The mahseer fish is a type of carp that lives in the glacial rivers of the Himalayas. It has an athletic, long, lean body; large golden scales; and lateral lines like the ones found in sharks. It has been known to grow to nine feet and is one of the world’s great freshwater sport fish. In Uttarakhand, a northeastern province of India bordering Tibet and Nepal, its name translates to “great tiger.”
LINK (via: Vogue)
Nice story. The spot on the lower West Ranganga River within Corbett National Park where the three elephants are pictured in the Vogue article used to be GREAT fly water (sparsely tied 1.25in plastic green-bodied, broad silver tinsel-ribbed tube flies and smallish longshank streamers fished off an 8-weight floater or sink-tip) until the fishing got itself hit on heavily by the international fishing crowd from the mid 1990s to mid 2000s, when the Park (whose purpose is to protect wildlife) was compelled to ban fishing within its confines. Perhaps just as well, as I had a few very close encounters with tiger (walked straight into one on a valley bottom, high elephant grass-land path on my way to fish the river one afternoon; close meaning a mutual, eye of the tiger look-exchanging, near underwear-changing, forty to fifty feet). A year or two after this encounter of mine, a visiting British birdwatcher wandered off a distance to take a closer look at a bird that that he had seen in the forest edge across the grasslands from the Corbett Park HQ at Dhikala and was promptly eaten by a tiger. Not good.
The East Ramganga – Surju – Mahakali – Sarda river system featured in the Vogue piece still holds some very nice mahseer – I had a number, up to and including the thirties and forties of pounds on plug and spoon and high teens of pounds on fly, from the rivers in the years before the current rafting and camp operation set up – but they do take some catching: even when conditions look spot-on perfect, the fish can be unaccountably miles and miles away, or, if present, are experiencing a bout of lockjaw. Crazy fish.
mahseer fish sounds delicious by the name to me. Lol. Hope to have one picked & tasted soon I visit India.