FISHING AT HOME AND ABROAD 



that dashes past him. It is a law of Nature that the predatory fish feeds 

 most on the most easily captured, a law that results in the survival of 

 the fittest in those preyed upon. So let your small spoon of one and a 

 half inches have only one No. 10 treble at the tail or end furthest from 

 the rod, for the mahseer will take in the whole spoon and close tightly 

 on it. But if the spoon is larger, and about the size of a dessert spoon, 

 two and a half inches, it will rotate strongly enough to drive a second 

 treble close up to the small end at the head of the spoon, provided the 

 hooks are small, say eyed trebles of No. 5 or 6. One such extra treble at 

 the head is then a desirable addition, because the mahseer takes his fish 

 as a trout does, by flashing past it and turning sharply, so as to take 

 in the fish head foremost, and so you can give him the double chance of 

 coming on the head hook, as well as on the tail hook. A two-inch spoon may 

 be mounted the same way with hooks three sizes smaller. But both hooks 

 should be as close up to the spoon as possible, as they are then easier to 

 drive than if they have to traverse a longer circuit. The treble hooks 

 should be the eyed trebles, and should be attached to the spoon by soldered 

 rings. On no account should split rings be used for attaching the hooks, 

 as split rings drink and hold water in the split by capillary attraction, 

 and so inevitably rust, and fail you with a heavy fish. Tackle makers 

 affect split rings, as they are cheap, and easy to use, but anglers should 

 abjure them. 



Another reason for having the spoon made of somewhat stouter metal 

 than is usual is that mahseer have no teeth at all in the mouth with which 

 to hold a slippery captured fish, and in place of teeth in the mouth are 

 endowed with an exceptional power of jaw, which enables them to stun a 

 captured fish by a sudden blow of compression, a sort of instantaneous 

 death squeeze of the boa constrictor, and they would seem to have also 

 the power of hardening the leathery mouth, as the tiger hardens its pad 

 for a blow, so that a spoon is sometimes crumpled up like a bit of paper. 

 This blow of compression will also break and bend treble hooks, which 

 have to be specially made of stouter wire. But when the angler is prepared 

 for this with extra stout spoon and extra stout hooks, both specially 

 made, this compression means also that the mahseer will press well 

 home on the hooks, and it is therein favourable to fishermen. The only 

 teeth a mahseer has are in the pharynx. 



Another peculiarity of the mahseer is that he does not take your bait 

 after the leisurely manner of a salmon or trout, simply resuming its 

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