INDIANANGLER

when will the kashmir issue be resolved? its a trillion dollar question.i have been waiting for 3 months for the situation in kashmir to improve.kashmir is my angling territory.have been flyfishing for trout there for the past 25 years.but sadly only fished twice there this year (apr and may).so finally lost my patience and headed out to barot h.p. on the morning of 7th oct 10 from jammu.the journey took 8hrs.i stayed at the beautiful british made pwd guest house. wonderful location with the old charm of the days of the raj.made entirely of deodar.the trout farm at barot is right beside it made it an anglers haven.barot is where the british made a dam and power project in the early 1900's. they introduced brown trout into the two streams that meet at barot: uhl and lambadug.so after finally settling down and a great dinner of rainbow trout and chicken curry with the glenlivet to wash it down i called it a day.next morning the guide came at sharp 6:30.two cups of kangra tea and we were on the road to fish.now the difference between angling in kashmir and himachal is that in kashmir only flyfishing is allowed whereas in himachal one can spin as well.looking at the gin clear water and also the level i decided to spin first.took out my fladen tele 8ft rod matched with a fladen warbird reel with 8 ball bearings and put on a mepps comet no2 red dot.after the first cast the culling began.every cast there was a fish on.caught 4 browns and 9 rainbows in 40 mins flat.fantastic stuff.it would have been better if the size was bigger.but one cant complain when there is a trout at the end of the line on every cast. the rain gods came and i packed up for the day.evening was a celebration with dram and trout.next morning again the same timings. went to the same spot and guess what, 23 trout in 1 hour.all photos are attached.i was ecstatic.rains came again at 10 am.it was the last night and the feast was butter fried trout and mountain goat curry with the glenlivet. simply superb.wonderful barot.i shall return next year.

Congrats Gautam,

Great fishing and the place looks beautiful, thanks for sharing your experience.



I wont miss out on that..

P.S: Thanks for the reel

Regards,

Santosh

What lures were successful? I was at Tirthan on the 13th but my spinners felt too light for the job.

Super fishing Gautum,

Nice to know that there are some decent trout fishing still around. Feel a bit sorry to see so many taken for the table though!


cheers,

Jeen

Congrats for the Catch King Fisher

Beatiful fish, Beautiful locations too and thanks for sharing

@lionheart thanx. i owe u one for my avatar pic. gr8 barra again.
@ashok i wrote in the post mepps spinner comet silver red dot no.2.it was a spinners day. after some time i tried all spinners in my box. all worked. it as one of those two days of bliss.
@jeen since i was spinning with mepps treble hook spinners and not with flies all these trout were injured badly to release back.its one of those ironys that in himachal they dont follow the flyfishing regulation strictly as in kashmir.also the license fee is only rs100 as opposed to rs 500 in kashmir.the size of the fish is small but they are plenty.actually there is nothing like a good plate size trout for a meal.but yes bigger ones are there .i flyfish for the big ones in kashmir.the ambience of trout fishing in the himalayas is splendid if u know wat i mean.

Superb pictures.
Excellent location.
Good looking hatchery. There is a hatchery at Avalanche, Ooty (Nilgiris), which breeds and releases the fry's into the streams.
This fish, the trout, was introduced into the Indian waters to be caught.
Congrats

Ravi

Well done Kingfisher !!! Looks like a lovely place. Out of curiosity...How did you manage to organize the accommodation there? Did you just land up and get a room?

Vikram

You are Welcome Gautam anytime
The pleasure is all mine if I am able to help out anybody and not just anglers

@ vikram i made bookings through a friend in himachal. if u land up there then its luck.most of the time the rooms at the pwd guest house are booked as there are only 4 rooms. 2 in the old wing and 2 in the new wing.so its better to book before. there are some good pvt guest houses also and the tariffs are very reasonable.

Looks like you had a blast of time and lot of fun. The way Himanchal and Punjab are developing and protecting its fish population is really great and should be appreciated.

Congratulations for having a super successful trip and thanks for sharing the report.

Regards,

Ali.

On the fact that Trout are hurt too bad to release I suggest trying single barbless hooks on spinners. I am planning to purchase all new spinners with single barbless hooks.

@ ashok since mepps has not introduced them on there products i cant change from trebles. i use only mepps or blue fox tried and tested patterns for my trout fishing and barbless single hooks are not on those patterns.when i fly fish then there are only single hooks.

Hi,

I guess what he meant was changing your hooks to singles instead of trebles. I have seen some guys here selling poppers with single hooks instead of trebles and the purpose of which was CNR.

DeZZ

Looks like you had a fantastic time, very beautiful location. Thanks for sharing.

@ ali thanx. yes it was a good trip.
@ bobby thanx.

Hi,
Great catch. Thanks for sharing the pics. By the way, Where in HP is Barot? Is it on the way from Aut to Manali on the Left. I had been to one of the trout farm on the main road and it was a wonderful experience.

Cheers,
Apoo

Great catch ,really beautiful location

@ fishergomian thanx.
@ apoo thanx. barot is near jogindernagar.actually about 60 kms from mandi on the mandi-palampur highway.totally opposite direction from aut.

Congrats on your catch. Great photos and thanks for sharing enjoyed reading and seeing the pictures

Great catch!
The place is very beautiful too. I too love to fish for trout, both fly and spinning.
In Pakistan the beats and lakes are not looked after very well and thus there are very few good spots, but there is a place I visit every year where five pounders are common and fish of up to fifteen pounds are present.

@ mario thanx.
@ ali thanx. i do all my fishing in kashmir. what place in pakistan is that? kashmir also has big trout. i would like to visit that place you are talking about.

Kingfisher,

It is very easy to crush the barbs on the treble hooks with a plier prior to fishing, so that releasing the
fish without too much damage is feasible.

I have also found that one may easily convert the trebles on the Mepps spinners by removing (cutting ) them, then putting on a split ring.

This will enable you to put on any type of hook on the split ring and does not affect the Mepps' action in the water.

Having said that, I am pleased by your success.

Kind regards,
Kingfish

@ kingfish point taken. but i'd rather stick to the original hooks not unless mepps changes them.i released a no. of fish which were small and not damaged.i arranged a feast with the ones i caught for some local friends.generally i love to flyfish for trout but in this place i felt like spinning hence the result. thanx.

Congrats...Gr8 pics...thanks for sharing

The place I go to is in my home district in the northernmost region of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (formerly NWFP). The part of Kashmir on this side of the LoC does not have much trout fishing as it is a relatively warm area, the exception being the Neelam (Kishanganga) Valley which has some decent trout. The best area for trout in Pakistan is Gilgit-Baltistan, a region blessed with plenty cold and clear lakes stocked with Loch-Leven strain Brown Trout.

@ mm thanx
@ ali so which is the area with the 5lb+ fish. baltistan or nwfp.i go to high altitude lakes in kashmir.yes good size trout there.and the fishing in kashmir is very organised.due to curfew i havent been for past 3 months.i would like to visit that area with 5 to 15 lb trout.i live in jammu and kashmir.

The place I go to is in NWFP, but there are even better places in Gilgit-Baltistan which I have not explored yet.
I'll send you a PM about the details.

Hi King
lovely location, superb catch,nice pictures, thanks for sharing. Is this the same "Barot" station which cames across in the beautyful journy by the heritage toy train from kalka to shimla ?

thnx sanjay. no that place is barog. this is barot. its nowhere near shimla.

Awesome Place...& Good fishes...

Thanks for Sharing Bro...

I juss reminded me of My trekking days in HP... ,
too bad i was not into angling that time...

Viper
Yes it do remind me of my trekking days in himachal,when i attended National treck from Bhuntar base camp to Rohatang pass all along the rever beas. Though i was in angling that time the NCC guys wont allow.

hey...great to see you had such a good catch.... a little release wouldn't have hurt as well!! dont they have a daily bag limit in Barot?

thanx bobby. my line is" i will catch and have ALL the trout". after 3 frustating months i was in culling mode.

FINE...dont leave any for fellow anglers, eh??no wonder you didnt catch any big ones...the last angler culled all of them :) :) :)

i fed the entire village.there are plenty more there.the big guys were all hiding.guess oct is late for them.i'm hibernating now as the season is closed.will wake up in march and i'm gonna be like a grizzly with them then.

Thats a good show....BTW I prefer fiddich over livet

the livet is far superior.trout goes well with it.the peat flavour is well balanced.

" i will catch and have ALL the trout.
"
and I bet your favourite fly is the " BLOODY BUTCHER."[/u]

wrong.its the " chilwa"

i'm glad fishing/angling is a limited sport with people like kingfisher around. i would have imagined conservation and sustainability comes naturally to all flyfishers. anyway, takes all types to make the world..thats not under my control.but ill never get any pleasure out of killing 30 odd fish in two days, even inside a fishery tank!!

in any case...theres no "gyan" in this...if one doesn't know it by now, one never will..thats the deal. thats catch n release. to come back and hook the same fish 3 sizes bigger....

@ bobbychyma, why dont you quit fishing/angling.i'm more aware of cnr than you.if u read the above post u'll know why they were not returned.frankly i'd be happy not to release any for you.try the image gallery and read my new post and take a pill.your limited "gyan" is not helping anyone.

quote... Bobbychyma...

" if one dosen't know it by now, one never will"

or as the old English saying goes

" You cant educate pork"

im disappointed the english cant educate a "chilwa".bobbychyma take the hint from chilwa and educate yourself.by the way i love eating pork.

i doubt that this personal tirade would ever lead to a consequential or material discussion, on this forum or otherwise. resorting to this form of violence, will effectively shut down communication on the thread...if that was the intended effect.

constructive critique is only possible within a peer group with either similar sensibilities or an open mind.

im peacing out of this thread now!!

sometimes i do agree with violence.the case for example two very miserable individuals trying to upset the conundrum of an otherwise intelligent,interesting,informative,educative post. i think the other members should take note of there nonsensical comments.

HI Kingfisher, nice catch,

Barot & Palampur are my home towns and learnt to spin there, thank you for a such a refresher from my land, i miss being there.

Keep posting.

Cheers!!!

thanx mayur.

Just so that we are clear here, IA promotes "catch and release".

I am not interested in educating anyone over here, it is just that reading through the posts I thought it necessary to mention it and as one of the Mods here, who in a way supposed represent what this forum is all about, Promoting Angling, sharing information with regards to angling and trying to get people conservation conscious.

Great Fish Kingfisher....

you had a blast...Envy you buddy, wish could have been there to do trout fishing.

Cheers,

Chris