INDIANANGLER

For many years I had been meeting Gary Newman, a fishing journalist from England, at the Bheemeshwari Camp on the Cauvery and we always talked about large freshwater fish around the world. Gary came to the Cauvery to catch Masheer (what I call a baitfish!!) and I came exclusively for maral. Gary knew that I also fish for Alligator Gar on the Trinity River in Texas and, this July he finally came here on my invitation to try and catch one over 100lbs.

After about 5-6 days of fishing we caught some 47 fish, mostly in the below 50lb range but several very decent ones. Gary caught something like five 6ft+ fish, each one well over 100lbs. He had a 6ft10 that was by far the heaviest, my estimation being around 220lbs. He also had a 6ft11in 176lb very handsome fish. I had a 7ft1in, 180lb. I've included some pics below, one with the mouth open to show you how dangerous these fish can be.

All fish were released and swam away.

My fish 7ft1in, 180lbs


Gary, 6ft11in, 176lbs


One of the places we stopped on the Trinity River, Texas


Bait: a slice of carp on an 8/0 treble


Gary, 6ft10in monster 220lbs


Those teeth are over 2inches long. No point in getting your hand in there!!

Congrats for the monster catches. Thanks for sharing the pics.

Awesome stuff there...

Mind Boggling.. What a catch!!

Beautiful.......What a lovely catch sir

congratulations jeff . superb fish errr.. alligators. i can only imagine how long it must have taken to land these monsters. really impressive . and welcome back!!!

Thats (1st pic) what I call monster! And....the rest of them too....great catches. congratulations,

Simply awesome! Super scary fish and you guys play with it on rod n reel!!!!! Simply Awesome!

Amazing ... this is extreme ...

By the way whats's the biggest one thats been hooked so far?

Deadly fish caught. One has to be extra careful while handling these predators. Thnks for sharing the pics and happy fishing.

Thanks Mystic and Bobby for your suggestions.

It is a nightmare to think of a way to release big fishes without harming them or risk injury. I think the best way will be to release them by cutting the line or de-hooking them inside the water. But then, no photographs..

Regards,

Ali.

Hi Mysticmaral,

Nice fishing dude...Aligator Gar and Arapaima are fishes that always dream of catching hope to catch them sometime in my life....

Cheers,

Chris

Hi Mysticmaral, fantastic looking fish there sure would like a crack at them really fine set of teeth! Few years ago helped release some of these into that famous bangkok stew pond, imagine they're still in there getting fat on all the baitfish..

Davy, my fishing buddy Gary caught a 330lb arapaima/pirarucu in one of those stewponds. Trouble with these managed ponds is that fish get fat and lazy being force-fed by owners so that tourists can come and pay big money to catch a "big" 'un. Ain't my cuppa chai. Like shooting animals at the zoo.

Gary is off to French Guyana to catch the real thing, a wild arapaima.

There is a niche for everything, and God bless them for catering to tourists.

But one thing I have observed from years of fishing with real fishermen and wannabe fishermen: when the going gets tough the real guys enjoy it even more while the wannabes sit in the shade. These armchair fishermen will never endure the hardships of truly wild places, where the best fish usually are. That's why, when in India, I catch five times more maral than my friends. I have a lot more scratches and scrapes at the end of the day, but more fish too.

For this reason I refuse to take people on gar trips that have manicures or like sitting in Starbucks with their double mocha frapuccino lattes talking about fishing.

I knew I'd seen it somewhere but haven't been able to find it until now. Have a look at The Larchy Un-Hooking tool on the net

It might be worth giving the manufacturers a shout to see if they can sort out out with an extra long version.

They are some really amazing catches and tons of information thanks Mystic