62 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA 



comparatively still water he usually pouches it 

 and you feel the hooks go home ; but when your 

 bait is working in strong water, it is sometimes 

 seized with great violence and hooks are often 

 crunched, or one or both of the flights are wrenched 

 off the spinner. It was this fierce tug that was 

 to me one of the joys of the game. The power 

 of compression possessed by the mouth of a 

 mahser is amazing. He has three rows of teeth 

 in the lower jaw, but I do not think these are 

 used, and the damage has always appeared to me 

 to be done by the hard roof of the mouth. I 

 have frequently had hooks crunched by compara- 

 tively small fish, and one of the safest holds you 

 can have is in the skin of the lips outside the 

 mouth. I have lost very few fish by the hold 

 breaking out, as the skin is very strong. 



When a fish takes your bait and goes to the 

 bottom of the river without running, he should 

 be dislodged. A strong pull down-stream will 

 generally dislodge a fish, but if this is ineffectual 

 he should, if possible, be forced to move by 

 stone-throwing, or by sending your attendant 

 into the pool. If he is allowed to remain 

 undisturbed, he will almost inevitably play havoc 

 with the tackle. A fish which has run hard 

 apparently becomes too blown to permit of his 

 bringing the same pressure on the hooks. 



When fish are not taking well they often dash 

 at the bait and make a sad mess both of the bait 

 and spinner, without hooking themselves; but 

 the only remedy for this is patience. 



In the spring and autumn you may fish all day, 

 but the middle of the day, when the temperature 



