A fishing lure

Youve done Corbett. But this time,step off the tiger trail and go on a quest for the mahseer

Youve done Corbett. But this time,step off the tiger trail and go on a quest for the mahseer
Wheat flour was kneaded and the dough rolled into a bait. The angling rod lay on the silken sand of the Ramganga river in Corbett National Park. The river bed looked resplendent in its sheath of beryl blue. The hillocks hemmed the river like conscientious sentinels. Far away,I could hear the bell of a bull tilling a paddy field. In the Jamun area of the park,amidst the lofty elephant grass,it was the pich-pich-wo,the noisy,cackling laughter of the White Crested Laughing Thrush that broke the tedium of silence. Perhaps I was the only one in Corbett without a must-see-a-tiger resolve. I was there to bait the mahseer. In the gurgling river,I saw a school of the fish with large leathery mouth (the name comes from the shape of its mouth) and large gleaming silver scales. Gambolling in the deep river. I eyed the biggest and fattest of them all. I threw the bait. Seconds stretched. Then,I felt a jerk.

I started rolling the nylon line back. Would my catch be bigger than that of the British colonel Rivett-Carnacs 109 pound mahseer fished in the same waters that made headlines in 1920? My imagination was running riot. I knew by rote the fish statisticslength: 64 inches,girth: 42 inches,tail width: 26 inches and a mouth circumference : 26 inches. Would my mahseer weigh109.5 pounds? I was hazarding a guess. And then.as I wound up the line,I saw the naked hook dangling petulantly. The bait was gone. There was no mahseer. I gaped incredulously.

You caught no fish. The line had gotten stuck in the river stones. Harish Arya,a naturalist,hastened with a denouement to my dismal fishing story. That morning,I had defied the clichéd quest for the tiger in Corbett. I huffed down a hill to the Ramganga river,which the elusive mahseer calls a home. Not just elusive,this freshwater carp is endangered too in India,you can only find them in Ramganga and Cauvery. Fishing licenses are mandatory,killing a mahseer is not permissible,anglers have to catch and release them. I knew the rules. I knew the license fee eight annas for 15 days in 1910; a century later it stands at Rs 580 for a day. But what I really needed to know was another trick.

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I remembered angler Skene Dhus warning: Mahseer is a bottom feeder,so fish deep,not pretty deep. Spoon bait works par excellence. I adhered to this turn-of-the-century anglers counsel. I picked a blue spoon with glitzy yellow stripes and threw the line deep,not pretty deep. In the crystal clear river,I could count the fish and see the spoon bait swaying in the rivers hasty current. I was left waiting again. Arya dawdled. A slaty-back flycatcher flitted joyously in the trees nearby. I sat on my haunches patiently hoping endurance would pay. It did not.

Maybe we should go bird-watching, Arya interrupted. Maybe it is not a good day for fishing, he said. He was consolatory,but I knew that the day was not dreary; I was an awfully shoddy angler. Bird-watching was a better alternative. I sure could not mess up with birds. I flapped with optimism of the 1,287 species of birds found in India,one can see 620 species in Corbett,a count that not many national parks can equal.

Huffing back up the hill,through Bushnell binoculars,I saw a colourful munia pecking in a millet field,and heard the loud,plaintive nasal pee-a,kiyew-ke-ke of the Lesser Yellownape Woodpecker. In the melancholic pee-a,my disastrous mahseer angling story got mislaid.
But the birds had to wait. In the thatched dining space of Hideaway River Lodge,in the middle of the jungle,a sumptuous lunch was laid. Before I could dig my fork into the lavish spread,I was distracted by a boisterous Jungle Babbler,known for its discordant squeaking and chattering. Ready for a skinny dip in the terracotta bird bath,the babbler dunked its beak first,twirled its brown tail and then flapped its wings.

On another tree,the Blue Bearded Bee Eater flaunted its unusual square tail and yellowish buff belly. Little later,perched in an open jeep with binoculars snaking around my neck,I went deep into the jungles looking for the pipits,sunbirds,yuhinas,finches and flycatchers.
I saw their yellows and browns,heard their metallic si-si-si trill and rattling ti-tui-ti-tiu,wondered at the dexterity of the Tailorbirds painstaking herringbone stitch and natty compartments in the bayas nest
On the dirt track,I saw the pug marks of a tiger. But that day in Corbett,all I wanted to see was the red-whiskered bulbul and the lammergeiers rufous-buff collar. And bait the mahseer,of course. Even a tiny one!

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FAST FACTS
Getting there
The nearest airport is Delhi (245 km); the nearest railhead is Ramnagar (nearly 23 km from the Durga Devi Gate of Corbett National Park). Delhi-Corbett road trip takes about 6.5 hours. The park gates close at 5 pm. Major zones of the national park remain closed between July and mid-November; check opening gates before heading out. During summer (April to June),entry and movement inside the park is prohibited between 11 am and 3 pm.
Where to stay
Inside the national park,you can stay in the Forest Rest House (Dhikala) or Hideaway River Lodge (Jamun). A stay at the tented Hideaway includes tiger safari,bird watching,fishing expeditions and all meals. Remember,there is no electricity and cellphones do not work inside the park. The other option is to stay outside the park in The Corbett Hideaway and do a day-trip to the park.
Contact: The Director,Corbett Tiger Reserve,Ramnagar – 244 715,District- Nainital (Uttaranchal). Tel: 5947-253977. ( http://www.corbettnationalpark.in)