CHAP. xvni. Elops and Megalops. 255 



I confess I never used prawns as a bait myself, but as prawns 

 abound in India, and not only in estuaries, but also in fresh waters, I 

 can well imagine that they should be a good bait, and not for this fish 

 only, but for many. Some Indian prawns, as Palemon cardnus, of the 

 Indian seas and the Ganges, attain a foot in length. I saw one 6| 

 inches long taken in a fresh-water pond in the People's Park in Madras. 

 The cannibal was taken on a prawn bait on a hook. In Calcutta the 

 natives frequently fish solely for prawns on a hook about the size of 

 a roach hook, using prawn as bait. They give them plenty of time 

 and do not strike, as for fish, but tauten and lift out without a jerk. 

 Practice shows the difference between a slow prawn bite and a smart 

 fish bite with lively bobs. The float goes slowly down and stops down 

 just a little below the surface. A minnow hook should be better than 

 a roach hook. Prawns use their nippers to steal your bait and convey 

 it to their mouths if small enough. I have seen one fisherman with 

 quite a dinner for a dozen thus captured. 



Day says he has seen Chrysophrys berda 30 inches in length. They 

 ordinarily run from 2 Ibs. to 5 Ibs. 



Elops saurus. 



This is another estuarial fish, to be caught in the same way as the 

 two previous fish, and also with a white fly, small salmon size, say 

 No. 3 Limerick. It is a long thin fish, very active. I have seen it 

 taken a foot long and natives say it grows to 3 feet long by i foot deep. 

 Its Tamil name is Alati. 



Megalops cyprinoides. 



Megalops cyprinoides^ which it is as easy to call Megalops as any- 

 thing else, also takes a bait well at times. I have come across them 

 coming up an estuary in a shoal, and it was like hauling in Mackerel ; 

 and they run about the same size. There was a fish on as fast as ever 

 you could get your line into the water. But the fun was very short- 

 lived. It was in mid-stream, and they were all past the boat in a very 

 little time. I have also taken them on a May fly and a Carnatic Carp 

 fly, in a pond which was connected with the Adyar estuary. I had 

 only 30 minutes to spare, and in that time, on a light trout rod, took 

 six of Ib. each, lost four more among weeds, and had one fly bitten 



