The Southern break every December makes the Delhi winter more bearable. The December fishing at the Kaveri has become an annual pilgrimage which is so pleasurable.
The mint fresh Bangalore airport was, at least for now, far removed from the chaos that the Delhi airport has become. Sunday traffic allowed us to get out of the city quickly enough. We made it to the fishing camp before sundown stopping for lunch en route. Siddhaiya, ghillie unparallel, was sought out and latest fishing conditions were logged in. A stroll down the sandy, rocky beach felt good. The warm evening breeze, the Kaveri flowing ever so gently and then the music of the rapids from both upstream and down below the temple pool, life couldn’t get better! No actually it could. The thought of hooking one of the sublime monsters in this setting . . . .! That would be the ultimate joy.
The evening was spent unpacking the fishing gear and getting ready for an early morning departure.
My plan was to go upstream and cover all the pools over the next couple of days to assess the condition of the river.
At Kaveri, I prefer to use my Shakespeare big water, 10 ft heavy rod with Daiwa Emcast 6000 or Fin Nor OS reel. 40lb Berkley Trilene big game line and Owner 7/0 hook makes me comfortable. In any other river I would not use 20lb + line but the razor sharp volcanic rocks make Kaveri fishing a very different proposition altogether.
Over dinner we met Jo, Gary, Shah – anglers from different parts of the world who find Kaveri fishing enjoyable enough to return year after year. The conversation invariably centers around fishing updates since we last met.
I didn’t need the alarm to wake me up at 5.00 am. Vinay was peacefully sleeping but when coffee was ready, he was up in a flash. I checked the atmospheric pressure and it showed a healthy 28.60 in/ and rising. I am saddled with a watch which still is in the FPS scale. Over the last few years, we have started logging weather conditions like air temperature, water temperature, pressure along with the catch and have some fantastic data.
We hit the water at 7.00. The sun was up and the sky was shinning bright and blue. Two rods were out, one with chilwa and the other with ragi. We were soon into fish but not mahaseer. The morning was spent reeling in the white kaveri cat fish. We changed spots, changed pools but the omnipresent cat fish were all around us. By 10.30 am we decided to end the morning session.
The afternoon session was not much different but I got a couple of blue-fin mahaseers, under 10lbs though, and was back by 7.00pm.
The next day we fished down river and it went very much like the previous day, lots of cat fish and some baby mahaseers between 5-10lbs.
On the third morning I had a 15+ on ragi in a rapid on a light rod and it fought like a tiger. There were some sharp jagged rocks sticking out of the water which made the fight interesting and the rapid added another dimension to it. More cat fish followed and we were back for a late lunch.
I decided to fish the afternoon session from my favorite island near our camp. There are some small interesting islands formed by a group of rocks jutting out but this one had a small sandy beach also. Cat fish and brat sized mahaseer kept us entertained and then I enjoyed a beautiful sunset. Siddhaiya had thoughtfully packed a flask of hot tea which was like an elixir. In the distance I could hear the Dhol (wild dog) whistle which is their gathering call. In the jungle very few animals dare tangle with the Dhol. They hunt down deer, antilopes by chasing them over long distances till the fatigued animal can go no more. One by one the stars made their appearance. One could hear the river but in the gathering darkness, not see much. There are crocs in the river but we had not heard of any encounter with humans but still from the sandy beach I got back into the coracle and kept the rod on my side with the right hand resting on it. It was around 7.30 pm when the rod suddenly came to life. Like a bucking stallion it reared up and went into a wild dance before I could get a grip on it. I hit once and then again, tightened the drag and positioned the fighting butt. The darkness added a new variable. The fish felt nice and heavy, from the faint glow of light from the camp I could make out the heavy rod had a nice bend. I knew that there were no rocks close by but I was apprehensive about a few sunken logs on the left hand side. Siddhaiya was excited and wanted to ensure that the drag was not overtly tight, I had lost a big fish from the same spot the previous year and he was as determined that we land this one. Inch by inch I gained on her, pumping ever so often and then she would start peeling off the heavy 40lb line again. This went on for about half an hour or so till her runs became shorter and shorter. A couple of short runs later she was safely in Siddhaiya’s arm’s. Weighing the fish in the dark between the two of us was a bit of a challenge but it tipped the scale at about 35.
Rowing back in the darkness was never more pleasurable.