INDIANANGLER

Have been going to waterbodies around Coimbatore spinning for Murrels with my good friend Sarvanan (Sara). After 4 fruitless trips, finally got my first Murrel. Good sized one too, thanks to the Angling Gods.
It hit the size 5 MEPPS spinner hard, line was 12 lbs capacity on a Shimano Alivio 4000 reel, and a 8 ft Quantum Rod.
The fish tipped the scales at 7.4 kgs/ 16.3 lbs.


Look at the eyes!!!!


The Fat Fish. Large round the belly.


It was tough holding it in one hand!


Big belly!

The fish went into the pot. Bops sure would be very unhappy with this but better my pot than the locals. If I had released it back, the locals would have netted it the same day once I left. So much for conservation.

The fish was very tasty! All the stuff about big fish not tasting good did not apply to this one. The fried pieces went very well with the booze and the macher jhol with rice was finger licking good!

Congrats Sailendra, very good catch !! You are back with a Bang

That's a lovely fish mate, congrats.

Those eyes were stunning and hypnotic.

Very nice murrell caught. Congrats for the catch and happy fishing.

very very nice fish mate congrats

shucks.. sufferingsuckertash.. when is this going to happen for me.. albsolutely amazing.. super size..

Lionheart, thanks very much. Yes, was out of action for some time. Made a trip to the Cherai beach, Cochin for some shore fishing. No luck though.

Thanks, Spoonangler. I did some spoon fishing finally in Cochin. No action.

Thank you, Bobby. Yes the eyes were terrific. Scary too. Apart from the hard strike and the first run the fish did not fight much. When it came close and saw me with those eyes, it headed back with a huge spalsh.

Rajat Da, Thanks very much. The fish was cooked by my Bengoli foreman. I was thinking about you and your passion for cooking that day. You could have done some magic cooking with this fish. Thanks again.

congratulations.... thats a fantastic murrel...

bro next any time in Bangalore i am looking you up we will go fishing then some heavy duty cooking and party

a very nice fish there....

thanks for sharing

regards
Manish.

Congratulation Sailendra that a big Murrel and the first pic loook quite a teaser.

Rajat Dada do share your magic cooking receipts in a separate thread title MAGIC RECEIPTS

Regard
Arish!

Congrats !!! Thats a realy big fish. Keep it up.

[quote="arish"]Congratulation Sailendra that a big Murrel and the first pic loook quite a teaser.

Rajat Dada do share your magic cooking receipts in a separate thread title MAGIC RECEIPTS :wink:

Regard
Arish![/quote)
i'm sure mr. rajat wouldnt mind posting all his bills and receipts. its recipes mr.arish. we wouldnt like to cook receipts.
@ sailendra nice sol.
[/u]

Hi
Congrats Sailendra.Don't give up try and try you will end up Big once

Good Murrel. Congrats.
Say hi to Saravanan.

Ravi

Congratulation Mate,

A very nice catch. The fish looks really fantastic.

I do not have any issue that you took the fish home but I don't subscribe to the reason you gave for the same. Snakeheads are very hard to catch by net as they either stay under some snag or bury themselves in mud to escape the nets.

This fish did grow to 7.4 Kg. despite the locals nets.

Once again congratulations on a fantastic catch. Keep on doing it.

Regards,

Ali.

P.S. What is the secret of matchbox on the body of the Murrel!?

great fish

Manish, Hamour, Arish, Mario, Jbasamie.- Thanks very much, guys. I consider this as sheer good luck. Hope I haven't used all of it up .

Ravi, thanks very much. Will say Hi to Sara. He is in a big high too. Check my next post.

Ali Bhai, Thank you.

True, that was an excuse, for Bops, I think . I did tell Sara about releasing it, as I recollected Bops words about the big ones being breeders ahd should be released back. Finally decided to take it. But I am sure that the locals with me would have dragnetted the area the next day.

Eating it felt good too.

The fish looked smalll when on the ground. The match box was for the size!

old paddle tail... man i love her.. if i catch one that big or bigger , she's going back to be a mama.. . id take one of her kids for the pot though... after all murrel are yumm... make good fillet . fishfingers.. can bake em.. fry em ..oh boy.. im fantasizing now.. got to get some murrel....


ok here goes.. i have never been pointed on this site before.. but mr."kingfisher" please dont make fun of people and their shortcomings on this forum.. no one is perfect... im sure you are not an obnoxious boor.. so please dont come across that way.. thank you..

Thanks a lot, Dr Prasad.

Stevenson, I too should have released it, I suppose . Will do it next time.

Rajat Da, plan a Cauvery baitfishing trip. Galibore. March is open. Would love to fish with you. You will get some good river magoor too with chicken gut. Straight to the pot. A few good indian river magoor in your hands !!!!!

LOL it my typo mistake

Hi Congrats,

Big one there................may be will meet on the next trip.........

Keep smiling........

mr. " hamour" i think arish has explained himself.its his typo mistake.im sure ur not a obnoxious boor either.the idea was to bring to arish's attention his error.its quite funny.

Wow that was a huge one...been trying to get something like this but all I get are sollys...

Anyways...I am actually curious about different snakeheads that we get in India...so far I have seen two different types (at least in color and pattern). One we have in this thread...and another someone had posted few days back which had red color with black...do we also count "kobra" (I hope I spelled it correctly) as snakehead...if yes, then I have seen 3 so far

Yes Kingfisher you are right!

@Hamour: funny is not it!

... whatever .. gents.. peace out ..

Hi Sailendra,

Congrats and much respect. This is probably the biggest Murell caught and photographed. You qualify for a world record , Trust me. No issues from my side on catch and release. You just do what drives you.


Cheers
Jeen

Jean, Thank you very much. Am humbled by your kind words. Have been following your fishing exploits with your sons. You, Sir, are the Master. Namaste.

MM - People say that the males are generally smaller and darker than the females. So you aready have two colors. I saw one caught by Ken (?) in this forum, which had more yellow patches than dark. The ones caught by Jean's sons had the red coloration. May be the color of water and the vegatation in the water gives different coloration to the Murrels. The experts will know better. The guy who cut the fish was very clear that the fish was a female and was right when he said that despite the big belly, there would be no roe in it as it had the spots on it. Means that the fish changes color too!!

Ranger Sarvanan, we can plan a murrel trip one of these weekends. Would be pleasure. You Coimbatore guys are the hardcore murrel hunters.

Cheers

Great Catch ......Buddy....

Definately a Trophy Size....

@ "hamour"why would i query you on anything concerning angling.this forum is for anglers.

Post edited for personal comments.

thats what i was telling you..( that this is an angling forum)

Post edited for personal comments

Om Shanti, Guys.
Once peace has been declared, no need for stretching things to a breaking point.
Let us talk fish and fishing. Lets not get personal.

This just doesn't make sense. I mean what you said.. and I believe it was such a passable ignorance from Arish that has started this inappropriate conversation on dear Sailendar's thread. Lets forget all and as Sailendra mentioned, let us concentrate on the fish et al.

Post edited

Enough Mr. Kingfish and Mr. Hamour.

Here is a fish which may qualify as the biggest Murrel caught by IA Member. Lets rejoice on the great success of Sailendra and not take the thread where it is going.

No more of this other wise your posts will be deleted.

Regards,

Ali.

Sailendra,

I do not have any objection whatsoever that you took the fish home. It is your call as an angler when you want to release or take your catch home. So chill man. This is one of the tastiest fish and a great delicacy in north India.

Once again congratulations on a very fine catch.

Regards,

Ali.

Viper, Thanks very much.

Ali Bhai, Thank you again. The moot point here is that I do feel a little guilty about killing such a magnificent specimen. Hence all these lines.
If I had my own pond, I would have kept him live and put it in it.
I have bought a small parcel of land near Bangalore and am planning to dig a small 2-3 acre lake in it. Hopefully the construction work should be thru before the rains this year.
Plan to stock it upwith some good endemic fish. Some fingerlings and some large live murrels.
Donot have much idea about what would be the right combination of species to stock. Hope the I get some tips from experienced IA forum members.
Looking forward to some tips, guys. Would really appreciate it

Cheers.

Thats indeed a very Good plan Sailendra Go Ahead Do it & don't forget to stock it with lots of Barras and when they are 10+kg, I will surely raid your pond wether you invite me or not

Hi Sailendra,

The murell Chana Murrelius you caught, is very similat to what the boys caught in Ahmedabad check the eyes( Red/ Amber). Most of the ones coming out of North India have these type of eyes and very similar colours.


However the Murrelius we caught in the River Periyar has very different colour sheme and normal black eyes. We are consulting some people who are experts on this subject to tell us if these are the same or not.

Check both threads below for comparison

http://www.indianangler.com/viewtopic.php?t=3083

http://www.indianangler.com/viewtopic.php?t=3393


Jeen

You better mark that pond as a "POND" so the pilots can see it. Else you will have Air India Express landing their planes there thinking its an airport :)

DeZZ

Wow.. 2-3 acres of pond :) .. Are you planning for fish farming ? You are very lucky to have such options available !! :) I remember at my mom's house in kerala had a small pond, some 20 square meter with loads of fishes in it and I absolutely loved it !!

Jeen, yes, I see what you are talking about. The eyes are very different. Have to be different sub species Also the periyar murrel coloration is dramatic. The red is brilliant.

Do you think the habitat makes a difference to the color?

Great info. Thank you, Sir.

But I think nutrients intake makes the difference in coloration?

Lionheart, would be honoured to have you . Let here be water first .
Good idea would be to transport a few big ones from one of the Barra farms and rear them. Less waiting!!

Dezz, one of my relatives has 60 acres of fish ponds. A small seaplane can land!!

Kryptoz: The idea is to set, develop and sustain a as natural an ecosystem, with fish central to it. A few for the pot and a few trophy fish for release. Reeds and tree lined banks would be perfect !
No commerce, sir.

Arish Bhai- good idea. Experts can tell.

Tight lines.

To Jeen and to Sailendra,

I do think habitat conditions effect colour. In fact i am sure they do, because as a process of evolution colours are either retained or dropped through generations, depending on what is beneficial for a certain population living within a certain eco-system/habitat. That is why we see cave dwelling species and deep water dwelling species, are usually devoid of any colour as they have lost any use of them due to absence of light in these places. So similarly certain light/water/vegetation/ prey-predator would certainly effect other fish species like murrel too and cause them to change colour.

However, whether this means they are a separate species or not, is something that has to be examined scientifically. I am sure that if evolution continued on its path, eventually the two species will come to be regarded as different species, in case both are successful. Or else, the less successful one will eventually wear out.

Vikram

60 acres ??? oh no mate thats the disputed Kaveri you are referring to :). Lets keep it limited to ponds :)

DeZZ

Hi Jeen,

As per my little knowledge they are two types of Murrel in chennai. One is with red eye .they are look completly red when they are young(sapling) once it grow it turns into brow.but eye ball remails reddish orange colour. . we call them as VERAL in tamil.Another is of black eye they look dark greenish when they young and grows blackish brown. we call them as KORAVA in tamil.

Normally colour of scale and eye ball is based on water condition.

According to me both fish in different postings are of same species only. because i can see the redish orange patch in scale and gills and belly area.

For better Understanding kindly check the link below

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_snakehead

Baskar

Baskar,

You need to research your murrel a little more. The two types in Tamil Nadu you are referring to is the Murrelius and the striata. Thanks for the wikipedia link .

Jeen

Dear Vikram, I agree that habitat plays a key role in the process of evolution. Specially as the Murrel is an ambush predator. But the red blotches on the murrels caught by Jean & sons in the Periyar is still surprising .

Jean, there is a much smaller version of this fish which is called Garai in the north. Is this the Striata you are talking about. Wiki calls the Striata a snakehead too.

I have seen the murrels with their young in my village pond, they were bright orange/red in color about a thousand strong, a cm long and bunched in to a ball. The mom and dad murrels were hovering around this red fire ball. I watched them for a long time. Was impressed to to see this as I thought that fish generally spawn and leave the fry to the elements.