Chasing one of the most elusive fish ever in India

What are the top freshwater fighting fish of the world? If you google that it suggested: “Top freshwater fighting fish for anglers, based on strength and intensity, include Smallmouth Bass, Mahseer, Giant Snakehead, Alligator Gar, and Blue Catfish. These species are renowned for their powerful, often acrobat-filled battles.” This is not an ad by Adobe, but for real. So when I had the chance to travel to India last year, I got hooked on the idea to capture the Golden Mahseer in front of my lens. My wife and I travelled there to attend a yoga teacher training in Rishikesh. As with most of my travels, I like to combine it with a drsnapper angling moment. I bought a travel rod, got all excited from watching some youtube clips (see below) and contacted Wild & Exotic - a specialist travel agency in the UK for adventure (angling) trips to ask where would be my best chances. I got lucky right in front of our Ashram. So if I was not one before by now I turned literally into a yogic angler. There is no better place than the Ganga river for a hookless, animal-friendly fishing experience using an underwater angling camera. Mind you, any other way would mean trouble not just for the fish involved….. Admittedly, draining from the Himalayans (one of the primary springs of the Ganga river is in the Gangotori glacier known as Gaumukh or Gomukh in the Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand, India, at an elevation of approximately 3,892 meters or 12,769 feet above sea level). So, the fine gacial sediments (so called ‘rock flour’) makes for the typical milky blue-grey stained waters. Not the best visibility unfortunately and the Mahseer also were incredibly fast in swallowing the bait doughs that kids sell by the shoreline. I had to slow down the video (captured with a waterwolf attached to a selfie stick) to be able to freeze some frames. The species was identified by a local freshwater fish expert as Golden Mahseer (Tor putitora). Catch in Peace my friends. Namaste