FISHING IN THE EAST 



small. And the dentition was feeble. And yet I knew from Day's •' Fishes 

 of India " that this fish ran to four feet in length. Casting about as to what 

 might be his natural food, and not having an opportunity to examine 

 that truthful organ that tells no lies, his stomach, for my brother 

 angler could not be delayed in the middle of his fishing, I noticed 

 that the little freshwater mullet (Mugil cascasia), not exceeding four 

 inches in length, was crowding up the fish -pass in numbers. So then 

 and there rigging up light spinning tackle to suit the tiny three-and- 

 a-half-inch mullet which I selected, I fished slowly close to the bottom, 

 with a light fourteen-foot rod with which one could feel any touch, 

 and struck for a slow fumbling. It was fine to see a sixteen -pounder leap 

 four feet in air, not once, but again and again, and again. He had a temper 

 of his own, and no mistake, and ran out the line freely. And so had others 

 taken the same afternoon, making as spirited a fight as could be desired. 

 I fished close to the bottom, because the fish's form induced me to con- 

 clude that the bottom was largely, though perhaps not wholly, his place 

 of feeding, and I attributed all the rolling on the surface to play, as in 

 another fish to be mentioned presently. It has yet to be discovered by 

 experiment, for which I had not the opportunity, whether he will not take 

 the same bait spun otherwise than at the bottom. It is said to take a worm 

 freely, and to grow to eighty pounds, and that its belly is ** uncommonly 

 rich and well flavoured." He is a right good sporting fish, and has 

 served to point the moral that in fishing for strange fish it is necessary 

 to study the indications afforded by their peculiarities of form, and a 

 good angler -naturalist should be able to tell more than half a fish's 

 habits from its form. 



This fish is taken in the rivers of Northern India. Its counterpart in 

 Southern India, Notopterus kapirat, runs only to two pounds and under. 



LABEO CALBASU 



There is yet another fish with a singular peculiarity of form and 

 manner of feeding that makes him, of all fish I have ever known, far and 

 away the most difficult to take with rod and line, and therein lies the 

 attraction of this sort of fishing; for is it not skill in conquest that is the 

 very essence of sport ? And here we have it in the very highest degree as 

 regards anglers, for I never knew more difficult fishing than the labeo 

 affords, and the skill attained in it by different anglers is more marked 

 than in any other sort of fishing. It is similar in some respects to roach 

 NN 273 



