Indian Adventure

With the season fast approaching its end and the weather during the last few weeks much colder than that of the last few winters, Barbel fishing for me had taken a bit of a back seat. Having had a fantastic season up until October with a total of over 250 Barbel caught from 9 different rivers I was having a cracking season, but some very sharp frosts and early snowfall put pay to completing the target of 10 rivers.

To be honest with the New Year fast approaching and the weather still not really Barbel weather I had almost given up for the season. The chance of earning some extra cash came along so I grabbed the opportunity and set about 6 weeks of working 7 days a week.


There was however a little bit of method about my madness, just before Christmas I was offered the opportunity of a 16 day trip to India to fish for the biggest and most highly prized Barbel of them all Barbus Tor, the mighty Mahseer. With that in mind 6 weeks hard labour to help pay for the trip wasn’t so bad after all, when I first mentioned I had the chance to go, my good lady and long suffering wife, Sonia said “if you are going so am I”.

With snow falling and the car thermometer reading minus 1, we made the journey to Heathrow knowing full well within hours we would be in the 30 degree heat of southern India. The fast check in at Terminal Five soon had us sitting down and enjoying a cooked breakfast in the departure lounge, most welcome and our last taste of English food for a good couple of weeks.

We touched down in Bangalore before dawn after the near ten hour flight but the warmth of India was immediately felt as we made our way through arrival and awaited our luggage. After a jumbo jets worth of passengers had collected their luggage and ours was still not on the carousal we started to become concerned, its was with a sigh of relief when finally the bags and fishing rod tube made their way around the track and on to our waiting trolley.

With the luggage of ten anglers and 2 non fishing partners tied precariously onto the roof rack of our transport we made our way out into the early morning traffic of Bangalore. What a journey, around 60 miles firstly into the city centre and then out towards our final destination, the Galibore fishing camp, as we progressed the roads went from good to bad to worse to dirt tracks. A pound for every time a horn blew would see me retire a very rich man, the close shaves came every few yards, but by some miracle we never once saw an accident.

Our first view of the Cauvery River came as we dropped steeply down into the wooded valley after leaving the made up roads behind us as we entered into the camp area. After an uncomfortable last few miles over the rocky dirt tracks we finally arrived at the camp. By now it was late morning and the near 100 degree heat was a far cry from the freezing cold of England we had left behind 24 hours earlier.


Accommodation in the camp was 12 large canvas tents each with twin beds and some storage space for clothing and fishing equipment, linked to each tent was a bathroom with a shower and flush toilet, not bad for a camp miles from anywhere in the middle of an Indian jungle. A generator ran for a few hours each day to provide electric for a fan during the hottest part of the day and a means of charging camera batteries etc.

A couple of hours after arriving the whole group got together over a meal and a cold beer and Dave Plummer the head guide placed us with our Indian guide for the first few days. Myself and Richard my fishing partner would be with Kurri, Richard had an advantage over me in that he had been to the camp last year and had plenty of Mahseer on that trip. His help before we left for India in making sure I had the right tackle and clothing etc with me was invaluable, his company and help during the trip was also first class.

Each day would consist of being awoken at around 7 by one of the camp workers with a coffee, then meeting at the central camp area at about 7.45 for more coffee and a bit of toast before leaving for the morning fishing session around 8. The morning session ended around midday thankfully just as the sun became almost unbearable. After a brunch back at camp, we than had around 4 hours free time before leaving for the evening session around 5pm. Fishing a couple of hours into darkness the evening session ended at just after 9pm. A 3 coarse meal was then served by our Indian hosts washed down with a few cold kingfisher lagers and a night cap of something a bit stronger before we retired for the night.

The Galibore fishing camp has been used now for many years as a base for anglers and over that time has seen Mahseer caught to over a 100lb, it has been featured in TV programmes with John Wilson and others in pursuit of Mahseer. The river around the camp falls into 2 categories, the river upstream of the camp in the main is faster with plenty of rapids and broken water, with plenty of pools and big rocks to provide holding spots for fish. Downstream of the camp the river is much deeper and slower with some channels and gullies between the rocks where the biggest Mahseer tend to be found.


To access the best spots on the upper part of the river it is often a case of wading up to your neck through the deeper channels to reach a position to be able to fish the holding areas. I found this a fantastic and exhilarating experience and the Mahseer we caught from the upper river completed the experience.

With the lower river much slower and wider, to access the better fishing spots we often had to use a coracle to get to the rock islands favoured by the guides, with 15ft crocodiles lazing on rocks wading was out of the question. These coracles made from bamboo and reed and covered in sacking are surprisingly strong and waterproof and are handled with great skill by the guides.

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 golf 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 bored 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.