My first Mahseer
It's been a long time since I caught something(exclude tilapia), but didnt know that something on my line would be the dream fish ranked no. 1 on my list of dream catches...
Rains had started in pune, and Was very busy with work, and because of most off days returning home empty handed(exclude tilapia), I had lost all hope...
Then my family tells me They are planning a trip to my village... finally !
Took 4 days leave from office and took off ! It was like the rains were waiting for me to arrive there... It had not rained all these days and it rained The day I arrived... damn !
the water level rose and became muddy and I lost all hope of fishing (because According to the locals, heavy rains had not poured in the month of june, like they used to every year and thats when the fish climb up to lay eggs. and this sudden downpour meant that the fish that had been waiting all these months would breed now and barely touch anything )
But still thought lets try be happy with whatever I get.
Day 1
morning time
checked a spot out near to a place where we used to take bath. Water was deep and a couple of trees and shrubs were diverting the fast flow from there... took earthworms on a float and tried... first cast no bites.
meanwhile my dad caught one 6 inch long khavlya on earthworm from the side.
2nd cast, I threw my paternsoter a little far into the current t check if it was working properly
Failure... The hooklength and the sinker length had wound itself up and that made me nervous and Disheartened.
" Planning is one thing, Putting it into Practical and getting excellent results and that too in the first try is Impossible"
I angrily removed the paternoster and changed to my normal float setup
casted and something took the bait and started taking it towards the snag... I didnt jerk but slowly lifted the rod up to check and !!!
It was a huge crab, clinging onto my baited hook. lowered it onto the bank and dad took care of it
at the same time I noticed the Khavlya/ barb struggling in the holding net. tried pulling it and another crab ! this one was playing tug of war with me ! dad went under and caught that guy from its pincers.
fed up of all the crabs playing with our bait and catch, we left for home.
Evening time
Dad wasnt waking up after his noon nap, So I got ready took my raincoat and stuff and took a walk to the same spot.
Arrived at the spot and started casting with the flow... a few bites but no Strikes...
Some of the passerby were drunk and disturbing and irritating me, so I thought of changing spot.
Then I heard from a local to check a spot where a owdha and river were meeting... reached that spot... very slippery as I was on a kind of delta formed by the two water bodies and this was all muddy and grassy at the same time...
This time I didnt panic and took my paternoster and reversed it(hook to the main line, weight seperated with a bead and tied to a swivel on the line), lessened the weight and the weight length line and changed the hook to smaller one.
First cast
into the sangam and the float went under pulled back retrieved and it was a beautiful "goonchkacousin" catfish. took a few pictures and back it goes.
Please Id
The Head resembles that of a goonch...
A local handliner came there, enquired a little and sat a little further from me.
again, hook baited with earthworm and just for timepass threw it a little far off the sangam and into the current... held the line with hand, felt a bite and jerked the rod back. felt nothing except for the flow... started retrieving, felt a little extra weight thought might be some snag/ twig and thats when the little guy started fighting.
"If you are on the line with a mahseer for the first time, never underestimate it, no matter what the size."
This guy went a little under and a little left and right... no krrring of reel here as he was small, though he did give a nice tug for 30 secs or so.
I being impatient wanted to see what was giving so much of fight and reeled it in and pulled it up instead of playing.
On a closer look...Wait a minute... WTF ! Holy Sh...carp
that feeling... cant describe it...
Now to release it back... 15 sec rule was way past(With me holding it dumbstruck, as though somebody had just dumped a pot of gold in front of me)
Snapped out of it, pulled out my camera and took a few pics...
In a hurry, changed to video and took this whilst releasing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WD-zc5x9WHg
I forgot to turn off the video recording and it kept playing... that local handliner asked me "why did you release it back ? was it carrying eggs ?"
to this I said " Its a Mahseer, We are supposed to release it back. there are very few of them here"
this is what the handliner caught afterwards
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fI7496MApdA
Mahseer Awareness has been created in my village...
So that people will think twice before keeping one for the pot. Nobody doesn't even know its our national fish...They say "never heard of it".
Regards
raka
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Rejuvenated, I cast my line under the guidance of dada.
... that fat guy who netted the area had caught big ones before on the backwaters... one around 2 kgs...
