INDIANANGLER

An interesting development has been taking place among anglers here in Meghalaya.

Sad to say, angling has become commercialized and alarming.
A handful of jackasses have taken advantage of the prevailing condition of man: Lust for Money.
Every month, in and around Shillong, a match contest is held with a cash prize of 5-6 lakhs.
Entry fee: varies from 800-1500

Why am I complaining? Here’s why:

There are no hard and fast rules, except for 1 rod/angler and 1 hook only.
Now for the best part; a small private lake/pond with an accommodation for 50-100 anglers usually host around 2000-4000 idiots during the match.
Each idiot stands shoulder to shoulder and a handful opportunists cast from behind you!!!
Leaving your peg means goodbye.
Squabbles are common when the accommodation becomes unavailable.
An investment of 4-5 lakhs and the organisers end up with rocketing profits of a minimum of 10-20 lakhs per month.

This has been in vogue since the last two years and has grown with notoriety this year.
Contestants are sometimes duped.

The true spirit of angling has taken a wrong turn.
This is your modern gambling.





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Allan,

This is business at its very lethal best.... The contractors/promoters of the contest have dangled the carrot of the huge cash prize and the competition has become a free-for-all for everyone..
From the "idiots" point of view - an investment of INR 800-1500 for a return of a few lakhs is just too good to resist and considering that most of them are from the lower middle class or poorer section of society, i am not surprised of the mass gathering..
From the promoters point of view - Why will they complain against the mass when they are earning a cool profit out of it.. Isn't that why they did the business in the first place ??

Its a sorry sight no doubt and my heart goes out to that poor fish that decides to eat on that particular day.. the poor bugger would have to run a gauntlet....

This reminds me of a similar story (though a bit more organised) in this part of India..
There was a competition held in one particular lake in Kolkata. Competition was held over 2 days.. There were 120 odd pegs with a cost of INR 1000/peg/day.. 2 rods and any number of hooks were allowed.. Biggest fish over the 2 days would win the cash prize of INR 15000.. The organisers even organised lunch for the anglers on each day.. On the surface, it looks very tempting but you look at the numbers carefully and you'll see the following from the organisers point:

Cost of 120 packets of Chicken Biriyani @ Rs 30/plate/day - INR 7200
Cash prize - INR 15000

Total spends = 22200

Income from 120 pegs @ INR 1000/ day over 2 days - INR 240000

Profit = INR 217800

No wonder as to why these competitions are becoming famous in Kolkata..

And for those interested in the fishing part of things... The prize winning catch was a 1.5kg rohu...


Regards,
GRC

Sad............

i agree, its a sad stage.....

Worst still is the tall claims by the organisers; released 4-5 quintals of fishes for the contest....

but majority are small fries...that would not even jerk the line

My two bits.

I think there is nothing wrong with making a profit. and the more you make the better.

If this commercialization is going to help keep the ponds and lakes stocked I am all for it. If they are good businessmen they will soon realise that they will only make money if they offer some good action. This is how estates in Europe thrive.

As for the customers. There is a sucker born every minute.

Hahhaa Good one Ken..

Agree with you Ken... Competitions like this are popping up in practically every lake in Kolkata.. Even though the organisers make a huge profit from the ticket sales, the catches have showed a steady increase, not only in numbers but also in weight...

Just got to know that a competition held in one of the lakes in the districts had tickets being sold for nearly 3000 bucks a day. A lot of fish had been caught with average size being 4kgs.. As per report received, each angler went home with an average of 4-5 fish... Winning catch was a 23kg catla..

Allan - I dont mind the competition part as long as it is done in an organised manner.. With regards to the idiots, Ken rightly said "a sucker is born every minute".

Tight Lines,
GRC

As bad as it sounds, it helps generate interest in angling. And alot of folk who would have never picked up a rod will do so, albiet for the money, but maybe, for a handful of this lot it could be just the spark to ignite the flame.

As for the rest, suckers, will remain just that.

I personally think that at least they are better off than the state of affairs at the Powai club .. These guys are at least honest and upfront with what they are doing and they have sensible rules like one rod , one hook etc ... and i agree with Ken and Bobby

Honestly I don't see any harm in this. With the calculations given by Allan, the fish in that lake are worth far more than their actual weight if netted and sold for food. Like Bobby said it will help generate more interest for angling and ensure that more pay lakes crop up. The standard question that I get asked by most new anglers here in Bangalore is "Where can we fish?"

Bops

Bops - what ever did happen to the plans of taking over the Lalbagh tanks / palace grounds ?

Yes, we need more anglers and places to fish.

a sad but necessary evil