INDIANANGLER

i went last week for fishing on a local river where i saw a guy playing this strange method what the locals called "jheem".he was throwing his bait around 30-40 meters far in the river,don't know what kind of bait he was using, but his float was just sitting 5-6 foot away from the point where he was angling.this guy was quite successful and caught a huge 8kg catla fish.does any one has information about this kind of fishing technique what bait and tackle should i be using and how do i know when is the right time to strike to hook the fish.