INDIANANGLER

Hi Guys,

I was wondering what water conditions were like on the Cauvery? (Galibori/Haira)
Has anyone been fishing there lately?
Any mahseer worth mentioning caught so far?

Would be nice to hear from some Bangalore guys about the Cauvery.

Regards,

Mighty Marlin.

Hi MM,
The Kaveri is coming into its own. The water is dropping, but is still about 3 ft above normal. A 40lb fish was taken recently, so conditions should be good pretty soon.
Regards
Owen

Hi Owen,

Thanks for your response. I guess water levels will be dropping at this time and will be far from perfect...... coming to think of it are the conditions ever perfect

Nice to hear a 40lb fish was caught recently..... I hope its a good omen for this season.

Why don't you hit Haira for a couple of nights? Conditions sholud be nearing perfect for fishing from Haira or even Mossle halla at night or late evening.

Let me know if you head down am dying to know how it goes.

Warm regards,

Mighty Marlin.

One of our members, Junaid, caught a 52 pounder last week. Lot's of bites and bigger ones lost. This season may be better than the last two.

Hi Bops,

I hope it gets better.... would like to see some bigger fish landed but 70+lbs.
That stretch isn't known for its 40lbers.

Mighty Marlin.

Hi Bops & Rustam,

It's been too long since I came in here! Been too busy with work all year . Only managed one decent trip to Sumatra for the mahseer there. However, I'll be in Bangalore on morning of 22Dec, on the way to Cauvery - where else! Wanna have masala tea & brekky? Dont know which hotel we're staying yet, but i'll find out soon enuff.

Glad to know the River is doing good now. For this year, my gang is split up: George & Shah are fishing Bhimeshwari 15-22Dec, and i'm bringing two newbies to Galibore immediately after. Looking forward to their 'baptism'!

Tell me if you need anything from KL, short of guns and 40-ft pole rods!

JB

Hey JB, good to see you back on the forum. Give us a shout when you're down.

Bops

HI Guys,

Just a 'report' from me re. the Galibore stretch of the Cauvery...

We arrived there on 23Dec to find the river abnormally high, due to heavy rains. There's this cyclone somewhere...

Meanwhile, I got word from my two buddies who did Bhimeshwari, that Galibore would be almost hopeless. They had caught good fish at Dodda Mulu, topped by a 60-lb silver by Shah and 40+ lb by George. I was staring at a fishless one week, eating plates of capati and dhal curry and watching murky water pass by.

The first 3 days were just that: fishless! But the water level was going down fast. I hit a 21-lb bluefin mahseer on the 4th day. Buddy Foo landed a 36-lb later. In our final session on 28Dec, I landed a 43-lb fish to put icing on the trip. Phew!

In total, we caught about 220-lb of fish. It was great considering the conditions. But the worrying thing was the almost total absence of golden mahseer (mussulah). Only the bluefin fish prevailed. Same as my trip last year.

Some of the regulars were whispering about this great drought a few years ago, when the authorities stopped the flow at Mysore Dam. The fish got hemmed in at pools like Mudrekal. They suspect that many of the giants had died and become dinner for the crocs.

If this is really true, then it'd be many years before we see real giant mahseer of >80-lbs with enough regularity.

I sincerely hope that the legendary 160-lb mahseer that had broken several anglers' lines is still alive. Hope is what i carry everytime I'm at the Cauvery.

Oh yes, one more bad news: we came across hundreds of cichlids (Africans, I believe). Another alien species to be added to the river. We tried to catch as many as we could on ragi. Thankfully, the gillies eat them.

><<:>

PS: Bops/Rustam: sorry about our Bangaluru appointment: my bad! Emailed you too late!

Fished Bheemishwari from Decmeber 3 to 21 and had my best trip yet, landing 39 fish. My best was a 52 lb silver along with others of 35, 34 and 31 plus a number of 20s.
Seems the river is fishing very well, the best it has been for a few years.

Hey Gary,

Great catch! Any golden mahseer among them?

><<:>

Aznir, we'll meet again on your next trip!

Nick,
Sorry to have missed you this year, you must have arrived at Galibore as i left Bheemishwari!
In total i had 39 fish, as well as the 52 i also had a 35, 34 and 31, plus another mid-30 which i had beaten on its side in the shallows but the ghillie wouldn't get his feet wet (not my own ghillie, it was at night and he was asleep, so one of the new ghillies got up). I also had six others over 20 lb, including a golden of 24 lb and one which was either a very dark silver one or a black of 26 lb.
I had been due to go to Galibore but stayed on at Bheemishwari when the rain started, paid off as i had the 50 and two 30s during those few days.
Hopefully see you out there next year if you're going, was nice to catch up with George and Shah.

Gary

Wow, that's great fishing! Were you with Spencer this time? I heard the great Mister Joe was at Bhimeshwari too. You guys are luckier than us in Galibore, that's for sure!

Terry was around, along with a guy named Richard. They left after a few days, promising to come back and fly over the river in a chopper, dropping medium sized ragi balls, just to add colour to our lives...

><<:>

Hi guys,

My pal Johnson just got back from a 5 day trip at Galibore (last week of Dec) and someone landed a 100+ pound fish in Galibore just above the camp. He also got a 70lb fish that was not properly hooked and got away at the boat and got 5-6 fish in the 20-30 lb range. Apparantly the fishing has picked up and the river is coming down.
Am going to Haira next week.

-Vidur

Nick,
Spencer decided not to come this year after it fished so bad last year, he might change his mind for 2008 though! Yes, Joe was there, that's who i was fishign with this year and i also took my dad out for his first ever trip, he is 65 and it was great to see him catch a 39 pounder.
I did wonder where Terry had gone this year, met Martin last year when he was with Terry at Bheemishwari.
It's is great to hear of so many good fish coming from the river, i was starting to think that most of the big ones had gone.

This is great news all round! That 100+ lb fish must be a golden! From the records, that must be only 5th "nur pound minu" giant ever. The ones that I know, at least:

- 126-lb landed by van Ingen, in 1928 (still the record, after all these years)
- 118-lb by ??? , Crocodile rock, Galibore
- 105-lb, by ???, also Galibore
- 102-lb, by Mark Thompson, Balumudhu, Bhimeshwari, 1992

Some will argue that it's not the size, but the circumstances, that matters. Landing a 50-lb giant from Kenggal is a bigger challenge than catching a 100-pounder from Mudrekal, probably. Still, 100-lb is a great dream!

Still hoping that that 160-pounder Joe was talking about is still swimming down there in the depths!

Hope to see you next year, Gary!

><<:>

John Wilson's 92 and 86 both taken on the same morning from Ontigundu has to be right up there with the best Aznir. It is a very difficult spot to fish, with no room for errors.
A 50 from Kengal without a coracle is what angling is all about.
Ask chilwa he knows all about it

Owen,

A 50-lb brute from Kenggal without a coracle? I call it suicide!

><<:>

I met Dave Plummer at moslehalla after he jumped in at Kengal attached to a 92lb mother. He was shaking all over. Said he would never do it again.

Hi guys,

Just spoke with Pampapathy at Bheemeshwari.
- The water level has dropped but fish in the 20 lbs range are still being landed.
- The seasons tally so far is 70+ (Shah), 3 X 50+ ( Junaid,Joe and Gary) and a 60 by Sudhir Shastri recently. Joe is still fishing at Doddamarralu.
- The 102 /103 lbs was at Galibore on Dec.29th. There was another at 70 a few days later (early Jan) but details not known.

A much better season so far. I am pushing for more anti-poaching / feeding camps all along the river.

Gillie training and better fish handling might see the light of day soon so keep your rods crossed!!!

Cheers and all the best for 2008!

Outrigorsandeep

Sandeep, did you have anything to do with the change in the Murral removal limits at Forbes Sagar?

I understand the new WASI rule permits removal of 4 fish per angler of any species irrespective of size, except mahseer which have to be returned unharmed irrespective of size.
Crazy rule, whoever thought of it. It will only encourage meat collectors to become members, or members to become meat collectors.
An occassional murral should be OK.
We need to raise a protest at the next AGM.
What say guys?
Owen

Why wait till then. Write to the president of WASI expressing your concern over this new bag limit.

Bops did you write your letter yet?

I'd love to know who was responsible for this change in the rule. Whoever it is certainly does not have conservation in mind. Removing a murral or two is understandable but putting the Rohu at risk is not acceptable.

Rustam do you have anymore details on this new rule? If our conservation minded members wish to write to WASI asking for an amendment of this new rule who should they write to?

I have General Iswariah's mail id. Anyone interested in mailing him please PM me.

Hey Bops! I had nothing to do with the change in 'bag' limit at the WASI lakes. You should know me better!! I was surprised too when I saw it written on the fishing permit when I last went there. Let us find out the reason for the change before shooting off angry letters / emils to the President.

I stand committed to the conservation of all important sport fish species and most certainly the large ones as they are the breeding stock and carry the genes for future generations. I also stand committed to promoting sport angling as we need young blood to love the sport and fight for our water bodies and rivers.

I agree with Owen that the odd Murral or even an under 3 kg Rohu once in a while for the table is fine, but harvesting the waters, without valid scientific reason is a NO NO.

Regards,
Sandeep

Donno about you guys, but I notice a significant change in the fishery of Cauvery. We can hardly find certain species, nowadays. In particular is the pink carp and black carp(?). Even the catfish is getting less now. The total limit on mahseer and "free-for-all' of the other species is surely creating some sort of imbalance.

I think it's the same case for murrel too. We only caught two on this trip. Both were small (< 1kg). Unbelievably, one was caught in the the fast water above Mysore Pool.

The last time I landed the pink carp (two years ago), I had a long argument with the ghillie. He wanted to keep it whilst I wanted to release it. I won eventually, promising him that we'll try to catch a catfish come sunset! (Lesser of two evils?).

><<:>

Sandeep, glad to hear that you had nothing to do with that. I disagree that removal of rohu should be allowed, it provides excellent sport on the rod and i'd hate to deny future generations the pleasure of fishing for wild rohu.

Removing large quantities of endemic species will cause a severe imbalance in the river system. Tilapia and Magur certainly need removing but all other endemic species need to be handled with care.

Junglebum, I dont agree about the Murrel...I think there are plenty around...a 2 hour session in Bheemeshwari on Dec 8th - 1 hour in the morning and 1 hour in the evening netted me about 8 Murrel in total. All were put back. Yes, I think compared to about 7 years ago the Murrel fishing has gone down a bit - but I dont think we are close to danger levels with them.

In 2002 I recall having some incredible Murrel fishing sessions - around the Doddmaralu pool

I second that Bops, and have sent a quiet mail to the General expressing regret that this is happening.

Have you guys noticed, there are no small rohu in the lake, and no sign of any small grass carp, calabanse or catla. Whatever exists seems to be big old fish. I have personally never caught anything under 3 Kgs in the lakes (mahseer and murral excluded).

This to me says that the fish are probably not breeding very well in the lake, and whatvever is in there is old stock, and we could be decimating the existing stock by permitting this.

JB from what i hear, the murral are very slow breeders, and take longer to grow than most species. Many of the really good murral waters on the Kaveri now stand empty, and a similar situation exists at the small wasi lake. Sooner or later this will happen to forbes sagar too, if this is allowed to continue.

My letter was read but I was told that the trial period of three months would stand. I believe I was the first one to go fishing (on the 17th of November) after the new bag limit was implemented, so two of the three months are more or less up. However, it's best that as many members as possible make their objection known just in case this 'trial' period gets extended.

WASI members can send their letters to:

The President,
Wildlife Association of South India,
19, Victoria Road,
Bangalore – 560047.

General Ishwariah very kindly replied to my mail and clarified that the trial period of 3 months was brought about by a request from some old WASI members. However he was with us in reverting to the earlier status, which should be brought up in the next AGM.

Good to know. I had a call from Galiborai. A 96lb mahseer was caught by a spanish angler, Alberto. He was fishing with Joe Assasso.

Great news. Alberto seems to do well at Galibore, last year he had a big one on his very last cast of his trip - can't remember the weight.

Just got back yesterday from a 4 day trip to Galibore...fishing was decent but not hectic. Water levels very low for this time of the year...looks more like it looks around mid to end Feb. First couple of days was quite slow...fished mostly upstream - Ragi, chilwa, crab...nothing above 15 and not too many in number...then we got back one evening to hear about the 96 pounder that Alberto caught...that was a beauty...at least from the pictures...

Here's what we had on the last night before we left...the silver was on Chilwa and the Golden on Ragi..both in the fast water before the rapids...neither fish was weighed...will depend on the experts on this forum to estimate....my guess - the one I am holding...the silver was at least 15 kgs...

Moi with the silver


Venu with the golden



The other bit of fun I had was fishing for murrel using frogs - AT NIGHT!!...first time I am trying it...suggest you guys try it too...very very cool...I was fishing the lower end of Croc rock and as it became dark - I started hearing the frogs....also there was a 2/3 moon around..and I started casting my froggie out onto the rocks and make them plop into the water and splash around....had 3 good strikes...but all resulted in Spatoutis...but was good fun...i am sure I could have caught one with a little more effort...

good pics and good show Sudhir, keep on doin it
Best
Axx

See my report under Angling Locations & Trip Reports for a bit more info. Joe was one of those that had opted to come downstream from Beemishwari due to the low water, sadly he left on the morning that Alberto caught his 95lb Golden. He certainly would have made liked to have been there and sure would have made the arty go on longer !

John

nice
show

Sudhir

ovely pics i can imagine the fun you had with frogs RulerofSun