In search of the Mahseer

Many fisherman dream about catching the famous mahseer that is found throughout India, Burma and further south to malaysia. India of course is where most pursuers chase the mighty mahseer. After feeding large mahseer from a pilgrim bridge in north India around three years ago I had been desperate to get a chance to land one. I had read about these fish years before and the sight of a huge shoal battling for bits of dough made me more keen than ever.

After Ken had headed back to England I left the barramundi grounds and headed to south India for the mahseer season was fast approaching. I intended to find a suitable place to fish in the new year, when Ken would hopefully be able to join me and also fulfill his dream of landing a mahseer. I naturally headed for Bangalore and the Kaveri but after finding out that the price of establised fishing camps were way above my budget I headed further afield. I had the good luck of coming across one of the most amiable guides that I have met. Kiran put me in touch with the owner of a stretch of the kaveri where he assured me big, big fish lived. We spent a day touring the area and visiting the river by motorbike.

The Magnificent Kaveri/Cauvery River  still waking in
                               the early morning

The river was some distance from my base and took about an hour to reach by motorbike. It was a very cold morning and both Kiran and I were shivering by the time we arrived, having misjudged the amount of cloths to wear. Around 4 km before arriving at the fishing area the beautiful Kaveri River came into view, snaking through the trees with thick mist rising from the warm water. It was a lovely sight and looked perfect for mahseer.

Reflections on The Kaveri

A wide River slowly flowed east passing through the Karnatakan jungle on its course for the Indian ocean, some five or six hundred kilometres away. On the far bank was Indian jungle proper, deciduous forest dotted with huge clumps of seventy foot tall bamboo that creaked and groaned in the slightest breeze. Apparently tigers still roamed in this large tract of unbothered forest, Elephants and leopards were there for sure along with deer, gaur and troops of lanky grey langurs. On the near bank land use was a little different; behind a barrier of large river side trees that included huge old wild mangoes lay rice paddies and field of ginger and still further away the coffee and pepper plantations grew.

Bamboo forest, Karnataka

Under the waters surface it wasn't just the mahseer that lurked. Big mugger crocodiles called the river home and seemed to go about their business without bothering anyone. Amazingly a couple of locals regularly swam in the river for exercise and of course some areas of the river is used by villagers for washing. Kids splash and play with no care for the big scaly reptiles that might be hiding below.

The large resident mugger crocodile decides to make an exit

Going....

Gone!

On this short excursion to the Kaveri I didn't have time to fish but knew that soon we could be back and see what lurked below the river surface. An English guy, I met and had lunch with confirmed that plenty of good fish swam the waters and just in the previous days he had caught mahseer to just shy of 50lb on ragi.  It was extremely hard to leave such a good looking fishing spot but my time would come I hoped.

The local kids seemed pretty keen to have their photos taken!