chin ; extend the legs up the line, and bind them together 

 on it, the frog being dead. Dap the frog on and between 

 the lilies on a pond. A stiff rod and stout line is ad- 

 visable, because, among a network of lilies, you dare not 

 give any line, but need to lift your fish straight out at 

 once, and as they run large a stiff pole of bamboo is 

 about the best thing you can have. The natives place 

 the butt of the pole in a leather socket at their waist, so as to give them 

 a leverage in using the pole. You may also use a gorge hook as in the 

 larger illustration. 



But there is yet another way of fishing for Murral which is the most 

 killing of all. It is the native method of setting a trimmer, and is very 

 simple and very perfect. In your large still pool look for a bush with 

 a bough overhanging the water. You will find plenty of 

 them, and can set an Asiatic trimmer at each. Be prepared 

 with some live frogs in a covered earthen pot. Bait one by 

 passing a hook in and out through a little bit of skin nearer 

 the head than the centre of the back. The way in which a 

 frog sits naturally in the water is not on the flat of its 

 stomach, like a duck, but with just its eyes out, and its hind 

 legs well under water. By inserting the hook a little forward 

 of the centre of the back, you not only give the frog this natural 

 attitude, but you also relieve it of inconvenience by letting its weight 

 be borne by the water, not by the hook. Be careful you do not touch 

 anything but the veriest skin, and bear in mind old Izaak Walton's 

 famous injunction to " treat him tenderly as if you loved him." The 

 skin is easily taken up like the loose skin of a dog. Then reach 



