Chapt. vi. The months in which to fish. 89 



of the year must necessarily be dependent on whether the 

 place in question is subject to the influence of the south- 

 west or of the north-east monsoon, for the time to fish is 

 from the time the rivers clear down after monsoon floods 

 till they are again discolored by the rains.* This on the 

 West Coast is from the end of September at the very earli- 

 est, till'the end of May, though September can scarcely 

 be relied on, because of the occasional showers that come 

 down and spoil sport, and May is apt to be a trifle feverish 

 in the interior, so that you will stand a chance of catching 

 something else besides fish. The time to fish in a gentle- 

 manly comfortable sort of way, with security of sport, and 

 immunity from fever, is from the 1st of October till the 

 falling of the April or mango showers, or till the end of 

 April. During this time every day is good for fishing for 

 six or seven months without interruption, and the fish 

 are not so variable about taking- as are the trout at home, 

 which will take well one day, and the next, or perhaps 

 during a part of the very same day, will take a fit to sulk, 

 and will not look at a fly, because forsooth their delicate 

 sensibilities have warned them, or the natural fly, or both, 

 that there is a thunder storm coming on, and instead of 

 trout rising you see innumerable eels lying lounging a- 

 bout the bottom, like coast guard men before a storm. 

 There is a change in the, state of the atmosphere, less 

 ozone in it according to one observer, and the consequence 

 is the trout have lost their appetites. But you will not be 



* In Bengal the fishing is liable to he spoilt by the discoloration of 

 the water from the melting of the Himalayan snows. 



12 



