FISHING AT HOME AND ABROAD 

 any fly top, and fined towards the tip to one -sixteenth of an inch; to the 

 point of this whip six inches of the silicious bark of a large bamboo fined 

 much finer still, and whip a very light ring to the tip of it. Lay your 

 ordinary labeo rod handy by your side, and pass the running line from its 

 point through this ring, and holding the butt of the little four-foot rod in 

 your hand, cast out your bait and let it sink to the bottom. Then carefully 

 gather in the slack, and hold the little rod with a finger tight upon the 

 line. You will see the exceeding fine tip of your little rod bend to every 

 nibble, and must strike, as before, to a rapid tremor, and strike hard with 

 such a yielding rod. If you feel you are into a fish snap up your ordinary 

 labeo rod to play it, and let the little four -foot rod go into the water. It 

 may disappear altogether, but will be recovered with the fish, which may 

 be only an ordinary three or four pounder, or a twenty or thirty pounder 

 worth all the trouble. 



In this fishing, whether in still water or in waves, the natives have a 

 bare unbaited hook, or a couple whipped back to back, one inch below 

 the paste -baited hook. When the gut is thoroughly soaked and limp, the 

 bare hook lies flat on the bottom, and is not noticeable. I have known 

 the fish bite so warily that a party of four rods in four days caught 

 nothing except on this extra bare hook. And I do not think it is fair 

 to call it more unsportsmanlike than the extra trebles that whirl round 

 and round a spoon. Nor is it stroke -hauling or snatching, for you 

 never see the fish, and it is stationary, and never comes into play till 

 the bait has actually been taken into the fish's mouth, and only on that 

 particular fish. 



The rohu {Labeo rohita), though one of the same genus, is worthy of 

 separate mention as having been taken with the rod up to fifty -four pounds, 

 and as being exceptionally well fiavoured. And Labeo gonius is said by Dr 

 Day to attain '* nearly five feet " in length. With such a thick and deep fish 

 that must mean great weight. 



In the same waters, in the same season, with the same bait and tackle, 

 you may sometimes find another heavy customer in a catla (Catla 

 buchanani), attaining at least six feet in length, recorded as having been 

 taken by the rod up to seventy-seven and 100 pounds. It suits his mouth 

 formation best to have the bait a little off the ground. 



You may be disappointed by a white carp {Cirrhina cirrhosa), weighing 

 only a pound or two, not exceeding one and a half feet in length, and biting 

 much like a labeo taking your bait; or cheered up again with a mirga 

 280 



