Many anglers have an ultimate fishing ambition – to travel to exotic places to catch a dream fish and I was no exception. I suppose in common with many fellow Barbel anglers my goal was to travel to India to pursue the mighty Mahseer. Due to mundane everyday events like full-time work, parenthood, moving to Australia etc, this remained a dream until the mortgage was paid off, the kids flew the nest, and semi-retirement loomed. I tentatively submitted my plan to “she who must be obeyed” giving wife Val the option of: accompanying me to camp on the banks of a crocodile infested river, living on nothing but curry, or going to Sydney on a shopping trip with her sister. Surprisingly she opted for the latter – Women are funny like that.
After numerous e-mails and telephone conversations with long-time fishing friend Jon, back in Yorkshire, I abandoned initial plans to fish the Ganges tributaries in Northern India, due to tales of bureaucratic nightmares and civil unrest, and decided that the Cauvery River in Karnatka was by far our best option. One dawn morning in January 2009 saw the small group of anglers, largely consisting (coincidentally) of past and present members of the Barbel Catchers Club, meet up at Bangalore airport and set out on a bumpy three-hour trip to the river. In charge of the two week trip was “Big Dave” - head fishing guide for Angling Direct Holidays and après evening curry raconteur and a veteran of many Indian trips. The destination turned out to be a secluded, steep sided valley with the Cauvery showing the full diversity of its character along the five-mile length. Stretches of relatively narrow deep glides were interspersed with rapids that would whet the appetite of even the most ardent white water rafter. The entire length was very rocky and looking through the clear water from the coracles revealed huge jagged rock formations rising almost to the surface. Any carp anglers going there expecting spacious swims big enough to get bed chairs in would be bitterly disappointed. For the most part we were perched on rocks which were at best merely uncomfortable after an hour or so, but at worst, were slippery and surrounded by deep, fast flowing water that was just waiting for you to lose your concentration. One memorable day was when Dave took Jon and I wading neck deep out into mid-river to lean against a submerged rock and fish into the current on the other side. Once at the rock it was quite comfortable, but the journey out there was hair-raising!
...fortunately the crocodiles don't frequent the mid-river currents!
The tackle used was not your normal river gear – uptide rods capable of casting 6 to 8oz were coupled with a multipliers loaded with 200 yards of 40lb mono. The business end was relatively unsophisticated, comprising of a bit of rig tubing with lead strip wound around it, fixed on the line by beads and stop knots top and bottom. About two feet below this was an Owner SS 8/O. The theory being that on casting out the rig would drift around in the current until the lead snagged, and would come free when a fish took the bait, and not surprisingly tackle loss proved quite heavy! Bait consisted of either balls of raggi paste the size of an orange or live chilwa, a small fish.
After a few days fishing in a variety of swims along the length it was obvious to Jon and I that there were a lot of fish present, as the soft paste bait was being stripped off the hook by a stream of small Mahseer and other species, leaving us with little chance of hooking any of the bigger fish. A rethink was called for, and the next afternoon we scrounged a big old pan, built a fire, and boiled up some 120mm diameter baits, leaving them in for three hours! After putting them out to dry and cool down, we made the mistake of turning our backs on them for five minutes, only for the entire batch to be nicked by the local monkeys! The previous highly photogenic “cute little critters” suddenly became “THIEVIN’ B******S” and war was declared!
...there's no doubt these balls are man enough - 120mm 'elephant dropping boilies!
Anyway, back to the fishing and after successfully completing a second batch of boilies, modifying our end rigs to incorporate a six inch long hair, and butchering a couple of old rusty bike spokes to act as baiting needles, we were full of confidence and justifiably so, as it turned out. We could still feel the plucks of the smaller fish as they attempted to whittle down the bait, but they were still largely intact after being in the water for a couple of hours. Jon opened our account with the first sizeable fish of 24lb hooked from the bank on the fourth afternoon. It snagged him up mid-river and he had to go out in a coracle in order to free it. On the fifth day of the trip, having lost a couple of bigger fish (the hook pulled out of the first and the line shredded on the second) on previous days, I landed a 26.00 silver Mahseer. I had set myself a target of a 20 pounder from the trip, so I was very pleased with this fish and I felt the pressure was off.
64 pounds of Mahseer magic!
In fact it was the start of a golden few days for me as later on, after the evening curry, I felt an urge to have another couple of hours, so I went down to the bank near the camp and cast in a boilie that was still on from the previous session. Three minutes later I had a long steady pull and hooked into a very powerful fish. I managed to attract the attention of the others whilst keeping it out of the snags and eventually landed a 64 pounder. During the next few days I had further fish of 51lb and 40lb both coming after dark. The bigger of the two was a particularly memorable capture, as it was the only sizeable fish I caught when a guide was present, which was a good thing as we were fishing from a coracle and the fish pulled us all over the river in the pitch black. If it been just Jon and I there, we would have finished up in the ocean! Jon also took fish to several 47lb 8oz and so we delighted with our success.
...stuff of dreams - a 51lb Mahseer
Finally, in addition to the fishing, the scenery and indigenous wildlife were spectacular deer, mongoose, wild boar, otters, giant Indian squirrels, and crocodiles were in abundance. The latter species keeping its distance during the day, but were noticeably more inquisitive at night. The one animal that we did not see was elephants, but we heard them several times and often spotted fresh droppings and tree damage during the morning walks to the swims. It was truly unforgettable trip and I hope to return sometime in the not too distant future.
If you want to give it a go check out www.AnglingDirectHolidays.com
