With the season fast approaching its end and the weather during the last few weeks much colder than that of the last few winters, Barbel fishing for me had taken a bit of a back seat. Having had a fantastic season up until October with a total of over 250 Barbel caught from 9 different rivers I was having a cracking season, but some very sharp frosts and early snowfall put pay to completing the target of 10 rivers.

To be honest with the New Year fast approaching and the weather still not really Barbel weather I had almost given up for the season. The chance of earning some extra cash came along so I grabbed the opportunity and set about 6 weeks of working 7 days a week.

There was however a little bit of method about my madness, just before Christmas I was offered the opportunity of a 16 day trip to India to fish for the biggest and most highly prized Barbel of them all Barbus Tor, the mighty Mahseer.  With that in mind 6 weeks hard labour to help pay for the trip wasn’t so bad after all, when I first mentioned I had the chance to go, my good lady and long suffering wife, Sonia said “if you are going so am I”.

With snow falling and the car thermometer reading minus 1, we made the journey to Heathrow knowing full well within hours we would be in the 30 degree heat of southern India. The fast check in at Terminal Five soon had us sitting down and enjoying a cooked breakfast in the departure lounge, most welcome and our last taste of English food for a good couple of weeks.
We touched down in Bangalore before dawn after the near ten hour flight but the warmth of India was immediately felt as we made our way through arrival and awaited our luggage. After a jumbo jets worth of passengers had collected their luggage and ours was still not on the carousal we started to become concerned, its was with a sigh of relief when finally the bags and fishing rod tube made their way around the track and on to our waiting trolley.

With the luggage of ten anglers and 2 non fishing partners tied precariously onto the roof rack of our transport we made our way out into the early morning traffic of Bangalore. What a journey, around 60 miles firstly into the city centre and then out towards our final destination, the Galibore fishing camp, as we progressed the roads went from good to bad to worse to dirt tracks. A pound for every time a horn blew would see me retire a very rich man, the close shaves came every few yards, but by some miracle we never once saw an accident.

Our first view of the Cauvery River came as we dropped steeply down into the wooded valley after leaving the made up roads behind us as we entered into the camp area. After an uncomfortable last few miles over the rocky dirt tracks we finally arrived at the camp. By now it was late morning and the near 100 degree heat was a far cry from the freezing cold of England we had left behind 24 hours earlier.

Accommodation in the camp was  12  large canvas tents each with twin beds and some storage space for clothing and fishing equipment, linked to each tent was a bathroom with a shower and flush toilet, not bad for a camp miles from anywhere in the middle of an Indian jungle.  A generator ran for a few hours each day to provide electric for a fan during the hottest part of the day and a means of charging camera batteries etc.

A couple of hours after arriving the whole group got together over a meal and a cold beer and Dave Plummer the head guide placed us with our Indian guide for the first few days.  Myself and Richard my fishing partner would be with Kurri, Richard had an advantage over me in that he had been to the camp last year and had plenty of Mahseer on that trip. His help before we left for India in making sure I had the right tackle and clothing etc with me was invaluable, his company and help during the trip was also first class.
Each day would consist of being awoken at around 7 by one of the camp workers with a coffee, then meeting at the central camp area at about 7.45 for more coffee and a bit of toast before leaving for the morning fishing session around 8. The morning session ended around midday thankfully just as the sun became almost unbearable. After a brunch back at camp, we than had around 4 hours free time before leaving for the evening session around 5pm.  Fishing a couple of hours into darkness the evening session ended at just after 9pm. A 3 coarse meal was then served by our Indian hosts washed down with a few cold kingfisher lagers and a night cap of something a bit stronger before we retired for the night.

The Galibore fishing camp has been used now for many years as a base for anglers and over that time has seen Mahseer caught to over a 100lb, it has been featured in TV programmes with John Wilson and others in pursuit of Mahseer. The river around the camp falls into 2 categories, the river upstream of the camp in the main is faster with plenty of rapids and broken water, with plenty of pools and big rocks to provide holding spots for fish. Downstream of the camp the river is much deeper and slower with some channels and gullies between the rocks where the biggest Mahseer tend to be found.

To access the best spots on the upper part of the river it is often a case of wading up to your neck through the deeper channels to reach a position to be able to fish the holding areas. I found this a fantastic and exhilarating experience and the Mahseer we caught from the upper river completed the experience.

With the lower river much slower and wider, to access the better fishing spots we often had to use a coracle to get to the rock islands favoured by the guides,  with 15ft crocodiles lazing on rocks wading was out of the question. These coracles made from bamboo and reed and covered in sacking are surprisingly strong and waterproof and are handled with great skill by the guides.