I have mentioned in some previous posts that I want to go out murrell fishing in Hyderabad…especially after looking at the pics our Hyderabad team has been posting. And this time, I was able to realize this.
I contacted Arish who helped get me in touch with other team members and also helped plan the entire activity. He introduced me to Basharath and Shadab; who in turn introduced me to two senior anglers…Shadab’s father and Lin. Pls note Shadab’s father played the crucial role in my rebirth

; - for details just read through.
After lots of to and fro messages starting from Delhi, it was decided that I will bring my rod and tackle for snakeheads. This being first air travel for my fishing rod, I recalled what Sam and Dhruv had told me about it and ensured everything was ready. Keeping the Delhi experience in mind, I packed in the frogs and as precaution spinners for murrels…this helped me because the water was more suitable for spinners than froggies…
After landing, Arish introduced me to Basharath, Shadab and Lin, from where these guys took charge of the situation and plan was made out to go Saturday afternoon. On the fateful Saturday, Basharath picked me up on his bike and we went to Shadab’s place; all the time that we were weaving through the traffic, ofcourse we discussed fish

, how does murrel behave, what is the right season for them, how they guard their kids etc. Upon reaching Shadab’s place we loaded our stuff in his car and there I met Shadab’s father, Grp Cmdr Kalim. Without any other significant event, we went to pick up Lin…and ofcourse Shadab took the longer route as was pointed out by uncle (his father). And after picking up, at last we were on the way to Location X.
Since we were going in afternoon, I was worried that we would reach late and will have a very short time to fish, however, these thoughts were soon lost in the beauty of the countryside. Needless, to say, the area around Hyderabad is still untouched by commercialization and the beauty of this was worth looking at again and again, Now I realized why Arish wanted me to take the camera along with – which I had not brought with me. Around 430 PM we reached the spot where we parked the car and walked for 5-10 mins to the spot. Though the water level was high contrary to the earlier gathered intelligence, we decided to try our luck there. I had assembled my rod when we parked the car with the frog, but on reaching the place realized that spinners will be more effective due to the water speed and low clarity. Three casts with the mepps long cast aglia, I caught my first MULLEY. I was surprised enough to get something so fast and when it came out was excited to see a small mulley at othe end of the line. This was the opening catch for the group. However, we did not catch anything for next few minutes and I decided to move a little further from the group towards the side where Kalim uncle was fishing. Having noticed that his spinner had got caught in the rocks and the way to retrieve was to swim and free it up,
I was considerably careful.
BUT, it got stuck on my second cast on the changed spot and was at quite a distance. I decided to get into the water after consulting uncle who was approx 25-30 meters away from me. I got down in the water and immediately explored the bottom and realized that water is really deep there. I tried to get out but was unable to initially due to the slippery boulder and lack of any hold, but managed to get out with help of the water pump tube that some villager had put in there. This should have told me about the things to come. But since I was wearing my fav superman t-shirt, I decided to give it another go and I stepped on the slippery non-visible boulders to retrieve my spinner and did not realize that I had moved from one boulder to another while wading through the water.
On the second boulder I realized that the spinner is still far off and the water current has some nasty personal plans for me. That’s when I called out for help to uncle since turning back was becoming an issue. Uncle promptly came over and also realized that the water here was way deeper than on the side he was fishing. But he knew how to swim and came over to the boulder I was on. Now with uncle by my side and my amazing superman skills I decided to turn back and jump to the 1st boulder. Well my flight was halted by the krypton boulders and I promptly landed between the two boulders and responded to it angrily by sinking. Since the sinking was not lifting my mood, I decided to entangle myself in the line and ensure fish have sufficient food for few days to come. And guess what – some small fingerlings did explore me out. How sweet of them to offer company in water, must appreciate that fact.
On seeing my actions and reactions, uncle jumped in and tried to push me on to the 1st boulder. By that time I had decided “panic” is also a good companion and tried to introduce it to uncle by trying to drag him down with me. However, the NDA and commando training of uncle interfered and he gave me two solid pushes and pushed me on to the other boulder where the water was approx 3-4 feet. I must say that I still insisted on floundering in water and remaining submerged; all of which uncle ignored and pulled me up to my feet. Now, I must admit that I now truly know the meaning of “Fresh sweet air in my lungs”. With my head above water, a new perspective of life became available and I heartily endorsed it and managed my way out of water without any further incident. By this time rest of the team finding us missing in action was looking for us. Thanks to everyone for not taking my happiness there, and supporting me at that time…not that I was bawling or anything…superman t-shirt guys…don’t forget.
It was decided that this site is not fruitful…ehhh ask me again, we decided to move to another spot nearby where I was assured that they have never gone back empty hand. We drove/walked over to the next place. Meanwhile the rain god had decided to attempt wash off some of my super intelligence and see if something can be done about me after all these years. Moral of the story – never give up on someone. And I appreciate that fact.
On reaching the next spot we selected our areas and started spinning. 2nd cast and I got my 2nd mulley of the day. Now catching mulley has always been my dream, infact I have even bought steel leaders cos someone told me about their sharp teeth and steel leaders being the only way to get them out. Anyways, out comes the 2nd mulley and I swing it towards the land, it promptly jumps off the hook and goes in hiding between the gaps and holes in the boulders. Not disheartened by this, I decided to do what superman would do in this situation – save other fish from drowning. And then I seriously got into it even though it was getting real dark and I had been told about snakes and scorpions in the area. The place was ripe for picking and soon I had another mulley. Seemed like mulley land…though all were in the range of ½ kg to 1 kg.
Looking and hearing at the fish splashes around me, I knew there are big ones around and I started targeting the area in a methodical manner. This resulted in a big fish getting caught. Due to the low visibility, I was not able to see the fish and assumed I had caught a big mulley…dream about to come true. Imagine my surprise when the fish gave me a decent fight for approx 5 mins and with some difficulty I managed to make it climb the small rocks around me – all the while thinking that I had caught a huge mulley. When I was about to kiss the fish, I realized it is missing its whiskers and is looking to me more like eat me right now. I had caught my
hyderabadi murrel. I promptly called Basharath over his cell ( we were really spread out) and voice guided him to my spot, where we bundled the fish in the keep net.
Few more casts, few more mulleys, losing the spinner in darkness was fun beyond description. All those who have been to Hyderabad will understand the rugged beauty of the place with huge boulders and greenery around you. Anyways, it was almost 8 PM and we decided to call it a day…ignoring the pleas of the fish jumping around and splashing to all their worth. On rejoining the entire group, I realized we had collectively saved lots of mulleys from drowning

. Remaining will be saved next time.
To keep the long story short, we went to a dhaba on the highway and got the murrel cleaned and cooked. Having not eaten anything since morning (only a sandwich and a glass of juice), I ate everything that I could.
Since we were not carrying the camera, we took pics on camera of the snakehead caught…will be posting them once I am back home today
Thanks to Arish, Shadab, Basharth, Kalim uncle and Lin…I had a great outing and experience of my life. I caught mulley, murrel and was saved from drowning...all in one day. Thank you guys for making this trip a success and a memorable one, you are definitely going to hear from me when I come next in August.