CHAP. xx. A Brake on tJie Winch. 289 



this will lay the composition even and smooth, and drive i* to the centre 

 of the line, and will be ready for use in five minutes after. It is best to 

 dress only a short length of line at a time, as then you can make it tight 

 without fear of breaking." 



There is another newer line now in the market which is recommended 

 by tackle makers, and has found its way to India, and is certainly 

 remarkably strong, and takes less space on a winch than my old friend 

 above mentioned, a winch of 3!- inches in diameter holding 120 yards of 

 this tanned plaited hemp size E. It is too light for casting a fly, and is 

 used by salmon fishers as backing. But it is not waterproofed, and the 

 question is how long it would keep strong without rotting. One who 

 had tried it said he found that from being so soft it embedded itself on 

 the winch, and so stuck in the middle of a run. 



A Brake on the Winch. What a splendid fighter is the 

 mighty Mahseer. Though you have " foiled his wild rage " in the 

 suddenness of his first mad burst, reducing rod friction by the use of 

 a pliable rod that " stoops to conquer " ; though you have been 

 careful also to *have as little winch friction as is safe } though you 

 have in both these directions minimized uncontrollable friction as 

 much as you can and dare, so as to have the better command of 

 the friction which you can control and utilize, by raising or lowering 

 the point of the rod so as to increase or moderate what I have called 

 the rod friction ; though you have done all this, still who has not wished 

 that he had more power of friction at his command ? Who has not 

 felt that it is with all too light a heart that the mighty Mahseer laughs 

 at your bending rod, that when the time has passed when you fear his 

 suddenness, when the pace has slackened and you feel it is safe to 

 begin to put on pressure, who has not felt that it is all too little that you 

 have it in your power to apply, and that bend your rod as much as you 

 dare, the fish is still going going gaily just according to his own sweet 

 will. It is the burden of every description of Mahseer fishing that you 

 read in the sporting papers, that the angler had no control whatever. 

 In how many cases does he tell you that he put his hand on the line in 

 the hope of checking the pace, but instantly had to withdraw it as the 

 line burnt him like fire. Verily, it is exactly like fire, and he who has 

 done it once will not do it again. With the line running at a pace that 

 cuts a groove in the very brass ring at the rod top, won't it cut a burnt 

 groove in your fingers if you touch it ? Rather. Experto crede. Even a 



THE ROD IN INDIA. U 



