FISHING IN THE EAST 

 this mode of fishing than our above-mentioned little friend Ophiocephalus 

 gachua or dok, as he is a breather of atmospheric air, and would drown if 

 kept at the bottom. 



The same method may be used with a paste bait of wheaten flour worked 

 into a tough dough, but the rod should be in the angler's hand for ready 

 striking, with a few yards of free line close to the reel, so that he may 

 see when it is being taken stealthily out, and strike at once. And other 

 fish than mahseer can be taken this way, to wit, the rohu (Labeo rohita), 

 taken with a rod up to fifty -four pounds, and other labeos, as we shall 

 see below, from two or three to fifty pounds, and siluroids not a few, 

 guce — ^I am warned by my Latin grammar and the space allottable — gu(B 

 nunc perscribere longum est. 



But perhaps the straightest tip of all is a friend's. I mention it in con- 

 fidence. With a wealth of daughters, he placed one on sentry-go over 

 each located rod, furnished doubtless with a book and knitting, but also 

 with a police whistle to signal a runaway thief of a fish, when pater 

 came up at a double to take the rod and do the playing. This tip is not 

 for bachelors. 



There is yet one more plan practised near Jubbulpore, but it seems 

 confined to waters in which the fish had been educated to it by being 

 habitually fed. The place to be fished must be baited in advance for two 

 or three days consecutively with a parched grain that floats (chabena), 

 your man throwing in a small handful every now and then for hours, till 

 fish come up from long distances and congregate. On the fishing day a 

 like grain, or a well imitated counterpart of it, is threaded on a hook so 

 that it cannot pass the barb. Fish up to forty pounds in weight have been 

 caught in this way. To me the miethod has no attractions. But it has its 

 votaries, so it is not left unmentioned. 



The best season in the year in which to fish for mahseer is an essential 

 piece of knowledge. There are two main principles that govern it: the 

 action of the monsoon and the melting of the snows. When the rivers 

 are in flood fishing is out of the question. When they begin to clear is 

 the best season, and that is generally from October 1 to December 15, 

 after which cold winds set in and put the fish off feeding; and of this 

 good time the best is the earlier month. Fishing may be continued more 

 or less indifferently till the end of March, and is liable to be interrupted 

 locally in Southern India by the river being coloured by the ploughing 

 of rice fields. The Godavery has its peculiarities, and so has the 



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