CHAP. xxvi. Northern India. 401 



move him from his position behind a big rock, I got into the boat to go 

 across. That started him, but unluckily he passed a sharp rock, and cut the 

 line. This drove me nearly frantic not only losing the fish after having 

 played him for so long, but on account of its being the second phantom I 

 had lost that day ; and besides, if I had only had a little more patience, and 

 not crossed the river, I probably would have bagged him. Afterwards I 

 caught four small ones with spoon. A. had a blank day, but one of our 

 friends, M., landed a 24-pounder. 



" Our next five days' fishing was much in the same style as I have 

 described. We moved our camp some 3 miles up the river, between two 

 pools. Every day we made good bags, averaging about 100 Ibs. a day. A. 

 was always very unlucky with big fish ; somehow, they invariably came to 

 me. Once a 43-pounder that I had hooked, after a good deal of play, 

 sulked in a most determined way ; nothing would move him. Bearing in 

 mind how my line had been cut a few days previous, I was very patient 

 with him, but it struck me as being rather odd that I could not stir him at 

 all. So at last A. went over the place in the boat ; and, finding that the 

 line was round a rock, he very cleverly cleared the line. Luckily, the fish 

 was nearly drowned, and became an easy capture ; but, from the amount 

 of slack line that flew back in my face the moment the line was freed, 

 though I was running back from the shore and winding up as fast as I 

 could, that very disagreeable sensation of ' He's off,' which every fisherman 

 must know, came over me. In this instance, however, my alarm was 

 groundless, as the fish still proved to be on. Another day I lost a fine 

 fish, that I had played for the best part of an hour, and had completely 

 tired out, by a swivel breaking, making the second good fish lost in that way. 



" The accompanying table shows the particulars of each day's sport : 



March. Respective weights of fish in pounds. 



Ibs. 



2nd. 35, 29, 17, 7, 3 (lost 3 fish) ........ 5 91 



3rd. 44, 40, 40. 3 6 , 18, 18, 14 (lost 6 fish) . . . . 7 210 



4th. 38, 1 8, 14, 3 (lost 3 fish) .... . . 4 73 



5th. 52, 22, 19, 14, 4 (lost 2 fish) . . . . 5 in 



6th. 7, 7 (lost 2 fish) . . . . . . . . 2 14 



7th. 17, 16, 10, 8, 3, 2 (lost 3 fish) ...... 6 56 



8th. 30, 18, 10, 8, 5, 3, 3, 2, 2, 2, i (lost 3 fish) . . n 84 



9th. 25,24, 18,16, n, 10,8, 8,8, 7, 7, 5, 4, 3 (lost 2 fish) 14 154 



loth. 43, 28, 24, 18, 11, 9, 8, 8, 7, 7, 5, 14, 4, 3, 3, 2, 



2, 2 (lost 4 fish) * ........ 18 221 



i ith. 33, 13, 10, 7, 5, 5, 5, 4^, 4, 3^, 3^, 2j, 2 (lost 3 fish) 13 98 



I2th. 30, 3 .............. 2 33 



* There is seemingly an error of 23 Ibs. of detail here, as the totals of numbers 

 and of weights agree with the 87 fish weighing 1145 Ibs., and with the average 

 calculated thereon in the next paragraph. 



THE ROD IN INDIA. 2 D 



