5:30 a.m. saw us gathered at Asif's place and after a much needed cup of coffee and loading the Gypsy (its first outdoor trip under my stewardship) we were off. First stop of call was Indradhanush as Asif had to have his South Indian breakfast fix.
We were at the WASI cottage by 8:45 - 9:00. Unloaded the Gypsy and our bladders and tanked up on some more coffee whilst tackling up. Asif and Sanjay had an hour's spinning session from the coracle, after which we headed to Forbes Sagar. We started our session at around 11 a.m. and were at it until 4 p.m. or so - sans lunch. A bottle of water, a small packet of biscuits and big expectations of catching many a large murrel kept us going. Unfortunately, the last simply did not happen due to the water conditions. During an approximately five hour session we got a total of just four strikes. By Forbes Sagar standards this is a joke. Two of the strikes were feeble attempts with the lure being spat out. Sanjay got the remaining two. He messed up the first one whilst reeling in the murrel by not keeping constant pressure on the line but he made up for it on the second attempt....to my intense relief!
We went back to the cottage, had lunch at around 5 p.m. and then fished a little more until sundown. Sanjay and I settled down to a glass of 100 Pipers whilst Asif was sent into the kitchen to cook the murrel and a better preparation I have yet to come across - I thought the murrel he had cooked back in April was excellent but this effort was just as superlative if not better.
With dinner out of the way we headed off to Headworks for some mahseer fishing. We reached the dam at 10 p.m. and within a few minutes of settling in Sanjay got a bite but a very easy going strike ensured that the mahseer ditched his bait and made a beeline for Asif's and it was promptly reeled in. Things were looking good and despite the very brown water my expectations were high. However, once again my hopes were rudely dashed and we did not even get a nibble in the following two hours. Asif and Sanjay would have probably soldiered on but I was getting sleepy and cold. And so we returned to the cottage, had a cup of tea and then hit the sack.
Sunday dawned with a bit of promise as the sun shone intermittently and we could see some big rohu playing in the cottage lake waters. I had two good bites but missed both as I was dozing off from time to time. Around 1 p.m. the rain clouds decided that we had too much of a good thing and unburdened their cargo. It was either back to the cottage and twiddle your thumbs or keep fishing. All three chose the latter and we were at it until 2:30 p.m. until lunch arrived. With lunch out of the way, we packed our things and left for Bangalore at 4 p.m.. Traffic was heavy and coupled with a 45 minute stop for coffee and muffins, we finally reached Asif's place at 8:25 p.m..
It was an enjoyable trip but it would have been all the more enjoyable and memorable had we got some good fish to show for our efforts. Until next time and I hope some more can make it then.
Herewith a few pics taken during the trip.
Mack The Knife
. Was that the total catch?
Wow . What a great trip !
