INDIANANGLER

I am writing this as it is fresh in my mind, having just returned from the Saryu after catching (and releasing) Mahseer.

It is mainly for anglers who will be going there for catching Mahseer in the near future, with a strong bias towards overseas anglers who may need this information (just as I did several years ago and chanced upon this forum!).

The Saryu is a powerful, fast river and will therefore require specialised gear that is substantially different from that for the Ramganga.

As I lost a complete page of this report when I accidentally logged out, I will submit this now and break up further information into smaller sections.

Kingfish

Rods (spinning)

Yes, plural .... will come to it a bit later.

Your primary rod has to be at least 9 ft in length, although anglers have fished the Saryu with rods 12ft in length and others with 7ft. It has to be strong enough to cast lures upto 40-50 gms and supple enough to cast plugs that would be half those weights.

The Saryu is around 100 meters wide and at places perhaps a touch wider and your guide will continually be asking you to make long casts upstream .... almost to the other bank. This is so that when your lure swings around with the current, it passes through the most productive water in which the Mahseer will see and attack it.

For ease of transport by plane and train, the long rod should be preferably multi piece. Usually, it is in
3 pieces although 4 piece models are also available.

Your second rod can be much shorter and lighter, for two reasons. It is your backup rod in case the primary rod suffers a failure, such as a broken tip or more unfortunately if it breaks a section.

The second rod also comes in handy if you are fatigued by casting the heavy rod/reel and lure combination. Keep in mind that you will be making hundreds of casts everyday in the morning and evening sessions .... your shoulder will tire and a lighter rod will save the day.

I had to take time off for the evening session once because my shoulder was too painful to cast even the lighter rod combination ..... some strengthening of the biceps prior to the trip will be very useful.

For your information, my primary rod was a 3 piece Shimano Aerowave Graphite, 9 ft6in in length and able to cast lures 28-90 gms. It was comfortable and perfect for the job. Available, as far as I know, only in Australia.

The second rod was an 8 ft Silstar Crystal Blue Power Tip in 2 sections, able to cast 15-60 gms lures.Again obtainable in Australia but Ugly Stik make a very similar model.

Kingfish

The rods (please excuse the fuzziness, resizing images on the ipad does that).

Thank you Kingfish for taking the time and effort to provide detailed info!

If I'm going there, I shall take my surf rod and inshore rod with length and rating closer to what you had mentioned

Maruthu

Right you are, Maruthu.

Go there as soon as you can....if they start construction of the dam near Pancheshwar, then this paradise will be lost forever.

Kingfish

Reels

You will need two.

The primary rod should be mated to a spinning reel capable of holding 300 meters of heavy braided line
of at least 50 lb test.

It should have, ideally, a retrieve ratio of 6:1 for high speed spinning, needed if you are fishing the shallower sections of the Saryu where you do not wish your lure to get snagged in the sandbars just a couple of feet below the surface.

A relatively heavy drag capacity is also helpful ... one may latch onto a 40-50 lb Mahseer which will use the strong Saryu current to help it fight the angler.

On the plus side, there is hardly any weed or flotsam on which you may snag your lures. I only snagged a couple of times, easily dislodged by wading out to the shallows.

My main reel was a Daiwa Saltiga Z4500H, bought at a sale for about A$680 when the newer Saltiga with the Magseal was being released ... I never liked the Magsealing and preferred the older model with all its simplicity yet robustness.

See below.

Kingfish

My Saltiga Z4500H .... very smooth and a confidence giver.

Your second reel has to be, perforce, smaller for use with the lighter rod. It must still have the requisite large line capacity and a good drag and be lightweight.

For me, it was to be the Penn Clash 5000 ..... light in weight yet with the superlative HT 100 drag and adequate capacity for 40 lb braided line.

The infamous large cutouts on the spool were simply taped over by me to keep out the fine Saryu river sand and I had no issues with this.

The Clash accounted for several mini Mahseer, so it was not really fully tested but I have no doubt that it could have coped with the larger fish.

My Penn Clash 5000 with the taped over spool cutouts.
Kingfish

Lures

Frankly, you just need the following 2 lures to catch the Saryu Mahseer!

Rapala Jointed J 11 in Rainbow pattern

Acme Lil CLEO in 2/3 oz silver, gold

That is it!

The treble hooks will, of course, be replaced with single, barbless hooks. I used Gamakatsu Octopus
hooks in sizes 1/0 and 2/0 and some smaller sizes.

They held up well but I was recommended another stronger brand, which I will pick up in Australia....
can't remember their name right now.

The Owner/Decoy inline single hooks were not upto the job and I lost a good fish with the hook straightening out.

I was provided with a very comprehensive lure list detailing sizes, weights and colours by the outfitters of the Saryu camp. Their combinations will thus run into scores of lures, costing a lot of money and requiring every hook to be replaced ... a monumental task.

In my defence, I will state that the Lil Cleo spoons caught all the smaller Mahseer, with the J11 catching the big one.

A few days prior to my arrival, an Aussie angler had caught a 32 lb Mahseer on the J11 lure. The guide would always ask me to use these or the spoons, after we had tried some of my different varieties.

By the way, replacing the hooks on the Rapala jointed lure with singles does not change its action! It works great, with a fluid wiggle as originally designed.

Others may have different favourite lures which worked for them but I still maintain the fore mentioned
2 lures worked for me and other anglers, and should be the mainstay of your arsenal.

This comes from a person who is a lure junkie!

I did not get to try any soft plastics, maybe some other time.

Kingfish

Large Mahseer caught on the Rapala jointed J 11 in Rainbow Trout colours, you can see the lure dangling below the fish's mouth.

Smaller Mahseer could not resist the Lil Cleo spoons, in either gold or silver colour

The smaller Mahseer would hit the gold or silver Lil Cleo spoons readily.

Kingfish

Hello Venkat,

If I remember correctly, the hook size was 1/0 and the drag was perhaps set at 3/4 of the maximum.In no way was it a locked drag.

Mahseer have very strong bony mouths with which they crush food and it is very difficult to set a single hook when they attack a lure.

When the larger Mahseer took the lure , I had three very solid attempts to ensure that the hook will take hold successfully. I had earlier lost two good Mahseer because I could not set the hook properly.

Regards,
Kingfish

Rod Cases for Travel

I highly recommend a good quality rod case for transporting rods safely, especially for overseas visitors to India.

After the airline cargo people have had a go at the rod case, in India it will be subjected to handling by cab drivers, railway coolies and then by camp staff on the trail and in rafts.

I use the Plano Airliner 4588 model case, which can telescope from 5ft to perhaps 7 ft so as to accommodate long rods.It is fully lockable, for peace of mind.

However, my rods easily fit inside a 5ft length and there is plenty of room inside to place a pair of hiking staffs, socks, underwear etc. which will cushion the rods as well as free up space in your duffle bags.

This Plano case was much admired by my guide who picked us up in Delhi and went all the way to the
Saryu camp. He said that other anglers came with much longer cases, which were difficult to place in cars and especially in the luggage rack on the Shatabadi train from Delhi to Kathgodam.

Picture below.

Kingfish

Plano Rod Case

Hooks

I now remember the best hooks recommended for Mahseer by the outfitters.

These are the BKK Lone Diablo single hooks.

Rather difficult to get hold of in our part of the world but I have found some stockists in Australia, so will order some in sizes 1,1/0 and 2/0.

These should do the job!

Kingfish

The serenity and scenic beauty of the Saryu River - angling paradise!

This concludes my report.

Kingfish

Awesome report there Kingfish and congratulations on the catch! I appreciate the informative post as always. Also thanks for bringing to notice of the plans to dam the water. When the rest of the world is breaking dams we are building them.

I was hoping to fish the Saryu this winter but doesn't look like I might be able to, not sure about next year either. Need to get there before the dam! I keep an eye out for your posts and the detailed information on tackle and lures are much appreciated.

Cheers....

Thanks for the kind words, Ulygun.

Sorry to hear that you will not be able to fish the Saryu in the near future .... fingers crossed the dam does not go through but the guides told me the roads are already being widened to handle the construction machinery.

Did you manage to get the spinning gear after all?

Kingfish

@Kingfish, I've been neck deep in an ongoing project so haven't really been able to focus on fishing or anything related to it. Only outing was dove season this year which lasted 2 weeks.

But I've planned to pick up the St. Croix travel surf rod 10' long with 3/4 - 4 oz to lure rating. I think I'll be bringing a fly rod and a surf rod this time if I'm lucky enough to travel back home during winter. I'm hoping to play the tug of war with some GT's or Barra. Couldn't find any details online on migratory pattern for them in Western part of the country.

Cheers.

@Ulygun

Good you have settled on the St. Croix rod, it is an excellent brand. Have you chosen your spinning reel also?

Not sure what you mean by migratory pattern for GTs and Barramundi ... as far as I know from my Australian experience, GTs do not migrate and are normally residents of reefs and Barra would move from the fresh into the saltwater or vice versa for spawning only.

Perhaps Venkat or other anglers may be able to shed further light on this?

Regards,
Kingfish

@Kingfish

Not sure about the reel yet, I've been researching and thinking of no-risk Van-Staal with a spare spool. Just that I'm hesitant to spend on a setup which I might probably use once in a blue moon. TBH reel is what's been confusing me a whole lot. I want something that matches the rod, holds enough line, drag to stop the big fish at the other end, and at the same time don't make me rob a bank or get thrown out into the dog house, again! I think you pointed me towards the Penn reels IIRC, I need to research more about them as I don't know much about them or Shimano's (4xxx).

By migratory pattern I mean the pattern of shore movement from continental shelf or close to river access thereof for the GT's and the Barra. I don't mind driving around and close to Konkan coast (+/-200km ~Mangalore) for it if someone can help me nail this pattern. But would like to avoid long distance drives or overnight-er as I plan to spend time with the family.

I've been looking around and getting some help from my buddies back home on this, but then again they're not diehard anglers to keep a tab on patterns, but I've been informed they're far and few during winter months. Over FB I've seen a bunch of people catching them in and around Chennai beach, so I'm thinking they're more prolific over there. I've also seem some pics of folks catching them +/- 5-6km offshore along Konkan coast. Not sure if they make good table fare, but I've seem people catch them for keeps.

Yeah you're right, may be the resident IA experts have a better understanding on this topic.

Cheers.....

@Ulygun

Please don't spend US $700 or thereabouts on a Van Staal reel that you will use occasionally!

You will be perfectly well served with a size 6500 Penn Slammer III or a Shimano Saragossa 8000 for your fishing, at a cost some $400 or so cheaper than the Van Staal. Both these reels are tried and tested
by your fellow anglers and are able to take the punishment dished out by GTs or the surf.

Waiting for Venkat, Maruthu and others to give their thoughts on movements of GTs and Barramundi in Indian waters.

Regards.

Kingfish

Here are my observations

1) Get the 6000 size saragosa and save on money and weight. Unless you are targeting GT more then 20 kilos no need for a 8000 size reel. Unless you do any water wading and spin the reel under water Van staal is not required. I have accidentally dropped saragosa on beach couple of times and with just a rinse it was good to do the next cast. I am a shimano convert and will buy it any day over penn.
2) To target any species you should know the migratory pattern of its prey. Predator follows the prey, period.
Generally from the shore, if anchovy is available around, you can be pretty sure GT will be around, if the area is GT territory. Ask your buddies for movement/availability of baits like anchovy, sardine and mullet.
3) GT makes a good table fare, except for the black ones. Barra under 8 kg are excellent and anything bigger should be released, the meat is like rubber fiber.

Hope this helps..

Regards,
H.Venkatesan.

@Venkat,

Thanks a ton for the info bud.

Makes me think if it's worth chartering a boat for a few hours and get this done right. I do recall some bait movement around my hometown at the estuary where I usually fish, but you'll have to hit the tides at the right time. Usually I've seen this happen early in the morning or late in the afternoon and seldom during mid-day close to the shore. I might end up releasing everything I catch unless I'm lucky enough to connect with some MJ's. I plan to wade fish the surf as much as I can this time. Closer to the estuary however you'll see some rays, might be a good time invest in a good ray-guard for the ankles.

At the risk of further hijacking your thread @Kingfish, I guess I'll stop shy of it, hope you didn't mind the intrusion.

Cheers....

Great informative post for anyone going after Mahseer !!
Thanks for sharing Kingfish!!

Thanks, Binu.

Any striper action?

Kingfish

Hi Kingfish, that was a very informative post. Thanks for sharing.

Did you happen to try and rubber shads? Like the Storm wildeye series?

Cheers
Bops

@IndianAngler

Hello Bops.

I carried a small selection of soft plastics by Tsunami , as recommended by Misty. However, there was only one occasion when the guide asked me to try these .. this was when we were at the Saryu/Mahakali
confluence.

The Tsunami shad I was carrying at that time was too small and a mismatch for the heavy rod/line I had with me, so I did not try it.

I think some of the slower and deeper pools on the Saryu and the Ramganga are ideal for using soft plastics and perhaps not so much the faster sections of the rivers?

Regards,

Kingfish

Yes the rubber shads wouldn't be much use in the faster sections. For slow water however they are dynamite.

Best
Bops