INDIANANGLER

Hi Ade, A friend of mine has fished the Cauvery for the last 7 years and has helped me quite a bit.
I agree also, that Donkey should a few fish for us!!!

There will be 2 ladies i am told as one other of the party has a non fishing wife going.

Dave is a great lad as you say, i have never fished with him but have known him through the tackle trade for many years.

yes spoke to dave got number in the end through somebody in bangolore i no , all my tackle is there thank god !!!! dave said its fishing really really well , fish to over 50 , 40 s , 30s , and plenty more , can not wait to get there

Cheers Gary,

The 77lb'er was an Indian guy, first cast on his first session this year! Very nice guy though and thoroughly deserved as his hospitality in camp was second to none....

Yes, spent a few evenings with 'good s**t man' and what a top guy! Always ready with good advice and great fun to be around. Joe had a few fish to just under 40lbs but shared in everyone elses success as if it were his own.

A really magical place and great company made my trip memerable even before the fish came along!

Darren.

Camped at Haira between Jan.18 to 22. We had three strikes one at night on ragi and two in the day on chilwa. The fish were not landed due to line breaks, bird's nest etc.
The best fish was a 7.5 kg.
Best of luck to all of you who will be in Galibore in Feb 2009.

Sandeep

Flights delayed to Bangalore due to fog. He is on his 7th glass of vino - bet it's pinot grigio! Tight Lines Donkey eor, eor, eor!!

I've just landed back from fishing Galibore 15-29th Jan 09. It was my first trip with 6 other anglers.

Overall fishing was excellent with 2x60's, several 50's and multiple 30lbs+. Best was 67lbs. There was lots of smaller Mahseer 2-5lbs nibbling at the ragi so needed to recast every minute or two at times. Everyone agreed that it was the best fishing for several years. My best was 35lbs so was delighted. I lost a bigger fish when my reel jammed and it broke off, ho-hum.

Water levels are perfect with daily level changes of around a foot or so. Temperature was high 80's+ and getting hotter. Most fish taken on ragi, no-one fished lures to any extent.

A few things I should have taken:
A cushion, sitting on rocks for 4 hours is no fun.
Folding wading staff, Simms do a good one.
Marmite/HP sauce/pickled onions/cheese, you'll want some variety from chicken curry every day.
Gin/Brandy/spirits for the evening.
Bum Bag and waterproof baggies for wading.

Hope this helps

Hi Simon

Well done with the 35lb fish, that is a good fish and, if it is your best, it makes a new personal best an attainable prospect on your next trip. I presume the 60's were both golden mahseer?
Garden "kneelers" are great for sitting on the rocks as they don't absorb water, are lightweight, cheap and they float. I assume they are still available as mine is 12 years old!

We always used the rod as a wading staff, no problem with the reels getting dunked as long as they are decent quality and oiled/greased.
The bum-bag is fairly essential as long as you only put things in it that don't matter if they get wet!

ALWAYS put camera/video gear in a waterproof container or totally watertight bag otherwise at some stage it will probably get wrecked by a soaking. Don't think that entrusting your kit to a surefooted guide will prevent this because that's not the case! I've witnessed a lot of ruined photographic and video kit out there due to accidental "swimming".

Andy

Any know of any updates from Galibore ?

I am going there this wk end. Heard nothing more that 30lb for the last few weeks.

Hi,
My last trip was between Feb. 10 - 14, 2009. Camping at Haira for 4 nights.
We had good bites at Mysore Mada. My best fish was a 13 lbs Mahseer. Owen had one of about 11 lbs.

It is raining tonight in Bangalore,I wonder if it is raining at the fishing camps.

Sandeep

Interesting that you should mention about the black mahseer, also had plenty when i was out there in December, including some very small ones on the chilwa line - far more blacks and golds than silvers.

Not sure about the crocodiles being more aggressive, but am pretty certain that they did release a load from a nature reserve a few years back - can't remember which one - as the population there had grown too large. This was one of the things that some people thought could have contributed to the declining numbers of big mahseer along with very low water levels for a couple of years - more crocs and less water for the mahseer to hide in is not a good combination.

Mate where are some pics please post

I think I will be tresating the crocs with more respect from now.

Here are some snaps from the trip....

My pals first trip to India and a 14lb Black to a firetiger Super Shad

13lb and a real handful

19lb on ragi

22lb on chilwa

My pal shortly before the croc incident!

Have never felt that threatened by the crocs, generally seem more scared of humans than the other way round and haven't heard of many cases of them going for people.
On a recent trip to Nepal one of the spots we fished involved wading chest deep back across the river to get back to camp, we did it in the dark one night and seeing pairs of yellow eyes on the water in the torchlight does make you a bit worried, but they kept well away from us, some were gharial but also saw muggers, although only up to around 10 ft or so, not as big as some of the Cauvery ones!
Wouldn't want to get mistaken for a deer though.

guys great report and some excellent pics too cheers since we are talking about the crocks why in wilderness we have them right in side the concrete jungle of Mumbai check out some pics in Image Gallery in topic "close encounter ...."

When we were out there last year on the second trip we witnessed a big croc trying to drag in a cow that wandered down for a drink one evening. The incident caused a huge commotion off the beach on the far side 200 metres below Croc Rocks. We totally revised our bankside behaviour after this. The tussle lasted around a minute and the cow was lucky to get away.