The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1883-12-28
Indian Fishes.

1t might be supposed that India, with
its great lakes and rivers, would be
famous place for fresh-water fish, but
such is not the case. There are fishes,
indeed, in the big tanks, or lakes.
which for size would put the heaviest
pike or lake trout at home to shame;
but Indian tanks are most untishable.
They are choked with water-lillies and
with dense underground of weeds. in
which it is as hard to find a fish as the
proverbial needle in the bundle of hay.
The natives often spear the large fish
entangled in the weeds by torchlight,
out ake-fishing, for European, is
generally mistake. There are per-
haps, only two angling fishes worth
The name in Hindostan; one is the NAH
seer, q kind of carp. and the other the In
1ian trout, found only in the north of
India, and similar to the English brook
trout, only that the spots on the Indian
fish are blue, not red. .Ihave seen a NAH
seer's head in museum, of which it
was said the fish it belonged to weighed
sighty-four pounds. In the northern
rivers, such as the Jhelum, the mahseer
affords good sport, but it is a very Pc
culiar fish, as the modes of fishing for it
will show. In some rivers it will take
4 salmon-fy, and in others it will only
lake the spoon. In Nerbudda it is use
less to fish with either of these. for the
mahseer will only take "gram"-the
pea that horses are fed upon. In one
Of the rivers of Central India the red
berries of the Indian fig tree are kill
ing bait, and below the Gairsoppa
Falls, on the West Coast (the highest in
India), piece of plantain has been
found effective. Mahseer-fshing in the
South, however, is tedious work. The
rivers often run through dense and
feverish jungles, and the glare off the
water is binding. The fish itself when
caught is no better than any other carp,
for the table, though keen fishermen
are enthusiastic about mahseer head
and shoulders with oyster sauce. There
is only one fish in India that will per-
sistently take fly but unfortunately,
though pretty, silvery, dace-like fish
it is never bigger than sprat. This
and roach abound in every Indian pond
and puddle. l have even caught them
with a. black gnat in drinking wells,
where, by the way, they greatly i'm
prove the quality of the water. Murrel,
though. is the commonest fresh-wateI
fish sold in India. 1t is hideous beast
like fattened eel, and with a serrated
kind of ridge, or name, down the back.
[ was once fishing with that poaching
continuance, an otter board on an IL.
dian tank, when l caught on the long
line of hooks q murrel, an eel. a frog,
and a water snake! The snake was
hooked through the body-foul. Muir
rel grow to an immense size in the lakes
have seen one basking on the surface
which myself and friend mistook fol
an alligator. The flesh, to my taste, is
concentrated essence of mud.
The great rivers of India, of course
contain great number of fishes; some
of them specialties, as the Hooghly, In.
dus, Godavery and Kistus. The Indus
Is said to have the finest fish for the ia
BILE of all-the pullah. This fish il
caught by men swimming with the
breast resting on an earthenware vessel
They push hand-net before them, ant
soon fill the jar with fish. In the
Hooghly they catch the ''mango" fish
which some say owes its delicate flavor
to the floating corpses in the river. In
the Godavery they have a fish called
the 'sable," which migrates to the ses
as regularly as the salmon. Twas once
caught by this fish or something like it
A friend in boat put me, with my
bamboo rod, on pinnacle of rock out
in the Godavery River. and in the mid,
die of a reverie or, perhaps, q siesta,
produced by ill-luck, big fish tugged
the rod, and then myself after it, into
twenty feet of water. Neither rod mol
fish was ever seen again. But the guam
titles of fish in these great rivers are in
credible. I have myself seen several
carloads of fine fish of all kinds taken
out of single pond in the hot season,
and when the river is pretty well dried
down. Such fish are chiefly used for
their roe. The natives make kind OF
caviare from it which is far from nasty.
The rivers of the Malay Peninsula, how
ever, are the most wonderful rivers for
fish that | know of. The most extraor-
dinary-looking fishes, and fishes of the
most brilliant colors, are to be had
there. and all day long the alligators
may be seen busily employed among
them, as the long trains of bubbles on
the surface very well denote. But it is
sufficient to look at the indigenous
angler to perceive at glance that India
can be no anglers Paradise according
to our views of fishing. The aboriginal
angler is usually grandfather, most
probably pensionedsepoy. He squats
on his hams by the margin of pond.
and he squats thus from morn till dewy
eve like the crane he resembles. He
ta5 the cranes trick, too. of stirring up
the mud now and then to attract the
fish. only the crane does it with one leg.
and he uses the point of his bamboo
wand for the purpose. He has couple
IF linen bags round his neck; one full
Of dough and worms, and the other full
Of the sprats he has caught. His fam
lily probably send the old man out to
get rid of him. but he looks as happy as
any one may be expected to do under
the circumstances.-Lo Graphic.
MoE;uo RasSap,or Stool RaiJs