386 Fishing Localities. CHAP. xxvi. 



all fishable in the cold weather and up to June, though seldom quite as clear 

 as they might be. Either owing to this, or to inexperience, I can seldom 

 catch them spinning, and never with the fly. I have never taken on a 

 spoon, but have got a few running up to 5 or 6 Ibs. on a phantom. I find 

 the deadliest bait is a ball of raggi paste on a treble hook, trundled down a 

 rapid into a pool. It is usually taken just as it drops into the pool. If 

 fishing with it in a slow, big pool, I just throw it in (with no float or lead or 

 anything) and let it drift till it settles on to the bottom, then haul it out and 

 try again. It sounds rather a poaching dodge, but it pays even when the 

 water is very thick. I have caught several nice fish thus when the river has 

 been in flood with the rains. 



" The best place I know is called ' Kondakemberu.' The river Garepiro 

 joins the Machkunda there, and both rivers are good fishing for a mile or 

 two in any direction from the bungalow. The Garepiro is always clear, the 

 Machkunda usually dirty. I have caught several Mahseer there, but none 

 over 8 Ibs., though I have been broken by big ones several times. One fish 

 took out over sixty yards of line in three consecutive runs, and then ran 

 straight up a small fall and cut the line round a rock ; so there is no doubt 

 about there being big enough fish there. I have had big ones rise at a fly 

 once or twice, but never hooked them. This river is good fishing down to 

 Motu, where the Kolab joins it, and the Kolab is good fishing and holds 

 Mahseer up as far as the ghats leading up to the Jeypur plateau. The places 

 to go to are Podiya and Gorgopilley, Salim, or, in fact, anywhere on the 

 river where you can get coolies and supplies, as the country is wild. 



" At Motu there are lots of Mahseer. I have also had some fine red- 

 spotted labeo of 2 Ibs. weight or so brought me, caught in nets when the 

 men were catching me bait. The best fishing there is just where the 

 Machkunda and Kolab join. A small river called the Potera runs N.E. 

 from the Kolab through the Malkunjira taluq. It is fishable all the way up, 

 but dries up in the hot weather with the exception of the deep pools. I 

 have caught all sorts of fish, from a few ounces to 2 Ibs., with bait in this 

 river. I do not know what fish half of them are. I have never caught 

 Mahseer in it, and do not think they run far up it ; but I have had fair sport 

 with a slow, heavy fish that is either the ' olive carp,' shown in your book, or 

 a near relation. I have caught them up to about I Ib. They like a sunk 

 fly drawn very slowly, and they don't seem to mind how large the fly is in 

 moderation black is the colour they affect most. The natives poison some 

 of the pools in this river every hot weather, but only a few. 



" I am afraid I have inflicted a very long and very feeble, as far as 

 useful iniormation goes letter upon you. Still every little helps, and I 

 should have been awfully thankful for any ' khabar ' at all when I came up. 

 I have not half worked out the fishing here, and no one else has as yet. It 

 is extraordinary how few men fish out here ; but the little fishing I have 

 done up here has shown what there is to be had if the places are once 

 thoroughly worked at till known." 



