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Some pics from last weekend's fishing trip.

Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 3:22 pm
by Mack The Knife
This was a Friday and Saturday affair with Pran and Inder joining me on the Saturday.

The fishing on Friday started a bit late as I had to wait for some WASI members to vacate the cottage. Even so, the first half was pretty productive.

Since I had booked the cottage for the night I decided to fish for rohu at the lake adjoining it. Got the first bite at 10:15 but struck too early. Second bite was at 11 a.m. and there was no mistake this time.

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11:15 a.m. I get a message from Inder on the cellphone and as I was about to reply, I get another bite, strike instinctively but no joy. Almost threw the bloody phone into the water in disgust.

Finally at 1 p.m. I get another bite and I convert this one.

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1:15 p.m. see's me hooking into another.

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I break for lunch around 2 p.m. and am back in action before three. The blasted tilapia now decide that they like the taste of ragi and instead of rohu I am left with three tilapia. Out of spite I keep back one of the blighters for dinner.

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The original plan was to fish for mahseer at Forbes Sagar between 5 and 10 p.m. but a couple of friend's dropped by on their way to Bangalore, so it was almost 10 p.m. before I started fishing at Forbes.

Missed striking on a bite early on but managed to hook into a mahseer on the next. This fish had the full force of the current in his favour and since I told the ghillie that I would like to fight the fish without using the coracle, it was a fairly decent fight. As I bring the fish to me, I tell the ghillie that we will release the fish after I take the pic. What I should have said is release the fish after he holds the fish up and I take a pic. Unfortunately, I took a pic (terrible one at that) whilst the fish was still in the water, so when I bring the fish to the ghillie he slips the hook and lets it go. I couldn't believe my eyes at what he had done but there was nothing more to be done but shut up and fish on. This fish in my estimate would have been around 30" in length and would have weighed around 4 kgs.

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Since the moon was almost full I was expecting a lot of fish activity but this time I was proven wrong. Wound up the night session at midnight, got back to the cottage, had a bath, set the alarm for 6:30 a.m. and hit the sack.

Next morning I checked out of the cottage early and met up with Inder and Pran at Forbes at 8:30 a.m.. Inder and I fished for mahseer from the coracle whilst Pran fished along the bank. I think the heat was a bit too much for Inder because he took the first opportunity to get out of the coracle and fish with Pran.

In the meanwhile, the absence of bites and the heat was proving to be frustating and I finally called it a day at 2:30 p.m.. Sometime during the day, I managed to catch a murrel but that was the only catch made on Saturday.

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The only silver lining to a rather frustrating day's fishing is that I have found an excellent place to ledger for rohu at Forbes. Hopefully, I will bag a couple this Saturday.

Before I wind up have a look at this eel I saw whilst fishing for mahseer.

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Whilst I left for Bangalore early, Inder and Pran planned to stick on and they will add their report here. By order!

Re: Some pics from last weekend's fishing trip.

Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 6:55 pm
by Vikram
Some very nice fish there, Rusty.Nicely written too.Thanks for sharing.

Best-
Vikram

Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 7:01 pm
by HSharief
Them are some big ones Mack The Knife. Very nice indeed.

Re: Some pics from last weekend's fishing trip.

Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 10:44 pm
by Pran
Good sized rohus you have there, Mack The Knife.

Now coming to mine and Inder's trip report-

Inder came to my place at 4.45 am, 15 minutes ahead of the scheduled time and we set off on our motorcycles. A small pit stop at Kamat's on Mysore road for breakfast and we headed to Forbes to fish. Mack The Knife and Inder set off on the coracle whilst I fished from the bank. I could see a few Mahseers weighing about a pound from the bank but none of them took the bait. In the meanwhile I messaged Inder asking him if they had caught anything, to which he curtly replied 'yep, a suntan' :lol:
A little while later Inder joined me in spinning from the bank. Having had no bites at all, we bid farewell to Mack The Knife and move on to Headworks .

Inder caught a tiddler at Headworks which slipped off his hands into the water after this pic was taken-

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The rest of the evening saw us drinking beer and ledgering for mahseer with no luck.

We recovered a handline baited with fig and suspect one of the guards with the electricity board could be responsible for it.
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Satisfied about being able to spend a great day outdoors we rode back to Bangalore.

Pran

PS: The second pic appears rotated though it looks fine on photobucket.

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 12:03 am
by Mack The Knife
Pran,

Did you burn the handline, bring it back with you or give it to the guard? Did you mention this in the log book?

I am going back this Saturday. Let me know if you want to come along.

Speaking of beers, Inder very kindly brought me a can of Guinness which was duly chilled and consumed after I got home. Really appreciated this because I hadn't had one since 1997 and I'll be damned if I pay the Rs.160 or 180 they want for it here. BTW, I don't know if it was the Sun and heat that got to it but this Guinness definitely did not feel as thick as the one's I used to have in Blighty. I wonder if they water it down for the South African market because that is where it was imported from.

Incidentally, check out these travel time:

Forbes to Bangalore University (111 kms) - 2 hours and 5 minutes. This includes the 30 odd kms of bad roads.

Bangalore University to home (17 kms) - 1 hour 10 minutes!!!

To add to the heat, sweat and thirst, red ants had found their way inside the car and made a right proper meal out of me.

Re: Some pics from last weekend's fishing trip.

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 5:04 am
by Sakobav
Nice guys thanks for sharing

Mack The Knife by the way why dont you trying brewing Beer at home a la micro brewery..

best

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 9:04 am
by Mack The Knife
Navdeep,

My annual beer consumption probably falls short of what some people have in a single sitting. :mrgreen:

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 9:04 am
by GasramGandu
Nice Rohu, Rusty. The red fins seem more pronounced this time of the year, makes for very colourful fish.

Cheers
GG

Re: Some pics from last weekend's fishing trip.

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 11:49 am
by Pran
Mack The Knife,
I asked the guard to dispose the handline. Forgot to make a note of it in the register though- will send this pic to WASI by e-mail. I've got some work this weekend and won't be able to make it. Thanks for the offer.

Pran

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 2:35 pm
by eljefe
Usual tackle?
Atlast the Rohu are biting.
Learn KANNAD, as Doordarshan says it, next time , tell the ghilly, idhar lao-no more! ;)

Re: Some pics from last weekend's fishing trip.

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 2:49 pm
by Mack The Knife
Ledgering tackle:

Rod: Berkley Lightning / 7' / 2-piece / MH.
Reel: Daiwa Exceler 4000
Line: Berkley Trilene Big Game. 20 lbs.
Hook: Matzuo Octopus Sickle No. 6
Weights: 3/4 oz. egg sinkers.

Spinning:

Rod: Temple Fork Outfitter / 6' / 2-piece / H.
Reel: Daiwa Freams Kix 4000
Line: Berkley Trilene Big Game. 25 lbs.
Lures: Mepps Agila No.4

The rohu have always been biting, it's just that I haven't been fishing for them for some time.

Re: Some pics from last weekend's fishing trip.

Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 7:14 pm
by Yaj
Thanks for sharing guys! The colours on the rohu are amazing!
Regards,
Yaj.

Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 9:01 pm
by OverUnderPump
Rohu's look really splendid.
Rusty, have you seen/caught catfish of any type at this location ?

cheerio
8)
OUP

Re: Some pics from last weekend's fishing trip.

Posted: Fri May 02, 2008 12:50 am
by kanwar76
Freaking shuks.. I look like a brick straight from the owen :shock: :shock: :D

Posted: Fri May 02, 2008 2:19 pm
by eljefe
Where did you pick up the egg sinkers?