INDIANANGLER

As i mentioned earlier in one of my posts, there was a fish that Richard Pitts caught (he told me this himself) somewhere near Moslehalla that was around 50lbs and he caught it again a few munites after he released it.
He was a gentleman angler, and no tall stories mate
But i can swear i keep catching the same damn catfish every time i visit crocodile rocks

On a more serious note, there are too many fish out there, and they grow so quick, that unless they looked like the freak that MM caught, not too many people would be able to recognize them again.
MM can you point Dibu to that fish ?

I was just asking as I heard several times that members are claiming that fishing is getting slower because of too much pressure/too much fisherman (Mahseer finally get business). Would be interesting to know if fish are just getting wiser and taking the bait more careful (thus getting caught less times), if they're dying away and only few new are coming up (who knows what happens to a big fish after a heavy fight and photosession when getting returned...maybe easy prey for otters and crocodiles?... don't really think so..) or if they move into other less pressured areas (but I think for the famous stretch this should be limited upstream to Forbes lakes and downstream to Mekadatu, right?). It is possible to identify even fully scaled fish -as we know from comparing pictures of big common carp-. But therefore somebody needs to find the time to work on a databank collecting good shots of the big fish. Another way would be to sign the fish with the special fish marking plates. Gets done regular here in Europe to see how far fish are travelling or to find the spawning ground. Maybe something to discuss with WASI, should give them a better idea for their stocking policy.

Dirk

Hi Dibu,
It would be interesting to have markers fixed on the fish that are landed by anglers, but a lot of the fish are caught and released almost immediatetly after giving the fish time to recover and then quick photo / weighing session.
Unless every angler was given tags and the equipment to tag the fish, with training to do so (including foreign anglers) it is a bit difficult to visualize that happening here.
I for one would be most interested in knowing just how far the fish travel, and where they land up during the spawning season.

They certainly can't enter the WASI lakes from the lower stretches like Doddamakali, because of the falls and the hydro generation units that come in the way, and also only a small part of the river passes through the lakes and goes into the hydro generation, the rest goes over the falls.
Though it is possible for the fish in the lakes to make their way down to the main river if they can make it through the hydro unit.

It would also be interesting to know if there are any dead / damaged fish turning up in the waters after the hydro plant.

Could you post some samples on this forum of the tags & equipment used and the process involved in tagging. We can certainly discuss this at our next WASI meeting.

I don't think anyone has made a serious study in recent times of identifying individual fish, because the river is so wild, that the chances of ever seeing the same fish again is very remote.

Another thing is now we seem to see a lot more of the blue fin variety in our waters these days, and i for one am wondering whether they were fingerlings that were released in these waters and have grown, or have they moved in here from other streams and rivers. So far no one has answered this, probably because none on this forum were present during the introduction of the fingerlings that has taken place from time to time on the Kaveri.

Regards
Owen

Dear MM,

there is quiet a lot scientific stuff –about fish/fisheries/reproduction of fishes- to be found in the web. It’s related to India and Indian species written by Indian scientists… so I assume it should be possible get some scientists onto this matter too. They should be thankful to get such a chance. For sure by getting them you’ll have the base for achieving serious results.
I don’t understand that there is some struggle between forest/fishery dept. and WASI. I thought all of them to follow the same ideas. I had the feeling that even the camps are only commercial to a certain extent and that a fair share of their income is again used to put into stocking fingerlings or paying the guards that look after fish or game poachers.

Dirk

Hi Owen,

If they can tag Tarpon in this manner, they should be able to do Mahseer. They have about the same type of scales i'd presume

Hi Bobby / JB,
Waiting to see these tags. Hope there will not be any infection issues if they are used. God we guy's could get lynched for even suggesting it if something like that were to happen !
However i do fell it is very importent to better understand the migratory patterns of these fish, and to better understand whether they are territorial or constantly on the move, and where they spawn so that those areas if any can be protected even more during the spawning season.
I do think we could get the support of JLR and Wasi on this, provided it is totally safe for our fish.
Hey Bobby you know of any alternate methods of marking fish ?

To Owen: I was also thinking about tagging. But fine to know that these things are already available.

I think the serious abroad fisherman will be interested in such programme. Visitors that are a mostly travelling for wildlife and nature -and just have a day fishing- might not be the right people.
However I still have the feeling the guides should be trained to do so. If they get a small extra comission for each recorded fish they should do very nice work. I still see the problem for taking the written notes.

Mr Kumar: Is he still staying at Bheemeswary? Heard he left the camp?

Dirk

Kumar is now in charge of the Bannerghatta jungle lodges camp. Sundar is in charge of Galiborai.

Bops

Posted for JB

OB,

I know I promised you this a LONG time ago, but I finally have the pics ready for you.
The one for the mahseer is the long, pink one (hmm, vulgar). I have put a 10 rupee note (dat's all I can afford...) for comparison.



The shiny thing is the applicator. Put the plastic dart tag into it, then push underneath the fish's scale, just below the dorsal fin, then retract the metal applicator. The rear end of the applicator can be fixed to say a wooden dowel, to make things easier.



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JB, OB, Guys,
I am not a vet, but the technique you have outlined is similar to some procedures in humans, notably, insertion of the copper T!
Most likely the tag material is some inert , non reactive synthetic.
Hygroscopic -absorbs water-therefore, will swell up and tighten itself in the channel created and not dislodge (easily)
Hope it has been of some help.
Great going and all the best
Axx

Training the ghillies to insert microchips and providing each one with a scanner should be the way to go.It would be useful to build up a database of fish captured and released.
Yaj.

What about the expense? Same thing with tags mate you are inserting something into the skin...

A microchip may be more expensive than a tag but the prices have come down drastically.It is a standard procedure in dogs and other mammals.
In fact microchipping of dogs in India is already underway.
Yaj.

Guys i had the opportunity of meeting up with Anish Sadanandan at the Wasi get together, and also another bloke who is working on getting a grant from the university of florida to do a project on tagging the mahseer.
If we can put our heads together, the resources should not be a problem, and we could make something of this.
Regards
Owen

Guys,
If some of us in Bangalore need to meet why not fix a Sunday 11.00 am meeting at the India Coffee House just below the JLR office.

I will try and get Karthik to join us.

Sandeep