FISHING AT HOME AND ABROAD 



affected by big fish. There it will repay your pains to be at the trouble 

 to put up a dead fish. Some use the silvery chilwa {Chela argented) as bright 

 and showy. But it is soft, and goes to pieces too soon. The diminutive 

 species of marral (Ophiocephalus gachua) or dok of Hindustani, is much 

 tougher, and when about four inches long, tail included, makes an Al bait. 

 You may recognize him by his family likeness to the marral (Ophiocephalus 

 striatus).* With one treble hook. No. 8, threaded with a baiting needle from 

 vent to mouth, and pulled home, and fixed by one hook of the treble being 

 embedded, very little hook is shown. Thread a sinker on the snood, sew 

 up the mouth so as to keep the sinker in, and loop snood to spinning trace. 

 Keep well back from the bank with only your rod point over it, and kneel 

 that you may not be seen, and when moving position, tread lightly, that 

 there may be no vibration from the bank, and gently dropping in your fish 

 bait, ease it off that it may glide naturally to the bottom, and dawdle it 

 about slowly, up and down and round about, for there is no need for it to 

 spin. You can dawdle it much slower than you could a spoon. But though 

 doing all you know to make it like a living fish, you will only succeed in 

 making it look like an ailing one that can be easily captured, and that 

 will be its chief recommendation to a predatory mahseer. 



All the above fishing is ordinarily done in clear water, and that should 

 be constantly kept in mind as emphasizing the necessity for keeping out 

 of sight. Mahseer may take better when there is a very slight spate on, so 

 slight that you can still see with ease the small pebbles at the bottom in 

 four feet of water, but anything over that puts them down, and melting 

 snow water is fatal. As a slight colouring which is favourable can so 

 easily be overdone, the exact favourable condition occurs but seldom, and 

 clear water is the rule. When the river is further coloured your only hope 

 is in a live bait, say six inches long, made stationary at the bottom with 

 a sinker or bullet, which should be attached to the running line, say a 

 yard from the bait, by a thread that will certainly break off before the line 

 breaks if the bullet gets hitched in the bottom. Thoroughly secure the rod 

 in position on the shore, and take two turns of the running line round a 

 stone of about four pounds weight, so that as the line is jerked the stone's 

 weight may serve to strike the mahseer. And so leave as many rods as 

 you like, and for the night, too, if you fancy it. The bottom -feeding 

 mahseer will find them by scent. But you must use some other bait for 



'Minnows, bleak or gudgeon, bottled !n formalin, save the angler all trouble in catching bait. They can be had of 

 any good tackle-maker, and the preservative makes them far tougher and more durable than fresh fish. — ED. 



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