Fishing in Nepal

If you have plenty of time and loads of patient then Angling or Fishing could be a very interesting sport for you. Fishing is an Eco-friendly sport which require great patient and lots of time. This sport would not suite for those who are out of patience when they loose a fish or get tired while waiting for their catch. Nepal, the world's second rich country in the water resources having numbers of rivers and lakes, is an ideal location for pleasure of fishing and angling.

Nepal is a land of diverse topography, climate, ethnicity and biodiversity. Within an average breadth of about 150 km, the altitude varies from 60 meter above sea level to the world's highest peak Mount Sagarmatha scaling 8848 km it has three large river basins namely Koshi in the east, Narayani in the central and Karnali in the west. The rivers of Nepal supports more than 100 species of fish including the human size catfish known as Gonch, famous sporting fish the Mahasheer and delicious species the Jalkapoor

Nepal with its glacial and spring fed river systems that drain the Himalayas is home to this great fish
Mahseer are found up to an altitude of three thousand feet. These fish follow an upstream migration pattern a few times a year, though primarily in the months of July and August. This migration is an important element of the fishery and makes the fishing interesting and productive once the fish are on the move.

These fish are best taken on lures, flies and live bait during day and night. When fishing for the Mahseer, there is no set timing of exactly what time of the day to fish in, it is just a matter of the time of the year and locations. There is vast selection of lures and flies that one can use for the Mahseer, again depending on a variety of situations you may be fishing in, like clear spring fed rivers are always the most tricky as the fish are very spooky in the clear water and they have to be assaulted with caution and timing.
The rapids can be another productive situation for the Himalayan Mahseer, as they are likely to take even in fast water at certain times. The pools are where most anglers like to fish - hence the statistics of catches are highest there and at the mouth of a rapid. Lakes are more predictable, due to the stable temperature. When fishing for the Mahseer one should be open to possibilities as the fish can take at anytime, and anywhere.

The fishing method for Himalayan Mahseer is quite like fishing for Steelhead or the Salmon, where one is fishing the swing or the drift. The Himalayan Mahseer is a spooky fish, and if one is expecting to catch twenty fish a day then one is asking for disappointment. These Himalayan Rivers are a big fish fishery which offers a shot at the trophy Mahseer, and fewer numbers. The fish here average 5 to 14 lbs, depending on the river you are fishing, and often one can see the monstrous Mahseer, which can grow in excess of 70 lbs, in the crystal clear waters of a spring fed river as the Mahseer swim and feed in the shallow swift water at the mouth of the rapid.