The River Tiger’s Dream

Did you have dreams of adventure and romance, like me as a child? Could you turn your backyard into the great outdoors and a mere park into the mighty jungle? Well, fishing for river tigers in India could allow you to rediscover that inner child all over again. 

When you talk about tigers, the largest animal of the big cat family automatically springs to mind. A beautiful, mythical and secretive creature that over the last twenty years, we have all come to love and respect. The most common of all, the Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) which is found across India, was partly responsible for the discovery of one of today’s hardest fighting freshwater fish, found in rivers anywhere in the world. 

Before India’s pre-independence in 1947, known as the Golden Raj age, when the British occupied India, a great many distinguished English gentlemen in the army and civil service, both fished and hunted during their rest periods. One such man, who spent many years in India, first as a hunter and a guide before turning his attention to conservation, was Jim Corbett. During this period, Jim was instrumental in helping setting up conservation areas for the protection of tigers, along with the removal of India’s troublesome man-eaters. This involved spending many months camping and stalking in remote jungle, which provided the perfect opportunity to pursue his other passion, ‘fishing’. Fortunately for anglers today, Jim even found time to write about his fascinating exploits and fishing accounts like Man-Eaters of Kumaon and The Man Eater of Rudraprayag. It was books like these that described some of the first fascinating accounts of fighting huge monsters, with incredible power, that could swim upstream against tremendous currents; a great cunning predator with stealth that could swim right up to your feet without you even knowing. These stories continued to thrill anglers for generations, inspiring many people to follow in their footsteps and soon earned the mahseer the name and reputation as the “river tiger”. 

The true name mahseer (Barbus mosal) in Indian is believed to mean great mouth. Although a fair description, it does not really express the true beauty of such a magnificent fish. It’s long, muscular body is covered in large, plated scales that turn to a lighter shade below the lateral line. The streamline head slopes downwards towards two pairs of barbells and strong rubber-like lips, allowing the mahseer to feed with ease amongst large boulders and sharp rocks. While admiring its large fins and tail, you soon realise that the mahseer was perfectly built by Mother Nature to survive in cold, well-oxygenated fast-flowing mountain rivers and why they make such good fishing adversaries. Scientific tests have proved that small mahseer up to 2 lb only eat small insects and shrimps, but as these fish grow, they quickly acquire a great taste for smaller fish, along with any crustaceans they can forage for. They mainly catch live prey, although they are not adverse to eating any dead or decaying fish, which they can detect with their amazing sense of smell from long distances down stream. 

The mahseer exhibits an astonishing range of habitats all across Asia, from the Himalayan highlands to the tropical forests of Thailand. Various sub-species have evolved to deal with the climatic differences across these habitats, but the two main species fished for are; golden mahseer (Barbus tor putitora) mainly found in the Himalayan rivers and the largest of the mahseer (Barbus mosal) that’s found in the south. 

In the Central Himalayan region, fishing for the golden mahseer is normally in the picturesque Ramganga Valley, where you can find the crystal-clear waters of the Ramganga River, which twists and turns for hundreds of kilometers through dense forest on both sides. There is no noise or air pollution, only bracing air and a gentle breeze. One of the best ways to cover such a large area and to admire the wildlife and explore the outdoors, is to white-water raft to likely fishing areas by day, and by night pitch camp next to the river, until you make your way down towards the boundaries of the famous Corbett National Park, which was renamed in memory of the late conservationist Jim Corbett. Southern India's most famous Mahseer River is the Cauvery that’s been responsible for more 100 lb fish than any other, and currently holds the world record of xxxlb. Fish on this river are famous for being able to strip a multiplier reel bare of 40 lb line on its first run and can easily swim upstream against rapids at over 20 knots. The most reliable section of this river is at Galibore. It is the furthest fishing stretch downstream and has the deepest and slowest moving water. The Cauvery River like Tigers in India now, is well protected and therefore attracts anglers from all over the world, some returning year after year, others for their first time, all hoping to do battle and experience some of the mahseer magic. 

Fishing for these fish, coupled with the strong currents, is going to push both you and your tackle to the limit. It is therefore imperative that your tackle is strong enough to cope with these conditions. In the north, the majority of the fishing is lure or flies, approaching pools and rapids with extreme caution so not to scare the fish in these crystal clear mountain rivers. Normally if you find feeding fish in a pool, they will hit either your lures or flies within the first 10 casts, after which you slowly work your way a little further down stream. Generally a good spinning rod that is capable of casting lures and spoons from 15 to 60 grams, along with a good fixed spool reel, fully loaded with 25lb mono, is sufficient. Increasingly, both live bait and paste fishing, common methods down south, are becoming more popular with alarming results. However, you will need a slightly larger rod and reel to cope with the additional casting weights. To fish the southern rivers, where the mahseer are larger, you need to step up all the tackle. Your main rod can be an off the shelf uptide of about 10 foot with a casting weight of 6 – 10 oz. A spinning rod with a 3 lb test curve and also a small light rod for catching your live bait will complete the set. For reels, the main priority is that they can hold large quantities of line. Although you do not need to cast far, these fish, when hooked, are going to take long runs. Therefore, the best reels are good strong multipliers. For line, use at least 40 lb mono for your main line and you could use 25 lb for your spinning. You will need to take plenty of spare line as the long fights and sharp rocks are going to take its toll. The fishing methods are simple. Along your main line you have a small piece of stiff tube upon which you can wrap strips of lead weight. The amount can be varied quite easily to suit the current conditions of the different swims. The tube is held in place by beads and stop knots at each end around three feet from your hook. With either paste or live bait, a cast is placed across the river allowing the current to take spare line. With a gentle bow in the line, the current will pull both your bait and lead weight round until they both find a resting point along the rocky river bottom. Now sit back with your rod in your hand and enjoy the magical scenery, for you can see wildlife such as elephants, deer, monkeys, jackals and the seldom-seen leopard. For now, you are once again that child in your backyard. Sitting patiently, perched on a small rock in the middle of a ragging river, feeling your line with your fingers,while mentally reciting all those old stories, then suddenly both you and your rod are violently pulled forward, “Fish on” you cry. But all you can do is barely hold on, as you watch your reel quickly empty of all its line. It’s only then, at that moment you realise why it’s called “ The River Tigers Dream”. 

Angling Direct Holidays www.anglingdirectholidays.com run exclusive escorted trips to both Northern and Southern India. For further information call 0044 1603 407596