Fishing on the Ramganga, India.
This was a truly great trip which Sandy is writing about at length so I thought I would put up a few notes on the fishing in the meantime.
We arrived at camp on 27th Feb in mid afternoon. After settling in (drop the bags, get the rods out!) Sandy and I walked to the pool off the river just outside camp.
We used a little rod made in Torrington, USA as a talking point. A three piece metal rod from around the 1940’s with a little multiplier which proved too difficult to use. So I tie the line onto the butt ring, fitted a lead and a size 16 hook baited with paste, and cast out holding the line for bite indication. After quickly catching a small mahseer to show the technique, Sandy quickly had a couple of fish before we were hailed for dinner at dusk.
We awoke the next day keen to catch the larger specimens that we had heard about. The recommended baits were live and deadbait, chicken guts and atta paste, a paste made from the local flour, often mixed with cow dung and used as ragi is used in the south.
The problem was where had the bait fish gone? After seeing fish caught so easily on the previous evening they suddenly seemed to have disappeared, a problem that beset us all week. The only chilwa (little silver fish) that we could catch were barely 3” long and caught on an 18 or 20 hook with a very small piece of paste.
So whilst some set off with livebait, I fished with chicken guts on 18lb line using a fixed spool reel and a carp rod supplied for us. Chris Elliott and I fished the lower camp pool whilst Reg Talbot and Keith Elliott tried the upper pool. As we tried different casts around the pool, the day prove frustrating catching no mahseer.
The next day, we had an early breakfast and Chris and I tried a pool higher up the Ramganga. Looking down from the cliff above, we could see a small school of about 6 fish, all over 20lb milling around. Creeping around and down the hill face, we cast our deadbait (the only fish we managed to buy for a couple of days) and again waited for the pull to wrench the rods from our hands knowing the fish were there. Again, nothing. As we left, we checked from the cliff top and there were the fish just as before, it was so frustrating.
We stopped at another pool on the way back. Here again were mahseer ranging to about 30lb, and following the tactics used before, I crept to the head of the current flowing into the pool, cast to the far side and waited. After 15 minutes, I had a knock like a hammer hitting the rod which immediately sprang back after milliseconds. There was no way I could have stuck that fast, and I was advised to wait for the prolonged pull. A couple of minutes later, the same thing happened again, then the water erupted as a big mahseer had probably felt a hook and was gone. I gave it another fifteen minutes before winding in my bait. There were two bite marks across its back away from the hooks, which was probably the two jolts, but the bait was intact. Neither Chris nor I had any further indications. We had a late lunch at about 3pm and then we went down to the lower camp pool. Chris took the heavy tackle after goonch, a boat rod, multiplier loaded with 35lb line, a 120lb leader (because of the teeth) and deadbait. I tried just below the rapids with chicken guts and the lighter tackle.
Just as the sun lowered behind the hill, Chris’s rod bent rapidly towards the water, after a firm strike the line ripped from the reel as a mahseer headed downstream towards the rapid. Chris leaned into the fish stopping its run on heavyweight gear and gradually played it to the bank where Chris Summers was on had to grab it, and place it on the grass before the unhooking mat was wet and the fish carefully unhooked.
As is good practice, it was put on a stringer and allowed to recover before the “glamour shots” were taken and the fish weighed – 42lb!!!
After all the commotion, we packed up and decided to celebrate with a bottle of champagne Keith Elliott had thoughtfully provided for such an occasion. This was the fish we had all come for and it was a beauty, far prettier than the ones we had caught in the south two years previously, and built to fight just like a barbel.
The next morning we swapped pools. Keith Elliott was given the heavy tackle in the lower camp pool. I was using the lighter tackle again with Reg fishing the upper pool. It seemed no sooner had Keith cast out than his rod was wrenched downwards. Keith struck into a really heavy fish that simply moved behind a rock and sat there. Even with the heavy tackle he couldn’t move it, he just felt the line scraping against a rock. To get a better angle Chris Summers took the rod, ran upstream and across the river to the bank opposite and gradually the fish moved. Keith had caught up at that time and resumed the fight inching the fish to the bank. It was a goonch, and a good one.
Asheram carried the fish back across the river and placed it on the unhooking mat, in fact it took two and gave as a great toothy grin. It weighed 60lb and was not the prettiest fish I have ever seen, but these fish are so rare, we all appreciated seeing a fish none of us might ever see again. After many photos were taken, the fish was returned unharmed. What an experience.
Little did we know that over the next two days, no matter how we tried, we could not get another bite. Lots of taps, but no bites.
We counted over 30 mahseer well over 30 lb in the lower pool one morning, and Chris S counted 60 over 20 in the upper pool. The best one that we saw was estimated at around 70lb. They were incredibly bright and spooky fish. We tried fishing into night, chancing the wild boars, leopards and tigers and still had no success. I have to point out that we didn’t want to fish through the night as none of us fancied being the bait for other species around. The river gods were clearly not smiling on us. Was it too early in the season, too cold; who knows but we will be back to find out and try again.
Just before we left camp, both Sandy and Jenny, Chris Elliott’s partner, wanted to have go at fishing for mahseer. Jenny hadn’t fished before so we set them up on the bridge by the upper pool trotting with float tackle and light line using atta paste for bait with both Chris and myself throwing bits in for loosefeed. Even the small mahseer were very cautious and half an hour before we left, Sandy hooked a fish which bolted downstream under the bridge. As we were about fifteen feet up, with sheer drops on either side, this posed a problem. Gaurav came to the rescue with a plan; I ran to the upstream end of the bridge whilst he ran to the downstream end. Sandy passed me the rod and I crawled down to pass the rod under the bridge to Gaurav who did likewise from the other side. He walked along the top of the rock as Chris Elliot helped Sandy down to the river level where she was passed the rod. However, the line got snagged on a rock and the local priest spotted this and dashed down to free the line permitting Sandy to land the fish. What an experience with smiles all round.
Ten minutes later, Jenny did likewise and the procedure was again followed but on the opposite bank. They had both caught a fish with five minutes to spare. What a superb way to end the visit and none of our group could have been more delighted. It seems the river gods smile on the ladies, but not on the old men.
The holiday was a truly amazing experience and one that will stay with us for the rest of our lives. We also had other, non fishing experiences which Sandy is writing about and will appear shortly. This trip could have been just intense fishing, but by taking our partners I think we all believe the trip was enhanced, and we look forward to going back soon, and would have no hesitation in recommending India Angling as tour hosts. www.indiaangling..com