INDIANANGLER

Hi,
I'm going for a fishing trip to Sunderban Delta region next week.

The water is likely to be muddy .. and somewhat salty because the ocean is close by. Tides are quite frequent.

Am confused on what bait and hooks to use ?

Please advise, as I'm still an amateur !

Thanks
Chayan

Bait ...Human ............

can u plzzz elaborate what type of fish is found there.............to the best of my knowledge i can suggest u earthworms in that particular place with size 6 or 7 hooks for carps.....u can also use chicken liver or small fish for the predator fishes,but i don't have any good experience with them.....

else spinning gurus are here u can take advice from them about the lures then you will not have to use bait


if the water is very muddy then i think no bait is going to work.

good luck
manish

try the accepted lures for barra and mj fishing. live/ cut fish would be the best bait next to live prawns.

+1 for Ace Docs reply.

Dead prawns threaded on to hooks are also productive . But live prawn is best of all.

Try and choose a place where one stream flows into another to form a T junction. The current will have a whirlpool effect there and will take the bait down to the bottom (using cut fish or dead prawn, shelled or unshelled. I preferred the latter.). Give it time to get there. Use enough weight.This will allow you to fish at all stages of the tide. Take plenty of bait and a simple paternoster or running leger is good enough for most fish. There are a lot of smaller (large for the species) cavasius (Bengali: Nona Tengra) there which will grab your bait. Use a hook small enough to hook them and persevere and you will hook larger fish along with them. All the fish dont bite vehemently and be prepared for gentle plucks and pulls. Watch them and learn the bite and you will hit into plenty of fish.

The fish are estuary fish and the smaller streams are easier fishing. You will hear and see the barras when they chase the fry. A live prawn floated down to the area of action on a pike or large float at depths of two to four feet is deadly. I once caught 54 barra from 1/2 kg to 17kg in one night using this method. Most were between 1/2 and 2 kg. I didn't lure fish but when the barra are chasing the smaller fish I have no doubt they will be effective.

All the best

Lakhyaman

I dont think you need any thing more than what Lakhyaman has explained. I too want to fish those waters so please keep on posting the details.

Lakhyaman, you said 54 Barras, Wow, I am sure all of us would love to hear that story in some detail.

Regards,

Ali.

Ya can PM Peterpritam on this.
He has fished in the sunderbans before....huge barras are there.

Regards,
Saiki

Are there still lions and tigers?

Tigers

tigers... maneaters from birth...
salt water crocs.... king cobras.... sunderban is one amazing place....

Salt water corcs of sunderban are the largest in the world.

so the food chain is...
Lions/tigers/crocs----->Anglers------>fish

no lions in sunderbans mate...

they are exactly opposite in direction

Sorry for the delayed response.

The trip was successful, except for the Angling part of it. My tour revolved mostly around the inner parts of the forest area on the Indian side of the delta, which is covered heavily under the India Wildlife Act and conservation laws. Which is why, fishing of any type is considered illegal and almost at par with poaching. There are patrol boats moving around all the time keeping a watch on you.
However, if you stay off the forest limits, there are innumerable places where we can game for fish. There are multiple rivers and small tributaries, where the best way to do it is to hire boats /ferries for a day and park yourself in the middle of the river.
As some of you have pointed out, the best bait for these waters is definitely live prawns (difficult to get) or shrimps would be even better.
If you are planning to attempt serious angling, then the best time to cast would be post sunset till about midnight.

I'd be putting up a details in the Trip Report section.
Thanks

No tiger is a man eater from birth. A lot has been written and filmed about the Sunderbans Tigers. Various excuses like the amount of salt in their diet to staying wet most of the time has been attributed as the reason for their over aggressive behaviour. Unfortunately all the data seems to miss one point - loss of habitat and intrusions by people into the little space they have left.

Yes ken, it is all about loss of habitat and intrusions by people into their space.
Tiger are no man eater by birth, they do attack man if they and their territories are threatened.

there is one funny/scary incident when a foreign wildlife photographer thought he was well protected on elephant back and when in the vicinity of a tiger he kept urging the mahout to move closer. The mahout apparently warned that its not advisable to get so close but the guy persisted saying he needed to get a closer shot. I believe the Tiger irritated let out a loud roar and cleared the elephant going over the tourist. Apparently the guy was so shattered he wet his pants!!

also check out this famous incident of sunderban tiger jumping over the head of elephant
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c--O2ZHCvJg

Arish ... that youtube video is not that of a Sunderban Tiger. Its a famous old video of a Tiger attack in Kaziranga National Park in Assam.
P.S. notice the topography in the video, its wet grasslands, which is not possible to grow in the silted mudlands of Sundarban.

@mken,

sunderban tigers are known to take humans since the time when there was enough forest and the prey base. its just that when carnivores are staying in such conditions they tend to eat anything that they can overpower; there are records of tigers eating crabs and fishes on regular basis and some times salties too...
my understanding on man eating is, monkeys are natural prey of tigers, the people staying in jungles are so poor that they don't afford clothing, small kids when playing in nearby forests resemble the monkeys and mistaken by tigers.... and once they understand humans are far more easier to kill; it becomes their regular diet, especially to female tigers who have cubs to feed...
i may be wrong but for now i firmly believe this..

regards,

Dr. Prasad

May be humans are better in taste than monkeys

Oh sorry Yancham, it was my mistake! Kaziranga and sunderban are both lotaced on same geographical position, thus was Kaziranga National Park was mistaken as Sunderban. Thanks for correctiing me

@mobeen:

@Dr.Prasad: this is what the loss of habitat speaks up for!

Dr Prasad,

There is a big difference between being a 'man-eater' and eating an occasional human. I am sorry to sound harsh but it is this misinformation that screws it up for these big cats. A few days ago there was an article about a politician's relative going on shoot to kill a man eating leopard. All that the leopard did was kill a man who was chopping wood in the forest. What a normal person would call chance encounter. The newspapers took up the case and branded the cat a 'MAN EATER'. And then bang bang some politician's relative was the big white hunter.



Apologies again but please try and understand the difference. Jeremy Wade is making a lot of money with his 'River Monsters' series using the same sensational term. According to him every large cat fish is a man eater and so is every little piranha. See one of these episodes and you will see how funny and wrong it can be to just label an animal as a man eater.

Agreed , The "Man Eating Goonch" what a load of CRAP!!

I second you Mr Ken.. This afternoon I was watching one of his episodes where the portrayed the Sting Ray as a monster of the deep.. If i remember correctly, the title of the episode was "Death Ray".

Its sad the way people brand a certain animal or fish with a title that does no justice to them and the people who do attribute such names do so for their own personal gain...

Tight Lines,
GRC

crap or not, the guys on other (read american) fishing forums have started eying the goonch as a "wanna catch" species. for the most part his show is rather boring being mostly him rather than the fish he is going after. he's got some good tackle though.

Got to admit that it does help stir interest and desire in people who would now want to catch a large "Man Eating Fish".

Only hope that the fish bites them in the arse... Then we would actually have something to write home about

Tight Lines,
GRC

Something like the Bum Biting Barra, the Grim Reaper Rohu or Killer Katla

Hmm some good tackle that he says was meant for sharks and snaps when he hooks a ray LOL :)

I would be very happy is a big sting ray sticks its barb in the soft spot of Jeremy Wade

Sherdil ... u mean "Barb to Barb :"

no wonder the tackle pops esp that he is prone to highsticking. i meant the varied kinds of tackle he has.

this is supposed to be the bait topic but where is this thread heading

@Yancham where is the trip report????

@arish .. i am thinking the same.. where's the topic headed to ? and the trip report will be out soon ... was caught up with loads of work at office ..

[/quote]

"Apologies again but please try and understand the difference. Jeremy Wade is making a lot of money with his 'River Monsters' series using the same sensational term. According to him every large cat fish is a man eater and so is every little piranha. See one of these episodes and you will see how funny and wrong it can be to just label an animal as a man eater."

Ken.... right on man. That guy is such a douchebag !!! I was watching a new show of his, where is trying to figure if Snakeheads eat people !! Better watch it the next time at Brindavas !!! But its fun watching the fishing i must admit

I think his next film is about the Testicle Eating Trout from Himachal Pradesh. It starts: Wading anglers beware, for this particular lake is home to some very deadly fish, Salmo Castratus commonly known as the Ball Eating Trout....

awesome scientific name Bobby !!! haha... CASTRATUS. And to top it, for a change he should be bitten by one of his 'MONSTERS' while filming

P.S - apologies for contributing to taking this thread to nowhere it was intended for.

Back to the Sunderbans and the rawas folk....s

Salmo Castratus