Much of the early fishing for Mahseer in India was with lures and in northern India when fishing the River Ganges this is still the case. The Mahseer of the Cauvery are more often caught with either a small live bait (Chilwa) or some of the Ragi paste made fresh in the camp every day from Millet flour.

Every day we would start off by fishing with Ragi baits either a soft paste moulded around the big size 8/0 owner hook or a harder ball hair rigged again under the big owner hook.  In either case the ball would be somewhere between tennis and cricket ball size, not for the faint hearted that’s for sure.

Rods for the main fishing were uptide rods in the 6 to 10oz class coupled with a 7-9000 series multiplier, loaded with 40lb mono.  Rigs were simple, a weight made from lead strip wrapped around some stiff rig tube held in place with a stop knot of power gum top and bottom and a couple of 10mm rubber beads, with the lead 2 or 3 feet above the owner hook. The idea is the lead will move along with the current until it lodges behind a rock and hey presto even a small lead of only an ounce or so will find lodgings in the strongest flow, but because of their shape will pull free should a fish take or the rig be retrieved.

I also took with me a few bits and pieces of lighter gear including a 2lb Barbel rod and a 6000 reel loaded with 18lb line. I used it to great effect to land plenty of Mahseer up to 15lb with free lined balls of Ragi paste about the size of a gold ball.  The best fight on this gear resulted in a good double Mahseer stripping around 150 yards of line before I managed to turn its head and land it.

Myself and Richard managed to catch Mahseer during most of the organised fishing sessions but one day stands out above all the rest. I started the ball rolling with a nice double taken early in the session, Richard then hooked into a much better fish that turned out to be a new PB for him of 35lb. As we had a very good mornings fishing we arranged with Baza our guide to return to the same spot for the evening session.

Not long after starting the evening session I had a decent fish of around 15lb, we hadn’t long returned this fish when we were lucky enough to witness one of the best experiences of my life when a group of 5 elephants arrived at the river around 100yards from our fishing spot. Baza took us closer to the elephants so we could take some pictures and watch as they drank and bathed in the river completely unaware of our presence. Both myself and my wife had hoped that during the trip we would see some elephants in the wild and our hopes and dreams had been fulfilled, the highlight of the trip for both of us. The icing on the cake for the day was a fantastic Mahseer of around 25lb that I landed just as the last flickers of daylight dropped behind the hills as night descended on the Cauvery. A spine tingling day and one I will never ever forget for the rest of my life.

I had been worried before we left my wife would become board as she doesn’t fish I was concerned that she would find fishing every day too much. I need not have worried with so much fantastic scenery and such diverse wildlife she thoroughly enjoyed the experience and has already hinted she wouldn’t mind going again. During the trip she managed to take several hundred images and see many species of birds and animals including elephants, monkeys, wild boar, deer and crocodiles.

Did I get my Barbel from river number 10 for the season, well if you count the 107 Mahseer as Barbel yes I did, but I went one better, during one morning session I managed to land a Pink carp which was as close to a Barbel I will ever come without catching one. The main body colour was a dark gun metal grey but many of the scales were tinged in a delightful pink colour, quite the most stunning fish I have ever caught, at over 8 pound a good specimen as well, apparently they are caught up to 40lb (I  think I might fish for them when I go again).

The trip was over all too quickly but with over 100 Mahseer to my name and around 2000 digital images recording every aspect of the trip my memories will last a long time.