TRIBUTE TO COCHIN ANGLERS

It is a wonderful feeling when you watch sun set in the Munambam  Estuaries with a fresh gentle breeze on your face and the boat entering leaving the harbor, the wave, the crowd, kudumbasree food stores which serves the Kerala fish curry and tapioca  and the threadfins jumping and that is the only reason a bunch of young anglers are gathering for the feast. 

I was introduced to this threadfin angling by my dear cousin Kiran, but finally I got addicted to it and we fished together for the entire season it was a memory of life time, following the threadfin season is fun my friends and family members call it madness but the catch keep their mouth shut, and i even fished in rain with rain coats on and high waves hitting the breakwater and even landed fish alone without any  landing nets in that rocky and slippery break waters "although it was scary but the adrenalin rush does all".

You guys might be thinking what i am talking about ha !  here is the thing Angling is the name for the hobby rod and line fishing as the technology develops the ordinary rod is replaced by carbon fiber rods and the ordinary line is replaced by the high strength braided lines, and the line is coiled in a reel which will make the casting and retrieving of the bait easy the reel are of there types spinning, bait casting and fly fishing, and the expensive part is though the reels and the rods they comes in a wide verity of specification, the angler have to choose the best combination according to fish, the distance from the shore, and many factors  

 

And our new gen anglers now uses artificial baits which imitates the movements of a fish and the bait is selected as per the type of the fish you are fishing for, and the time of day,  tidal conditions,  and the color of the water, the local pray fishes in the vicinity 

  The above one is an artificial lure produced bye the legendary Rapala Australia which is a replica of a 'Minnow' (a small common bait fish) it even imitates the pray fish's movement (a small common bait fish) and these are not called artificial bait these are called 'Lure's

 

I would rather call this as an art because it need patience, effort, planning, and right knowledge of the area you are fishing(local knowledge of tide, bait fish activity timings etc) and a great amount of luck

Here is one beautiful video of M.B.Pradeep catching some of the beautiful Rawas in Azhikod Estuary which is the opposite part of the munambam 

 Now you guys must got an idea about what i am talking about and how it is done it is not the old school fishing any more it is a sports now an emerging sports in India especially in Kerala Cochin pretty hard to master you have to practice it to master it you have to feel the sea and you have to respect it   

Ernakulam is having a vast nuber of inland water, wide coastal area and the verity of a fish species making Cochin an ideal place for angling. And the amazing thing is that you don't need any permit for fishing except port areas and some dams, but in some countries you need one 

the common fish species we fish for is Threadfins,Groper,  Barramundi,Mangrove jack, Bream, Catfish, Mahseer, Perl spot, Taverly, Snake heads, Carp etc and the list goes on 

There are two main fishing tackle shops in Cochin for tackle one is the Hobby drome and the other is the JC Nylons in the Ernakulam market rod and there is a Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/SportFishingKeralaCochin where you can buy tackles post share your catches and http://www.indianangler.com/ if you wanted to meet anglers from all around India

 Because of my busy schedule i was not fishing for a while but some Sundays me and my dad and my bro try our luck in the near by river,  but one thing i notice is that as the years pass  our waters are get polluted fast,  my hooks are coming back with not only fish lots and lots of plastic bags, nets, plastic derbies, plastic bottles are floating in the river i don't under stand why our people is not taking care of our resources, Kerala is the most beautiful place it is a tropical paradise and we are blessed with good amount of water and greenery please try to preserve it and try to reduce the pollution 

my little advice to you my fellow anglers is that please do not leave/throw used fishing lines, nets into the water and do not litter any of the fishing spots 

Angling is a hobby for some one , for others it is a sports and spend time with their loved ones, for some one it is a passion  

 

 So i am thanking you all my fellow anglers whose help and guidance made me one among you and i am proud to be an angler a hobby which brings you closer to the nature 

 Warning: Fishing in the estuary is dangerous especially in the rainy seasons and the sea is roughf and the estury is deep and the under water current is strong so climbing down to the seaward side to retrive fish or line is not advisable and do carry lots of spare hooks and lines with you  when fishing during night do carry a headlight and be generous to the local people they are quiet friendly and helpful and being a tourist place give attention while casting the line do care for people standing behind you and sides " if you miss a cast you only loose a fish if that hook caught some ones eyes or ear their life is at stake " the fishing techniques and points mentioned here are the authors own experience follow it with caution any loss of life or property the author will not be responsible and the photo credit goes to sports fishing kerala face book page and the up loaders on the internet if any complaints about the photos uploaded which violates copyrights will be removed on request gracias