INDIANANGLER

The stars were conspiring again. Second weekend in a row was getting canned, by spontaneous eruptions of odd errands and serious duties. I had no choice, I HAD to break the jinx. So it was decided on Wednesday morning that I'll drive down to IG's camp that night, after attending a wedding reception, for a fishing run on Thursday, to be back in Delhi for dinner on Friday.

As the day progressed, errands kept piling on and I kept delaying getting off work. At the back of my mind I knew I had a long night ahead, and my fishing gear was lying all over the place. By 6:00pm I knew I had no time to sort the gear so i had to take ALL of it. Got home by 8:00, got ALL the gear packed in the car AND got ready for the shaadi by 8:30. By 9:00 I was at the reception and by 9:30 IG was there, to accompany me to Bhakra. A quick change from Kurta-Pyjama into Shorts/Tshirt sure had the durbaan confused. Super-Angler to the rescue ( allusion to Clark Kent ).

Anyway we were on our way from Delhi at 10:00pm and Reached Nangal by 3:00am. Instead of sleeping and resting , we decided to open the scotch and wait for dawn. Sure enough, it was a very pretty, though a bit hazy, sunrise. We were on the water by 5:30-6:00, watching the Mahaseer chase the chilwa right upto the bank and beating them into their mouths on the stones. The chilwa were streaking some 20'-30' on the water surface. I'd never seen anything like that on freshwater, yet.

As the day moved, we got progressively into some serious fishing and some very SERIOUS sun. By noon we had trolled ourselves a couple of nice 4-4.5 kg Mahaseer. The wind had died and everything went still. Everything but the chilwa bait bowls. These guys were having a field day on the Ghats, but the 'Seer was off the bite. There is so much life in our waters, especially once you start noticing it.Its a beautiful sight, life within the water both within its form and within its body. Its a shame us city-dwellers miss this, all our lives. Such beauty, tantalizingly beyond our reach.

By Lunch time both IG and I had had enough of a boiling. The chilled beers weren't chilling and the 42 degree doldrums had sapped us out. The fact that we had both been up for over 24 hours didn't help. A couple of bites or SOME action at this time would've surely helped but it just wasn't to be. So we headed to the shoreline for some oily bread pakoras. While waiting in the boat, I saw some chilwa being chased by the 'Seer right off the boat. I got my flyrod out lazily and start chucking in some steamer patterns. The chilwa went NUTS! They would attack my clouser the second it landed, and on quick retrieves they would chase it to the boat. Sure enough, the 'Seer saw the commotion and started inspecting the fly every time it was retrieved in front on them. I started casting the fly some 60' away from the boat and waited for the pack to show up again, timing the fly to intersect their path. Sure enough they would come and check out the fly, not taking it but testing it surely. A couple of fly patterns down and BAM!!! Thats right, Mahaseer on the Fly. Chottu guy ( Kilo or so), but who cares, right?! You heard it right....'Seer on the fly!!

Anyway long story short, caught a few more fish that day, went back and hit the sack. Next morning, back to the waters with Mr Bora. That story may be told in detail by IG. Lost a really big 'Seer right next to the boat. B-I-G guy. Looked me in the eye and my mind said " Shit, Get the drag loose..this guy's gonna run". By the time my hand got to the drag, the rod tip whipped and the fish was gone, lure in its mouth.

All fish landed, were released. Even caught a few Chilwa on the fly. Its not a very pleasant experience, soft bodies and all. Only one guy handled the fish, thats why IG is in some pics with the fish, minimum handling= maximum survival. We even caught a fish , which was obviously released previously ( hook marks et al). Next time round I'll start de-barbing the hooks as an experiment, the barbs really make the release a torture for the fish.

Caught a few, lost a few..still made home back for dinner at 8:30pm on friday......Phew!!!!!!!!!

If there's a species on the planet we can officially call CRAZY, its got to be the Sports Angler!!







Dawn breaking on the Gobind Sagar








The Moon, The Stars, The Sun and all....









Nice 'Seer









Pre-Release Photo-Op








The fish that IG hooked but I landed, He was being a gracious host.









Flyfishing for Mahaseer ( Yup, it works!)








Another Nice Fishie









Oh, Did I mention it, Mahaseer on the fly

Beautiful. Very nice fish. I know its a bother, but please try and post those fly fishing snaps in the fly fishing section. No one seems to be doing that.....

Nice catch guys...

Nice post and congrats on the catches.

thanks guy. Adolph: I posted some stuff but no one goes there..its like on everyone's"ignore" list...maybe i'll post a link here to a story there...hmmmmmmm!

That's the sorry part. I prefer fly fishing to every other type of fishing, but I cant speak for everyone. I even make my own flies and also modify them according to the fish I want to catch..... it works, and thats a great feeling.

Great catch. Thanks for sharing the pics.

Awesome stuff

Now that is a beautiful writeup Bobby. The whole report is as exciting as any fishing trip. I had caught some Chilwas from the same spot, on a hurriedly made fly and believe me it was super fun. There feeding on Pakoras is really amazing.

Congratulations on landing your Mahseer on fly. I can feel the excitement.

Keep on doing it.

Regards,

Ali.

Magnificient mahseer caught. Congrats for the fish. Thnks for sharing the pics and happy fishing.

And Bobby, I had serious doubts in my mind about catching one on fly....but this is amazing, wish I was there to see it...next time for sure...

thanks alibhai. the fly that finally worked was a surface popper pattern, used as an imitation of a pakora :) :) :) all the fish were going nuts for pakoras and other ground bait near the ghats...the popper was cast into the feeding frenzies to elicit a strike.

MM: i dont give up! see you soon buddy.

spoonangler:thanks!

a nice catch , beautiful mahseer.

Good fishing!

thanks ali,whitesnapper..

Congratulations guys!!!

Dhruvee is supporting a beard, and before long a turban!!

Ok Bobby you have been an inspiration, after your Perspiration proved that fly fishing in Bhakra works!!

Will take out my fly gear now!!!

Cheers and wish you all a continued good luck!!

Taliban-D?! LOL

Sam: thanks, its got potential...when they're not spooky as hell. in all my previous encounters with the Mahaseer they've been really skittish. Even the fly line dropping on their heads had them running. This time of the year, they were more relaxed...ready to grab pakoras!

O B L of Bhakra!!!!!!

Is it time to start giving names to Dhruv? Are the name keeping clouds shifting?

simply superb fish/ing.
nice pics.
Thanks for sharing.

Ravi

No, clouds are spreading......

We are closing in on giving you 1000 names....

thanks ravi

Bobby,

This is what one of the big uns left me with the day after you left !!!!

Damn,

How the hell this the hook take a bend that way with one side open and one curled????

Mr Bora, seems like you had a monster at the business end of your line. either that or stop buying cheap hooks

@ Bobby - It did feel like a freight train at the business end of the line. I was using a little cleo and the hooks had come with the spoon. Should have had the foresight to upgrade to a 3X or 4X hook. But, that's experience for you... i know better now. I am planning on heading back there this weekend to continue the love story !!!

@ Teritex - The mahseer have these strong bony plates for grinding at the back of the throat. My assumption is that the big fella, inhaled my whole spoon and got the hooks stuck right at the spot where those plates are. Hence while the two hooks embedded in the upper or lower jaw were straightened out, the opposing jaw crushed the third hook to bend it over itself

That's called a blacksmith fish!!!

Hi Vikram - who all are going this week?

Hey MM,

Not confirmed yet, but it might be Ken and myself.

So, the Little Cleo works.

Works extremely well indeed !!! :)

hey nic catch nice pic keep it up

chavie (sara)


eat.... sleep.... go fishing....

hi
Nice catch. thanks for sharing pics.

regards

hey mate that's a awesome report and some very nice pics .fishes looks amazing. I still have to go back to this place but still remember the terrain, the water and that elusive mahseer (almost caught one) but it was a fantastic and superb experience.

That necessarily confirms my suspicion and confirms that we have mahseer in our village for sure. "Owen" once again you are right. I hope to land one as it seems one has been already landed a while ago and the one who landed told me that others followed his fish trying to rescue, one more reason to release these humble giants :)

DeZZ

Amen! they are worshiped in south India!.... Many myths and tales to this fish!

Fact not myth.... I have video of the school swimming with the hooked fish and trying to figure out whats up... If you loose the fish at this point, you can kiss that school and pool goodbye!!!