INDIANANGLER

When I fished the Cauvery in March, there was so little flow that the pools containing the Mahseer might as will have been lakes.
This leads to the obvious question: Are there any lakes that hold quality Mahseer and if not, why do they fail to thrive ?

Hi Ken,

Yes there are lakes that hold Mahseer, and the Forbes sagar lakes do have small ones now. There use to be monster mahseer in them (read Paul Boote) "Somewhere down the crazy river" "Shivasamundram".

Only one issue, can these really be classified as a lakes? because there is water flowing in and out at all times (flow is less or more depending on power generation requirements), but the periphery of the lake remains still and the water stands still. Not ideal waters for mahseer, but all the same they survive but congregate in the faster flowing areas, in wait of their natural food (smaller fish). The better the oxygen level, the more active they become, and the more they feed which results in growth (of course water tempreature and clarity has a lot to do with their growth).

Similar lakes exist in the north of India, and the mahseer survive in them, so also in dams in some states in the north where the flow is very slow in the summer months.
Take crocodile rocks near Galibori camp as an example, in summer it almost resembles a lake, but the water runs deep even in low water conditions, and some of the largest fish have been taken from it.

However mahseer flourish and grow to their biggest sizes in well oxygenated waters with rocky bottoms, which the lakes dont have.

So it seems that the mahseer has learnt to adapt to many varying water conditions and survived over the years inspite of the poaching and water pollution.

One thing is that if the water is too slow in a river and the heat very high, you will need to seek out the deepest pools to have any chance at a fish.

An advantage of fishing waters located after dams, is that there will always be water flow (released for power generation) even in the dry months, ensuring an opportunity for fair sport.

Hope i was able to answer some of your thoughts !
Regards
Owen

I believe Tata run a research project, breeding mahseer in a reservoir near Poona. Also think there are mahseer in the reservoir near Kushulnagar, Ken.

Yeah the place is in Lonavla and the lakes are the Shirota lakes ..but angling a strict No No there

This is an excellent topic - couple of thoughts - there are going to be more and more hydro reservoirs esp in the North and NE regions AND second that US Angling associations must know a LOT about how river fish adapt to reservoirs..

No doubt that mahseer adapts well to reservoirs - the lonavla program breeds 0.5 mill fishlings every year and they are being released for restocking all over. Infact Dhikala Lake in Corbett has a thriving mahseer pop - and I suppose some fish there must be huge - I was angling there till '86 and then the govt banned it as it's a wild life reserve..

Secondly, I remember during winters when we found it difficut to catch anything on the Ramganga (the river that runs into the Dhikala lake) we culd always drive to the lake and in a few hours catch 4-5 nice 3-4 Lb mahaseer - I guess it had to with varying water temp in the reservoir as the ramganga in winter is cold & clear and the fish would just hang about and not even second glance our lures

For all you freshwater fishos out there, question.

Which is the strongest (from and angling point of view) Indian freshwater fish in still water, Mahseer included but in still water?

Probably the Catla

That is very interesting...

Let's see what some others have to say, this has all the makings of a nice explosive debate.

I chose the Catla because it can grow as big as the mahseer, and lives in both rivers and lakes, but is more at home in the lakes and tanks of India. He is a pretty good scrapper too.
I am pretty sure Gavin will give this one the thumbs up. Unfortunately he has his thumb parked elsewhere in Bhubeneshwar at the moment.

Nice one Owen

Wonder what he is Stinking up now?

I love both you guys ... based on posts so far I now christen you both Hefner 1 and hefner 2 .... if the mind was a sieve i see 3 alphabets getting stuck in order of preference S -- e XXX

You got me with that one Fred ...????

Finally .... Hugh Hefner mate .... Playboy ... ring some bells ??

AAh ...well I don't open those kind of books, more of a field and streams kinda guy