Global Fisherman

Fly Fishing for Mahseer: Cauvery round II

2011-11-23T17:27:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've been to India, over a year from today. I've been missing the country, the people and the fishing lately. These shots are from one of my previous trips, around Feb. of 2010. I had taken a trip to see my friend Bopanna, who runs a camp on the Cauvery river. I had been once before, and had a great time catching mahseer. This time my focus was getting them on the fly. With lures, I spent plenty of time casting for each fish, so I knew trying to catch decent size mahseer with a fly rod was going to be a challenge. At the same time, I knew I could emulate the baits we had used with flies.

I bought an inflate able boat to take with me. Lugging it through several countries was a major pain, but it was a much better platform to fish from then the round coracles that were available at the time. Bopanna has since built a boat to comfortably fish out of.
The first few days I fished big streamer patterns and had some success getting some takes, but every fish on soon came off. Bopanna suggested I tie a stinger hook off the back of the fly. After we rigged up some of my flies with his hooks, it was game on.

Baking in the sun after eating too much lunch. After about 11 in the morning, it gets too hot to stay out on the water. Lunch at noon, followed by some reading, and then a nap every day. Back out on the water around three or four. My kind of days.

As usual, I can't wait to get back. I didn't land any fish on a fly over about 15 lbs, and these fish get up to a hundred. With the right flies and equipment, I think I can do much better.

Pongo Float

2011-10-24T10:23:00.000-07:00

During the break between king and silver seasons in AK, I was able to take advantage of the time to float one of the tributaries to the Togaik again this August. The last two years I had floated with my friend and fellow guide, Greg. Due to scheduling conflicts, he couldn't join me this year, so I was floating solo. I chose a different tributary this time. I hoped to find more rainbows and fewer dollies than the Ongivinuk River, our previous destination.
The water looked very fishy right after entering the river. Within a few minutes of floating I stopped and strung up my rod with a big black streamer. I cast the fly out without wetting it first, so on the first swing, it was skating across the top. A nice sized rainbow charged after it from several feet away, throwing a big wake before the take, jump, and then throwing the hook. Another couple of casts and I landed my first bow of the trip. I spent the next several days fishing the streamer without any weight. Seeing big rainbows chase down a topwater fly on the swing is just too much fun.
Being on my own, I would wake up early in the morning; coffee and instant oatmeal, then break camp and start fishing my way downriver. There would be no point in setting up the tent again until 10 or 11 at night. I didn't sleep as peacefully in a small tent by myself, without any firearm. I did have a can of expired bearspray, I'm not sure how much that would have helped through the tent.
Grayling are frustrating models for the camera. Unlike rainbows, they save plenty of energy for twisting and twitching once you get your hands on them. This one I killed to eat, so I could take my time with the camera. It was the first Grayling I had eaten, and in my opinion, they are prettier than they are tasty.

Togiak Lake

2011-10-24T10:20:00.000-07:00

Because of my boat ride up the west coast, I arrived at the lodge several days before the rest of the staff was arriving. I took advantage of the time to launch one of the boats and motor it 60 miles upriver to the start of the Togiak River. Its a near 20 mile long lake thats appropriatly named; Togiak. The lake sits in an impressive mountain range.

I camped out the first night at the mouth of the river. Awesome views, but it was a cold nights sleep. I didn't take into account the ground being frozen this time of year. With no insulation pad, it was hard to stay warm. After the first night I stayed in a vacant cabin built by the fisheries department. It was downriver about a quarter of a mile. Much warmer, but not as nice as looking out from the tent at the lake.
The salmon smolt migrate downstream in huge numbers early in the spring. Arctic char hang out at the choke points right before the river and feast. Arctic terns and seagulls dive from above. A streamer or a small spoon will produce lots of fish. They are bullish fighters on the rod.

Seattle to Juneau, Up the inside passage

2011-10-24T10:11:00.000-07:00

I spent too much time last spring not guiding (or making money) due to weather, and way too much time on the internet looking at ridiculous things, like the Craigslist wanted section. Not sure what I was doing there, but around nine pages deep I found an add looking for help on a yacht headed to Juneau from Seattle. The number on the add turned out to be wrong, and the guy on the other end apparently didn't have a yacht, and even if he did (I didn't ask), he wasn't interested in my services. I did a little digging, found the business that was interested and got the right number. After a brief conversation with a little bit of exaggeration about my seafaring ways, I was on board, so to speak.
Three weeks later, I was leaving the ballard locks with $25 bucks in my pocket and the salty sea breeze in my hair. The captain (Bob) had his girlfriend (can't remember) on board, and there was a retired guy named after a dog (Rex) who volunteered as well. It takes about 100 hours to make the trip. We ran around 10-12 hours a day. Most mornings I would wake up, help pull the anchor, or untie the lines from the dock, and make coffee and Bob's tea. The tea became my most important job. Apparently nobody knew how to brew a cup of tea like myself, much to the girlfriends chagrin. Bob would go back to bed while Rex and I manned the helm, making sure we didn't hit anything. We read books, we talked about fishing and life in general, and we looked through the binoculars a lot. It was a good time for a guy with $25 to his name.

A pod of porpoises swam right in front of the boat for miles. Everyone else on board was napping and the boat was on auto pilot so I stood on the bow and took pictures of them right under me for twenty minutes.

We stopped in Petersburg for a couple of days. Across the channel from the docks is Petersburg creek. It was too late in the year to expect any steelhead and too early for salmon. The timing was perfect for cutthroat, and I have always wanted to catch them in SE AK.
I paddled as far as I could get in my raft, and then hiked up through the tidewater until it turned into a proper creek. I fished three holes, two of which I caught nothing, the third I found some fish. A lot of fish. I spent the next two hours catching cutt's from 12-18" on old school streamer patterns.

These AK cutts have lots of spots!

I stayed on the boat in Juneau for a few days before I left for my summer employment. On the morning before my departure, Bob woke me up early. He was worried that the boat would be grounded if we didn't move it soon. The wind had blown us toward shore in the night and the tide was going out fast. He was explaining this while leisurely putting together breakfast. At this point the boat was already listing. I convinced him breakfast could wait, but it was already too late. Pictured below is a 95' yacht stuck in the mud. I felt bad for Bob, but I was inwardly delighted. We made the radio news, and the papers the next day. A steady parade of people came out on the beach to take pictures, ask questions, and offer to drag us off the beach for thousands of dollars. I tried hard to look like I wasn't enjoying the moment. Several hours later the tide came up and we were floating again, no harm done.

Cold spring in NY

2011-04-03T17:10:00.000-07:00

I had a few free days in NY before we started guiding, so we decided to do some scouting for the season. Its been a long, cold winter out here and it's not quite over. Daytime temps right at freezing, snow, slush in the rivers. We caught a couple fish, but mostly found out where the fish aren't. I was in a black+white mood all day.

I landed one fish and Ryan one, but his fish was camera shy. Above is a different fish, from another day, but caught in exactly the same spot. And it was black and white, so it fits.

Ice in the guides at 3 in the afternoon.

India Revisited

2010-10-31T09:45:00.000-07:00

In between my guiding in AK and NY I made time this fall to take another trip to India. I'm getting pretty used to the flight over by now. 14 hours from Newark, dulled by a mix of movies, sleeping pills and a lot of sour patch kids.

After hanging out in Delhi for a few days I headed north to Christopher Mitra's trout house again. I arrived to find the river fairly high, and I wasn't too successful in the fishing department, only landing relatively small trout. I did get to fish with some friends and make some more as well. It's a fantastic place to be, regardless of the fishing.

My friend Norman fishing above. Pocket water anyone?

After a week at Christopher's, I spent night on a bus headed back to Delhi, then hopped on a train to Kothgodam for eight hours. I was looking forward to the train ride, but I had my tickets booked rather late, so I was only able to get second class ticket. I was a bit late getting on the train too, and there was a large family taking up the bench seating in my area, so I piled my luggage up into the top bunk and wedged myself in between my bag and rod tube. It wasn't all that comfortable, and the train ride was starting to lose its appeal, but a cute woman climbed into the bunk next to mine and kept me company for the duration of trip, and sparing me from a long boring train ride. So we pulled into Kothgodam around 11 oclock and I was met by a representative of The Himalayan Outback, taken to a hotel and told we have a 10 hour jeep ride starting at 4 in the morning. By the time we get checked in and have dinner I get three hours of sleep before we drive most of the day to the border of Nepal.

The camp I went to was located just upstream from the confluence of the Mahakali and Saryu rivers to fish for Golden Mahseer. The Mahakali forms part of indias border with nepal. I ran into the same conditions as at Christophers, high water and a bit off color, but Misty, the proprietor of the camp assured me the fishing would be fine, and it turned out to be so.

I fished a couple of days with Misty, and the rest of the time with Bobby, an intense young guide that loved to fish. I really enjoyed his enthousiasm. I asked him if he had a girlfriend, he replied that fishing was his girlfriend. So I spent most of my time trying to get Bobby to hit on some of the local girls but he seemed disinterested, despite my insistance. "Wrong village" is all he would reply, usually accompanied by his best "shut up and fish" look. I don't know how the women looked in his village but, I can't image they were better looking than these girls.

Over the course of the week I had failed to land anything of significant size. I caught fish of several pounds on the fly, and many in the five, six pound class on my gear rod, but the big fish hooked on fly came undone, and by the final day I had not hooked anything really large on the spoon. I could tell this was getting Bobby a little frustrated, but he kept at it. So on the last evening, Bobby hatched a plan to go fish right above the temple at the mouth of the Saryu. there was some debate over whether we could fish there, and although our licenses stated we could, the holy men had already run us off earlier in the week before we could cast. Under the cover of evening we waited until nobody could be seen outside the temple and then walked down the beach and started stripping streamers across the pool with the fly rod. I caught a couple of nice fish five pound fish on the fly that evening before full dark, then I started casting rapalas into the pool, and entertained myself by watching some sort of fireflies buzz around. A couple of lure changes and a couple of walks down the run and nothing. I was starting to develop a headache and getting pretty hungry, but we decided to make one go through with a spoon. At the last bit of the run, right before the rapids I had a massive take on the spoon and the fish took off downstream towards the rapids. If the fish made it down the rapids it was gone for sure, as the water was too fast and we couldn't follow it, so I thumbed my baitcaster and held the fish right on the lip of the pool. It was a tense moment for both of us and I remember Bobby screaming something unintelligible, but I was able to slowly start walking the fish back into the pool. I don't know which one of us was happier when the fish came to the beach. We estimated it to be about 25 lb's. Thats by no means a really large mahseer, but it was plenty big for me

The next morning I only had a few hours to fish, but there was a nice run about two miles upstream that was perfect for the fly rod, and I was convinced that a large fish could be taken out of it. We woke up well before light and made the hike in the dark. Right in the middle of the run I had a very large fish take my fly, come to the surface and spit the fly back at me. The hook had been straightened. I was crushed, because I knew that was my one last shot at a big fly caught fish. My hat got thrown around a lot and took a pretty severe beating. I fished without any hope for the next hour, but scheming for another india trip.

Bahamas

2010-06-21T22:36:00.000-07:00

Made a trip to the Bahamas last June with my friends Paul and Ryan. We rented a place on Aklins Island. It's a seventy mile long island with about four hundred people on it, and a lot of stupid bonefish. Well maybe not stupid, but relatively unmolested.

The Bahamas had record setting heat for this time of year (already the hot season), so that sapped my energy for wading the flats all day. We also got stuck on a small island in the middle of the flats with lightning all around us for a couple hours. It was all well and fine until it struck within a hundred feet of us. That was sobering.

Pauly with a hookup.

We caught a few Barracuda on flies as well. Ryans got a jumper on above. I'm guiding my fish away from a 12 foot shark below.

Malaysian Snakehead

2010-04-01T12:32:00.000-07:00

Two years ago I made a trip to Thailand to fish for snakehead, the fish that caused panicked news reports in the US over invasion in eastern waters. My three day trip in a Thai reservoir left me with a couple of destroyed rapalas, wounded pride and only one decent fish to my name. This wasn't due to bad fishing, just poor reflexes and bad luck on my part. I lost some big fish on that trip. It became apparent after my first fish that the 8 weight fly rod I brought would be ridiculously inadequate. It didn't stop me from trying and my first nice fish on the fly had me around a snag and off before I could do anything. The one I finally landed was small, about 12 inches, but a start. While my first fly fishing adventure for snakehead wasn't real productive, it did give me a good idea of what to bring next time.

And the next time came this March. When Jean Francois Helias emailed me pictures of his last Malaysian snakehead trip, and intentions to return this March, I couldn't pass it up.

This was my first trip to Malaysia. Unlike some of the other places I've been, Malaysia seemed a lot more like home. Good roads, not much congestion, sane drivers. Most people even seem to speak english well, and they aren't shy about it. It's obvious that a lot of money is poured into the infrastructure from the state run oil company, Petronas. Pictured above are the massive Petronas twin towers in downtown Kuala Lumpur. At the time of completion these were the tallest buildings in the world, still the tallest twin towers. The bridge connecting the towers can be accessed after standing in line early in the morning and then watching an extended advertisement for Petronas oil. The view of the city below:

Back to the fish. There are many species of snakehead spread throughout asia, but the best sportfish among them is the Giant snakehead. These grow the largest, and fight the hardest. Shaped like a fat snake, these fish are appropriately named. There jaws are very strong and lined with sharp teeth. Pike spreaders won't hold their mouth open, and I wouldn't trust one anyway. The fight is short lived, but intense. They know where the structure is and immediately try and wrap you up in it.

They are air breathers. In calm water you can see them coming up to the surface, then diving back down. During the spawn, the parents protect their young. The small fry need to come up for air a lot more than the adults, so this provides an ideal time to hunt down a nice fish. Once found, every sixty seconds a school of fry will appear and any lure cast into the school has a good chance at a protective mother. Like the one below: This fish was caught using a live catfish cast into the middle of a fry ball. This is a favorite method of the guides, and works on both parents and lone fish coming up for air. It was deadly, but a fishing method I didn't find enjoyable for long periods. It's hard to beat the strike of these fish to a rapala or a topwater bait. I spent the first few day fishing this method, but the next day I had a boat to myself and a fly rod ready to flex.

My goal for the trip was to catch a nice fish on the fly, and I came prepared with one of the new bass rods from sage. These rods are short and very stiff for fly rods, but I found them to cast easily all day. Just a few minutes into the second days fishing, my guide spotted a school of fry. I got up on deck and stripped the line off my reel. The lake was full of sunken timber, and these fry were right in the middle of several trees. I could make the cast, but it was better to wait until they moved. A few minutes passed and the fry surfaced right next to the shore in inches of water. This was perfect as they were very vulnerable in shallow water. I made my cast, landing right in the middle of them with a big streamer. They scattered and a few strips later the mother appeared behind my fly and engulfed it. When she turned I drove the hook in and clamped down on the line. I couldn't stop her from taking taking up the coils of line at my feet and she was under a log in seconds, but with a little maneuvering we got the line free, only to have her dive around another tree five feet away. I thought we would lose her at this point but I worked the rod around until the line came free. A few tussles at the boat and we had her in the net. My guide said it was about four kilos, but just about every fish we caught the week was labeled four kilos. These guys obviously didn't sell coke for a living. This was a small four kilos, but a nice snakehead. (The photo has been cropped as I had a three inch tear in the crotch of my pants. Your welcome)

The next several days I fished with Francois, the organizer. While we caught many fish on gear, we weren't so successful casting flys to the fry we found. If the parents have been caught before they are very wary of any lure. I had a great time fishing with Francois. He is an expert on snakehead and I learned a lot about these fish.
Last evening out with Francois we fished a lot of small coves. Francois worked topwater baits and I cast a popper with my fly rod. I managed to catch a very rare snakehead that lives in south thailand, malaysia and indonisia. Called a bunga, these fish are smaller than the giants and not nearly as toothy.

Blue skys, aquamarine water and the oldest jungles in the world. Montior lizard.

NY Steelhead

2009-10-31T13:49:00.000-07:00

Taking a break from guiding in upstate NY. As I type a storm is currently knocking all the remaining leaves off the trees. The snow and cold temps will be here soon.

The rivers out here flow over slate bottoms. Huge slabs of rock create falls that slow the migration of steelhead and create fast fishing.

The average fish out here is much smaller than their western counterparts, but the numbers more than make up for it. Because they run from a freshwater lake rather than saltwater, the fish don't have the physiological changes that occur in western steelhead. As such, they stay on the feed as they come into rivers. You can watch them cornering baitfish in the shallows, or sipping flies off the top. Some prefer to call them lake run rainbows. Whatever you call them, this is one of the best fisheries in the country.

Check out reelactionfly.com for tons of fish pictures.

Togiak River Silvers

2009-09-18T12:15:00.000-07:00

Just finished silver season on the Togiak. The run was down this year, but there were still plenty of fish to make everyone happy. I am taking a break in Dillingham AK right now, but will be headed out to fish the Kenai next week for big rainbows.

Ongivinuk River Float

2009-08-14T18:02:00.000-07:00

During our break between Kings and Silvers a friend and I flew up to Ongivinuk lake and floated the Ongivinuk back to the Togaik and then back to the lodge. Just the Ongivinuk leg of our float worked out to be 109 river miles according to our GPS. We floated at least another 40 down the Togiak. To the left is a picture of the Ongivinuk from the plane. I think few people float this river. We found very little sign of people during the Ongivinuk portion. Just a couple fire spots on the beach.

The plane dropped us off late in the day, so we made our camp right at the lake for the evening. The lake was full of sockeye salmon waiting to spawn. Other than that there wasn't many fish around. Below is our camp at the mouth.

The first full day we drifted under heavy sky's for several miles before finding any number of sportfish. We found some dolly varden, grayling and arctic char. Some of them were good size and some of them were just pretty, like the one below. (Its a char)

And some sockeye that chased my mouse. A little dark but still fun to see a big snout chasing topwater flies. You can't really see it in this small picture, but on the far bank there is a bear watching us.

The terrain changed a lot through the float. When we started we had high tundra with fine spawning gravel. After a couple of days the river quickened it's pace and the rocks got a lot bigger. Trees lined the banks and there were occasional rocky cliffs. We saw very few spawning salmon in this stretch, so there were few char and dollies, but a lot of big grayling.

The blueberries were just getting ripe enough to eat. Cooking up some fish below.

Once we got through the steeper mountains and fast water, the river slowed down and the gravel became suitable for spawning salmon again. The fish would stack up behind the salmon and couldn't resist an egg imitation. We started catching lots of Dolly Varden and a few large rainbows. These fish weren't as big as I had hoped, but I can't complain. Most were in the mid twenties (inches).

Above is one of the Dolly Varden. Below is a trapper cabin at the bottom of the Ongivinuk. After a week of camping I opened the door to find a sign asking visitors to make sure the wood was stocked for the stove when they left. We stayed overnight and had the best sleep in a week.

After that night we reached the Togiak river. The weather changed for the worse, bringing rain, wind and cold temps. I would have enjoyed fishing the main river and walking up some of the tributaries, but my friend was ready to get back to the lodge, so we spent the majority of the next two days rowing downstream to the lodge.

Tagging on the Togiak

2009-08-04T00:45:00.000-07:00

My girlfriend has been working for the WDFW tagging and tracking salmon over the summer on the Togiak. They use a drift net to capture the kings, stick a radio transmitter down their throats, then track them to see where in the river they are spawning. I had the chance to spend a day with them netting Kings.

As soon as a fish hits the net, they pull it in, untangle it and transfer it to the cradle. As long as the fish is in good shape, it gets a transmitter and scale samples taken.

And release.

Togiak River Alaska

2009-08-02T00:03:00.000-07:00

I've been up in Alaska the last couple of months working on the Togiak river. King salmon season just ended and we are waiting for the silvers to show up. The numbers of kings were still down, but it was better than last year. I didn't get a whole lot of time to fish and I didn't bring my camera when I did, so no fresh king pictures.

After king season ended I got to go up river and fish with my girlfriend on one of the tributaries. We caught a lot of dollies and a couple of nice rainbows.

Chum eyeball above. Some old slides of years past below. Those were the good old days. Big salmon on the fly.

Right now I am waiting for a plane to take us up river. A friend and I will be floating back down to the lodge over the next couple weeks in search of big rainbows. Will post about that later.

India part 4: Himalayan trout house

2009-05-20T10:47:00.000-07:00

My last week in India I travelled north again to try for trout in the Himalayas. Originally I had planned on returning home after fishing the Cauvery, but I saw some of Apoo's pictures of the Himalayan Trout House, and decided to extend my stay until the beginning of the season up north. I am glad I did. The Trout House sits in the Tirthan valley. Home of the Tirthan river. Home of trout.

Christopher and Shefali Mitra left behind Delhi life to start the Trout House. They have now built numerous cabins ranging from comfortable to too comfortable. The food was excellent. Some of the best Indian food I had, and the continental dishes would have been good anywhere. I just felt comfortable there. It's the kind of place you don't want to leave. For the first time on my trip I wasn't worried or strategizing about the fishing. I could relax and just go catch some trout.

It is a nine hour overnight bus ride from Dehli to the Tirthan valley. The volvo bus's are comfortable, but the roads are sinewy, steep, narrow, mountainous, and horrible for about half the journey. Also, Indian drivers don't really use turn signals as we would. They use the horn. Changing lanes; horn. Need to pass; horn. People by the road; horn. See a cow; horn. Just for fun; horn. Unfortunately our bus driver really liked the horn. All night long. So I doubled up on my sleep pills and dozed off late in the night.

I was dropped off in the middle of a one lane mountain village waiting for a cab. It was about seven in the morning and cold. Cold for just about anywhere, but especially cold for India. I was a bit under dressed. About fifteen minutes later I was in a cab driving up the valley to Christopher's place. Breakfast, introductions and off for this:

It was early in the season when I was there, and the river was late in rising, so the water was especially low and clear. Fun to fish, but it didn't make for the most productive fishing. I assumed that the river would only hold smaller trout, but I heard stories and saw pictures of some pretty impressive fish caught in these waters. While most of the browns I caught were somewhere around 12 in. I did see some larger browns. I also found a couple rainbow escapees from one of the trout hatcheries.

This fish was smoked and turned into a tasty spread. Originally I had asked Viku, my guide, to hold it so I could get a better picture, but he pounced on the fish and started smashing its head on a rock. I didn't have time to explain that I wanted live pictures. Oh well. Just upstream from this fish I lost it's twin after a few jumps. The fishing was particularly good this day. Viku had a friend that had come along and he had told me afterwords that he had been praying all day for the fishing. He told me I had come a long way and deserved to catch some nice fish. It worked.

Christopher's webpage is mountainhighs.com There is now a plane service between Delhi and within an hour's drive from the lodge. I may try that out next time. I can't wait to get back. Probably the coolest place I've been trout fishing.

India part 3: Cauvery river

2009-05-19T19:58:00.000-07:00

After getting brutalized by the Ramganga mahseer for 9 days I flew down to Bangalore to meet with my friend Bopanna and fish the Cauvery at his super secret location. Bopanna runs indianangler.com, a fishing forum that is a great reference for fishing in India.

Bops picked me up from the airport and we drove for several hours straight to the river. Bopanna figured we had just enough time to fish a few hours in the evening before we settled into the cabin. We unpacked a couple rods and as many plugs, borrowed a boat, and set out into the calm water. Just a few casts towards the bank and I hooked into a nice mahseer of eight pounds; landed, photo, release. That felt nice. Fifteen minutes later I repeated the process with its twin. Starting to feel really good. We fish another hour or so and right before dark I hook into a nice size mahseer. My knots hold, I manage to keep the fish out of the snags and it isn't long before the fish is brought up along side the boat. The fish looks to me to be about 20 lbs. This is a respectable mahseer. I slept well that night. Over the next five days, neither Bopanna or I landed a fish over 20 inches.
There is a big difference in color and shape between the mahseer of the north and those of the south. These southern fish are a bit thicker in the middle and have a hump behind their head. A twenty pounder is a good fish. I believe Bopannas best is 43 lbs. Traditionally these fish are caught on large balls of paste bait, but my friend specializes on getting these fish on lures. These fish can get to over a hundred pounds.
Bopanna's cabin sits in the middle of several coffee plantations. It's comfortable, quiet and the river is just out the gate.

It looks like a lake, but this is actually the river. Quite a contrast between fishing in the north. This fishery is more like bass fishing. Your looking to cast around structure and under trees. Once hooked, the big challenge is keeping them out of all the snags, so stout tackle is a must.

In the mornings I experimented with the fly rod a bit. I managed to catch some fish on flys, but all were small. Still fun though. I can't wait to return next year with some proper streamers and a ten weight.

I had to work for this little devil. He took a muddler right off the surface and then came straight for the log I was standing on. I had to dive into the water and untangle the line and pull him out. I wasn't very comfortable up to my neck in muddy crock infested water.

On our last day Bopanna arranged some fishing in a nearby reservoir for murrel (or snakehead). Originally I had planned on fishing most of the week for murrel, but he had some access issues with his normal murrel fishery. It turned out to be an enjoyable day and I caught numerous small snakehead on lures and flys. While I was taking the above picture, Bopanna was working on catching the below. This is a really big snakehead. I don't remember our final guess as to the weight, but it was monstrous.

If you are interested in fishing for mahseer in India, definitely look up Bopanna at mahseerangling.com

India part 2: Ramganga river

2009-05-18T23:27:00.000-07:00

My next stop was the Ramganga river in the lesser Himalayas, just outside of Jim Corbett Tiger Reserve. I booked a trip through a flyfishing outfitter for nine days. Unfortunately the service was not what I paid for, and apparently the timing was off on the trip. The water was still to cold for the fish to be aggressively feeding. I had a few chances at some really nice fish, but could not connect with a big mahseer on the fly. Another angler in camp landed a 25 lb. plus fish the first evening's fishing, and then he struggled to land anything of size the rest of the trip as well.

There is a lot of wildlife around the park. It can be a little difficult to concentrate on the fishing when there are a few dozen monkeys on the opposite bank jumping from tree to tree and making apes of themselves. Pictured is a Langur.

There were definitely plenty of fish. The pool this picture came from held at least a hundred mahseer. Between another angler and I we caught two of them. Not good odds. Also note how clear the water was. It is at least four feet deep right here.

This one was caught on bait. Would have felt a lot better on my fly rod.

This was like the majority of the fish we caught. Small, but really pretty fish. With a five weight these would be great sport. Some days we couldn't even tempt the little guys. Statistically I don't think the little fish were any easier to hook than the bigger fish, but there were a lot more of them, and landing them was a whole lot easier.

This is a steel spike collar they attached to the dogs in camp to protect from tiger bites. These dogs were fearless and there were plenty of tigers around. The first night at camp we could hear a tiger growling in the dark right across the river. Definitely one of the highlights of my trip. Another morning we found wet pug marks in the ground on out walk upriver. The picture below shows a really big print that stretched about ten feet in between marks.

India part 1: Assam

2009-05-17T23:51:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures from my first leg of last winters India trip. My first stop after a brief rest in New Delhi was the eastern state of Assam. I met my friend Apoo, shared some whiskey with his friends and family, then left in the morning for Nameri eco camp on the river Bhorelli. The camp was comfortable with tents under thatched roofs.

We spent three days floating the Bhorelli in Apoo's inflatable raft. The river is wide and slow in some areas, and swift in others. The fishing was a bit slow, but we managed to find my first Indian fish.

This was the first fish of the trip. The fish is a Chocolate Mahseer, or Boka of average size. Unfortunately Apoo hooked this fish on his first cast and jinxed us for the rest of the day. We hooked nothing else. These are beautiful fish and don't put up a great fight on heavier tackle, but I think these would be a lot of fun on a fly rod.

This is my first Indian fish. A snakehead that struck a jointed Rapala in shallow water.

Fish number two was what I came for. A Golden Mahseer. These are really beautiful fish that I have yet to see any photo do justice to. The colors on these just light up in the sun. This isn't a particularly big specimen, but it was enough to keep me happy.

A forest ranger on patrol by elephant.

Tiger
Spinning rod on elephant tracks