Page 28 - RIFFLE4-flip

P a g e | 27 This river in southern India has been the subject It's one of those trips which really captures the of many film and literary expressions, probably imagination, the prospect of catching a huge and starting with the original John Wilson offering. beautiful fish from a wild and mysterious These excited the fishing senses and created a location. desire in one’s mind, “If only…” Fortunately, this January I got the opportunity to In my own case I dismissed the thought, as embark on this angling pilgrimage accompanied having viewed the images I could not imagine by my dad and 2 friends, Mike Heljula and Chris myself scrambling along the rocks to chase a Slidel. We journeyed from Heathrow to hooked fish. The reason for this being a long- Bangalore (around 10 hours), and were then standing knee injury, the result of a teenage transferred by mini bus to the Galibore fishing motorbike accident, which age was not camp which is located around 3 hours drive to improving. This all changed when I had a knee the south. The drive down to the camp is an implant which vastly improved my mobility and, experience in itself, particularly if it's a first visit having consulted Dave Plummer during a Florida to India, with the vibrant colours and general excursion, he assured me that I was sufficiently chaos quite an eye opener! agile. We arrived at the Camp pretty exhausted after In January 2010, I received a communication the long journey but obviously excited and in from ‘Angling Direct Holidays’ that there was high spirits, with the first sight of a majestic river last minute, reduced price availability for the getting the proverbial juices flowing. The India trip due to a cancellation. Three weeks accommodation on the camp is basic but later and I was there, having hurriedly sorted adequate, everybody getting a large 'tent' to out my visa and flights. themselves which are comfortable and have self contained bathroom / washing facilities. The trip exceeded my expectations, the scenery and fishing being stunning. I caught nothing After a couple of hours snoozing it was time to monstrous, but over seventy mahseer to 22lb’s head down to the river, just a minute's walk cannot be sniffed at. My immediate thought away, with the light rods in hand aiming to put before leaving was that my long time fishing that first Mahseer on the bank. It immediately companions, son Al and our friend Mike Heljula, became apparent that this was not going to be a would love to come and having checked with difficult task, as this section of the Cauvery is Dave that there was availability, I booked them literally teeming with small mahseer between 2 - both a place without consulting them! They 10lbs. My first cast with a sprout sized ball of were more than happy with that decision, Mike soft ragi paste and the rod was instantly bent with the proviso that his Great Ouse fishing round by a 6lber - great stuff. The 45 minutes companion, Chris Slidel, could also tag along, which followed saw me bag a further 9 small which was possible. fish, with most of the takes coming within seconds of the bait hitting the water. The following is Al's blog from his website, www.ebrocatfishing.com, which has been Around 4pm and it was down to the serious reproduced with his permission. He is, after all, business of trying to snare a big Mahseer, as we as he keeps telling me, more articulate and a reconvened for our first guided session. The better writer than me. tactics can vary, but the favoured approach is to whack out a hair rigged large (cricket) ball of ------------------------------------------------------------------ boiled hard ragi, which is sufficiently solid that it prevents the hoards of small fish from whittling The above article has been contributed to the magazine courtesy of www.ebrocatfishing.com and therefore has not been edited or altered in any way.