For Ali H Husaini, Powai Lake in Mumbai is like a second home. An engineer by profession and an angler by choice, 49-year-old Husaini can be seen setting up the rod and bait in the pristine environs whenever he gets time. "I have been angling since childhood. My father was an ace angler, so I picked up a lot of techniques from him," says Husaini who is the president of the All India Game Fishing Association (AIGFA), which now has over 1000 plus members. This is a non profit organisation with the sole intention of promoting sport fishing and protecting the fast depleting stock of sport fish and the environs that it inhabits. "We promote the concept of 'catch and release'. So we release the fish after taking measurements," he says.
If you thought that fly fishing like Robert Redford in A River Runs Through It or cat fishing like Jack Lemmon in Grumpier Old Men is a breeze, then think again. "Angling requires training, something that you can only learn after observing a fellow angler. You need to know how to use the equipment, which fish to target, which are the ones that are in the endangered list, what is the safe method of releasing et cetera. Angling is a science without a textbook," says Husaini.
The kind of equipment that an angler uses depends on the kind of technique being used. For instance, the equipment for carp fishing will be different from that for saltwater angling. The simplest kind of angling requires a rod, reel and bait. "There is no one-for-all-kind equipment," says Santosh Kolwankar, director, business development with a pharma company and a member of AIGFA. "I mainly do saltwater angling so I use long 12-feet-plus rods, 300 metres of 50 pound line. I usually travel in trawlers to locate fish like the tuna. The kind of fishing tackle depends on the kind of fish - so I use anything between a 30 lb tackle to 100 lb plus tackle."
Anglers in India mostly prefer sport fishing and fly fishing, as part of which an artificial fly is cast using a fly rod, reel and a special weight line. "One technique which has become very popular in India is the popping and jigging technique. This challenging form has been taken to another level by the Japanese. As part of this you dangle the bait on to the surface of water. This gives you a visual of the strike of the fish," says Husaini. While jigging involves moving the bait up and down vertically, popping is about luring the bait across the surface in short bursts. "This requires very high end Japanese tackle," says Kolwankar. The ideal jigging and popping tackle needs to be light so that jigs and plugs can be recast several times. It also needs to be strong to be able to catch heavier fish like the barramundi. "Shimano is a very popular Japanese manufacturer of all possible angling equipment. Another manufacturer is Mustad, which is a Norwegian company," says Husaini. According to him, the cost of equipment can vary from Rs 2,000 for the very basic to Rs 200,000 for the high-end gear.
Angling is slowly and steadily becoming popular in the country, with people approaching AIGFA for training. Only recently, AIGFA organised the All India Saltwater Angling Tournament at Neil Island, Andamans, which saw participation by 30 anglers from across India and 12 locals. "Earlier people thought that Australia was the only place for barramundi. It's only now that people are realising that you can find even bigger specimens of barramundi all across India," says Husaini. India's long coastline makes it the ideal angling destination. "Alibaug and Murud, which are very close to Mumbai, are great for saltwater fishing. Gujarat offers great places for saltwater fishing as well. And if it's the Mahaseer you seek then go to Pancheshwar in the north," suggests Kolwankar.
