All About Fishing: Part – II of III

A successful fisherman is by design and not by accident. As everything else in life, to succeed in fishing one needs to work hard – at fact gathering about suitable equipment, feeding habits of the fish, vegetation types, seasonal food available to the fish during a given season and, above all, their preferred hiding places. It is surprising that the same fish species will not feed on the same type of food in different locations. I have also discovered that they do not live and hide in the same type of cover and vegetation. Their habits seem to vary depending upon different vegetation and perhaps level of oxygen and altitude.

In some locations the fish hide under overhangs, around river-weeds - in others they live and prey around rocks and boulders. Some take the bait in the middle of the river – others at the far end of the riverbank. Unfortunately all these are something you cannot always be prepared for – you will have to learn as you fish the rivers. However, what you can be prepared for all the time is a selection of a set of tackles that will consistently deliver under all situations.

Fishing Line

There is no point in hooking a lot of fish if you cannot land them. Thus a strong and dependable fishing line is important. You have to be able to reel-in the fish you hook and not lose it to a snapped line. There are really only three choices available to us, when it comes to casting fishing lines:

1.  Monofilament

2.  Multi Braid

3.  Fluorocarbon

Mono lines have been there for a long time. The multi braid or braided lines came much later. I use the multi braid because they are stronger; have no memory and are stiff as hell – so hook setting is faster because of lack of elasticity. Because of their superior dia-to-strength ratio, one can load more lines into a reel providing you with longer distance run – if you have to run with the fish so that you do not end up running out of line. Mono on the other hand is thicker in diameter, retains memory and tends to kink easily.

I have not used the fluorocarbon lines.

Three of the primary line types

Lures & Baits

While the rod, reel, line and quality of trebles all matter to a great degree for a successful fishing trip, I have learnt that the bait or the lure is the one that attracts the fish to take the bite. Thus the selection of the bait is crucial. Obviously, your choice of baits will depend on the type of fish you are after. But in Bhutan there are only two fish types that we can look forward to hooking – the mighty Mahseer and the introduced Brown Trout. These two fish are at the opposite end of the scale – one is big game and the other is small game.

The following are the bait types that are available for our kind of fish.

Spinners

Spinners are handy for small fish – like the trout. My favorite spinners are the following. But I no longer use spinners since I find that the plugs yield better and bigger results – small time fish is not my game.

The wobbler called the Tasmanian Devil is an ugly looking bait from Australia - but a very successful bugger. Some Bhutanese anglers never use anything but this strange looking and behaving piece of plastic.

Plugs for small game

The following are my favorite for Brown Trout:

My choice of plugs for trout

Plugs for big game:

My favorite plugs for the monster Mahseer are the following. They have been very productive for me – I have landed a 27 KGs Mahseer with the Abu Garcia “Hi-Lo” – at a place called Sheytey Kharey in Kalikhola.

My favorite lures for the big fellows

I carry more than 2 dozen lures on a fishing trip – but most often I end up using only two of the baits – Rapala’s "Count down Minnow" and Abu Garcia’s "Hi Lo" for Mahseer. For Trout – the same – I end up using the “Fat Rap” and “Count Down” every time – both by Rapala of Finland.

IMPORTANT TIP

I have noticed that the original treble hooks that come with the plugs/spinners/wobblers are not so durable or strong enough. Particularly for our river types where the flow is swift and strong, we need stronger treble hooks that do not flatten out or are brittle and break with the force of the fish’s tug and pull. Thus, I order special treble hooks by Mustad – called the "Short-Shank" – and replace the original trebles with these much stronger and shorter hooks.