A Fishing Trip on the Upper Waters of the Masaruni River. 69 



We spent three nights at this camp while the crew every day were busy 

 clearing tacoubas and other encumbrances from the itabus in the vicini- 

 ty. Game was plentiful and the Indians brought in daily either a labba 

 or several acouris, so with the fish that we secured we fed royally. 



Every evening the captain amused himself by setting a species 

 of night line. The fish he intended to catch, judging by the ponderous 

 tackle he used, must have been enormous. I am sure his line and sinker, 

 composed of a large piece of rock, would have held a bush-cow with 

 ease. He was unsuccessful. 



At this period heavy showers of rain fell and the river began to 

 rise accordingly. Such conditions were bad for lukanani fishing though 

 it did not affect the perai who were always with us like the proverbial 

 poor. We gradually made our way up stream catching a few lukanani up 

 to 6 lbs. in weight every here and there. At last we arrived at Caburi 

 where we camped for two nights under very damp circumstances. At this 

 place the waters of the Caburi Creek join the main river and the river itself 

 is broken into a series of highly dangerous cataracts. There is an artificial 

 haul-over and a concrete pier has been constructed to facilitate the landing 

 and unloading or reloading of boats passing either way. When the water in 

 the river is exceptionally low the fishing here is excellent but at the time 

 of our visit the river was decidedly high and " roiling rapidly." In 

 one of the upper pools at the foot of a small rapid Mr. Cole got 

 fast in a really big fish but after a short strugg e the hooks came 

 away. 



With this exception we had very poor sport here, On one occa- 

 sion I was fishing from a small rock well out in the stream and ht.d 

 almost recovered my spoon after a long cast when t^ere was a sudden 

 swirl and a plunge just beneath where I was standing. The fish, 

 which was evidently a large one, missed the bait and I saw him no 

 more. 1 he suddenness of the rush, however, almost caused me to loose 

 my footing. 



There is always a delightful unc rtainty in casting a spoon into 

 these dark waters ; there are possibilities of all sorts and sizes of fish. 



At Mora rapids, just above Caburi, my companion landed a fine 8 lb. 

 lukanani after a protracted struggle and later in the morning I had 

 the very singular experience of hooking a 6 lb. pacou with a spoon 

 bait. I foul-hooked him on the nose as it were and perhaps this 

 accounted for the desperate rush the fish made. I recollect that I 

 had to plunge into the water almost out of my depth so as to follow 

 him up. His rush ended in a small semi-submerged bush where he sulked 

 and was eventually captured by the bow and arrow method previously 

 described. 



Mr. Cole informed me that during a long experience of fish and 

 fishing in the great rivers of the Colony he had only once hooked a 

 pacou with a spoon bait and foul hooked at that. Apparently the pacou 



