We believe that Mahseer fishing in the Himalayas of Northern India is the most exciting form of freshwater fishing in the world today – huge fish, fast clear water and stunning locations provide the Ultimate angling holiday on the planet. We have found places in the Himalayas that hold huge fish and can be fished all season long for a variety of species including Goonch Catfish, Trout and the Mighty Golden Mahseer.
Fishing for Mahseer requires strong, well balanced tackle that can hold a big fish in heavy water but willl allow the fish to tire over time and keep good hook holds at close quaters and throughout the long fight. The Golden Mahseer has great strength and stamina in the water especially in the rapids that you find at the top and bottom of each pool. In our opinion no tackle can stop the first run without of a big Mahseer without suffering straightened hooks or snapped line, so you need to allow the fish to run after the intitial bite, once in control of the fish you can tighten the clutch of the reel and klet the fight begin.
The Mahseer can run anywhere from 5-150 meters and further depending on the sizes of fish, size of river, flow of water and tackle used by the angler. The Ramganga River in Northern India is a small springfed river – I say small in comparison to the Ganges and Kali Rivers that are both relatively close to the Ramganga and in comparison make it look like a mountain stream! Springfed Rivers like the Ramganga run clear for 85% of the year because the water source comes from deep underground springs and not from glacial snow melt water that the Ganges and Kali drain. The the other 15% is the monsoon period when sediment and soil errosion give the water a coloured appearance. Fishing during Monsoon time is not allowed as this is the fishes spawning period and its important they are not disturbed during this time when they travel far upstream in search of historical spawning sites.
The Ramganga can be fished during the non monsoon period of September – June, so a long 9 month season. The river during this time runs clear with occasional heavy rains that will colour the water slightly, but most of the time the river is clear and you can see fish on the bottom in 20ft of water. The azure blue waters of this great river are home to some huge fish, the current Ramganga Mahseer record is 76lb caught by one of our clients back in 2005 on a livebait.
Livebait fishing
Livebait fishing can be the best way to cath the Golden Mahseer and the bigger baits that we prefer normally stop any smaller Mahseer stealing the bait before the bigger fish get to it. Our tackle has been put together from pieces that have been good to us from all our fishing in the Himalayas and we have now got what we see as the perfect set up for the Northern Mahseer – 9ft, 2.75lb rods, medium size 65 size reels, 20lb ice blue line, hooks from size 1-3/0 in the strongest patterns you can get. This setup allows us to get into position on rocks and good casting spots along the river and then put the bait right in front of the fish. We try to get a good look in the pools from a high vantage point before we cast, and with the crystal clear water we can then direct you where in the pool to cast.
This “view and cast” technique allows you and the guides to maximise the fishing time by not wasting time on pools with only small fish present and also allows guides to see straight off if fish are being spooked by local anglers using small gill nets and so move on to the next pool or rapids and go back the next day. Fishing at the head of a rapid is the best spot and you need to work the bait through the rapid and search any good holding areas like large rocks in the river and steep cliffs that indicate deep water. Drift the bait around and let it settle, if the fish are feeding the bait wont touch the bottom and the rod will explode into life as the fish rushes off.
The guide will check the drag / clutch setting on the reels before you cast and make sure you have maximum pressure to set the hooks in the fish, but enough give so that the fish can run. We try to get you in position before you cast so that the fish can be landed from the same spot without the need to wade across the river, but if a big fish is hooked then get your running shoes on as Mahseer can go through rapids both upstream and downstream so be prepared for an epic fight if you connect to a big Mahseer! The current Ramganga record for Golden Mahseer is 76lb caught back in 2005 on a livebait, and our biggest fish from 2009 using livebait was 55lb caught close to our camp site.
Spinners, spoons and lure fishing
Spinning and lure fishing for Mahseer is the second form of fishing for the Northern Mahseer and they can be deadly at certain times of the year when the fish are up in the water feeding well in the pools and rapids. The spinner or lure can be worked from diffrent parts of the river to mimic wounded and fleeing baitfish so its important to work the spinner or lure in diffrent angles, depths and speeds to try and find what the fish like. Colours of lures for Mahseer are very simple – silver, gold, blue/white, white/green, firetiger, brown and black. These are the colours that the fish encounter each day when hunting bait fish, crabs, frogs, flies, fruit and pretty much anything that looks good for a meal. Size is very important with spinners and lures and nothing bigger that 13cm should be used as it’s very important to match the lure to the size of the baitfish. Jointed and single piece lures should always be in the tackle box next to a couple of spinners (No4 Mepps in silver and gold) and a few spoons (1-2oz 5-10cm in colours mentioned above), making up a large part of the Mahseer anglers tackle box. Hooks need to be swapped to better quality ones on any shop bought lures as they are just not up to the job when Mahseer are around. Stainless steel split rings and hooks are essential for this style of angling as Mahseer have huge throat teeth so poweful they can crush solid spoons with ease and crush hooks without even a signal on the rod tip.
Atta (or raggi) paste bait fishing
Paste fishing for Mahseer can be a very frustrating method and you will find small fish rush for the bait and take it before any big fish get a chance. You can of course use lumps of paste the size of a cricket ball but this again can mean lots of small fish pecking at the bait and taking the bait away after just a few minutes. We have caught bigger fish upto 35lb on this method but this was back in 2004-2006 when the pools were allowed to be prebaited by the staff of angling camps that are dotted along the river, this was an effort to try and raise the number of fish in the river giving the fish a daily food source and they just went mad for the stuff. This prebaiting has now been banned to try and get the fish back to their natural way of hunting and feeding after normal styles of fishing were becoming second place to paste fishing. The project worked well and raised numbers of fish in the river have spread out now the free food has stopped and we now find livebait and lures to be best for the big Mahseer.
All text © 2010 by India Angling