CHAP, xviii. Polynemus. 239 



they keep pressing on up stream, apparently very much frightened, but 

 still unwavering in their purpose of pressing on up the river, with all 

 their little strength. What their purpose is in resolutely struggling up 

 stream, and whether they are small fish or fry I am not certain ; but I 

 have a strong suspicion that they are the minute fry of mullet, which, I 

 am assured by native fishermen, ascend and descend for the sake of 

 food with every tide, and which I know are caught in large numbers 

 by taking advantage of this their habit. When they have passed the 

 fish cease taking. Whether it is because the big fish have followed 

 the little ones, or have turned their attention to other food, as trout 

 will when the rise is over, I cannot say ; but that it is no use fishing for 

 them I can say. 



For the brief period that the small fish are passing, you will have 

 excellent sport. Put on a dead fish, and spin as for jack, with stout 

 hooks on rust-proof wire gimp, for which see page 208. Gut will not 

 do, it will be cut through in a trice. The gimp, too, must be stout. I 

 have had every available bit of tackle broken by successive fish in 

 twenty minutes. But then I was learning ; I was buying my experience 

 a great deal dearer than you will buy this book. But I have made the 

 fish pay for it eventually, for, when a shoal has been passing, I have 

 taken toll of them as fast as ever I could land them and throw in my 

 line. It is " a short life and a merry one." The tackle may be the 

 same as recommended at pages 69, 70. 



Polynemus. 



But the best fish to be caught in estuaries is the Polynemus tetra- 

 dactyius, Plate xv., well known to sportsmen on the West Coast by 

 its Malayalim name, Bci-mln, pronounced Bar-meen, and all too well 

 known for its tackle-breaking propensities. " They eat an astonishing 

 lot of phantoms," writes a friend, bemoaning his tackle. The fish I 

 spoke of in my first edition as the Pamban salmon is either this same 

 fish or Polynemus Indicus. I have caught and seen them caught with 

 a fly at Pamban, and seen thousands netted at sea, and seen them, 

 unfortunately, only when they were sick and unfishable in the estuaries. 

 So I have indented on my friends for details of their manners and 

 customs in the estuaries. I am chiefly indebted herein to Colonel 

 W T . Osborn, then Commanding 9th M. N. I., who has most kindly been 



