I woke at 5:00 and noticed some of the others were already awake and fishing. Chris, Bob and Phil were stoking the embers from last night’s fire. We had a warming cup of tea and then went upstream from the camp to fish a rapid on the Subansiri. Two local line wallahs on the far side of the river eyed us curiously as we fished opposite them. They retrieved a couple of small fish from their lines before rebating them and tossing the lines back into the river. Despite fishing excellent water, none of us hooked or saw a fish so we returned to camp for breakfast.
Rup had caught a 4lb Boca on a silver spate spoon from the eddy pool where the rafts were moored but no-one else had caught anything.
After breakfast, we lazed around the camp while we waited for Arun’s raft to be repaired. He had picked up another puncture during yesterday’s journey so it would have to be repaired before we continued. They’d hauled the raft out of the river last night but it would have to dry out fully before they could apply an adhesive patch.
We fished in the heat of the morning as the repairs were taking forever. I fished down the Kamla to the confluence and lost a couple of small mahseer in impossibly shallow water. The river was very clear yet I couldn’t see the fish as I bobbled a small lure over the riverbed.
We finally set off at about 1p.m. and rafted down to the next camp about five kilometres downstream. En route I hooked and landed a 4lb Boca on a small gold spoon from the raft which we kept for supper to add to Rup’s earlier catch.
We camped on a wide flat beach where a huge slow bend in the river almost forms a complete circle. The added water from the Kamla made the Subansiri over 100 metres wide in places here and its pace now was slowing considerably as it meandered through the foothills before emerging onto the plains of Assam.
After the tents were erected we all split up to go fishing. I wandered a couple of kilometres downstream and cast into very good water but caught nothing all evening. I fished two lovely small confluences, where warm stream water fell into the main river, convinced I would catch a fish at any moment as the light was fading. At one point, I heard a distant cry and glanced back to see lots of people rushing across the beach at the camp upstream from me. I figured someone was into a good fish.
The light had all but gone now so, fishless, I turned from the river and made my way back upstream to camp. The moon was up and there was just enough light for me to clamber over the rocks without the aid of my headtorch. It was a pleasant warm evening and I was enjoying being alone in the moonlight. I walked into camp to hear much merriment from around the roaring campfire. A whisky bottle was being handed around which produced very animated conversation. I soon found out the reason why I’d earlier seen people dashing across the beach from where I’d been fishing downstream.
Sanjay had decided to fish near the camp in a calm area of water around some boulders that were lying in the river about 10 or 15 metres out from the shore. He’d cast over and over around these rocks, convinced that a good fish lay amongst them. After 20 or so casts, his rod suddenly locked up and bent over as a really big fish took his lure. The fish tore away into the river and he hung on and played the fish for 20 minutes or so, shouting for assistance as he soon realized he was going to need help. His cries for help and the sight of him bent into a fish had brought everyone running from the camp. There was much excitement and confusion as everyone was trying to assist or shout at each other while Sanjay tired the fish and slowly brought it into the side. Arun jumped into the river to grab the fish but it was having none of it and thrashed away powerfully. Again Sanjay tired it and slowly dragged it into the side for someone to land. Arun got around the fish once more but again, it powered off, but this time it swam straight through Arun’s legs with Sanjay’s line after it. People screamed at Arun to get away from the line and he narrowly escaped being either cut badly by the nylon or worse, breaking the line and losing the fish for Sanjay. Sanjay was feeling the effects of the battle with the mahseer (his knees had given out on him a few days back during his jungle trek) and everyone was out of the water now so order was restored. Finally, after once again slowly tiring the fish and bringing it into the side, it was held securely and a stringer attached. No-one had any weigh-scales or weigh-sling (because they were with me) so there was a lot of speculation as to its size. This was the lively debate raging at the fireside when I walked in. Nobody was prepared to wait until the morning to see what the fish weighed. Sanjay was also concerned that locals would creep down and steal the fish in the darkness.
I got my weigh-sling and scales and with headtorches we carefully made our way across the rocks to the river. The mahseer was very tired and didn’t struggle much as I held it gently and eased the weigh-sling over its broad shoulders. I slowly lifted the fish out of the water in the weigh-sling and someone took a reading on the weigh-scale as I strained to keep it steady. 38lbs was the agreed weight and it was a female golden mahseer that would probably have weighed more if her belly had been full of spawn. We all shook hands with Sanjay’s and I secured the fish on a longer stringer in deeper water where we hoped she would be safe for the night.
The whisky was soon gone and the remaining few bottles would have to be rationed if we were to have enough to last for the remainder of the trip. Runners were therefore dispatched to a local village to fetch some of the local rice beer so that celebrations could continue. This rice beer is made by fermenting a paste many times in earthenware pots or bamboo tubes. Water is then added a number of times to this potent brew and hopefully a half-decent alcoholic beverage comes out at the other end.
Nino produced a first class supper of Boca (slowly baked on a bamboo grid over the embers of a log fire) with spicy potatoes, rice and chapattis. The local beer (still warm from the fermentation process) arrived shortly after supper. It was hit and miss with this stuff but we were all in the mood to give it a go. It made my eyes bulge ever so slightly when I first tasted it and there was only a stifled choke as I swallowed. We decided to lessen its impact by mixing it with orange Tang. Cocktails by the river, how splendid!
Rup fell asleep sitting up, Chris lost the power of speech and everyone else just giggled and laughed a lot. I crawled into my tent as I was no longer able to stand.
We would just have to wait until the morning to see if we would survive…
Thursday, 4 February 2010
8th November – In search of the Subansiri…
I woke at 5:30 and noticed Rup was also awake. We decided to take a hike back upstream and fish one of the rapids that we’d rafted yesterday. We clambered one kilometre upstream and negotiated a short cliff section before the land opened onto a beach at the foot of the rapid. There was excellent water to fish in the pools and eddies so Rup and I leapfrogged each other for the next few hours fishing the entire rapid but without success.
We then walked above the rapid and fished the river where it was shallow and clear running over small pebbles and the occasional boulder. Rup was fishing behind me as we made our way back downstream whilst fishing. Rup let out a cry and I looked back to see his rod bent into a fish. He’d been using a silver spate spoon and the mahseer had taken it in a few feet of water. The fish fought well in the fast water but soon I was able to land it for Rup. It weighed 13lbs and Rup was justifiably pleased as I took some pictures of him holding it. Once again Rup produced the goods from water where I had just previously been fishing. We cast sporadically on the walk back downstream to the camp and arrived back in time for breakfast.
After breakfast I wandered off downstream from the camp to fish some likely looking water alone. I clambered on top of a huge boulder and watched as my spoon fluttered in the water below me. I could see mahseer darting out from the boulder and giving my lure a really good look before rejecting it. These are the sort of things that most of us miss when we’re fishing because we’re either too far away to see it, or else the water is too murky. It was good to see though, if not a little frustrating, because it showed that there were still fish here and as usual, the angler (me!) was quick to cite a host of excuses as to why we are not catching.
I continued casting and then hooked a supper-sized Boca that got off shortly after. I had three more fish follow my lure before I reached the head of another rapid. A shrill whistle from upstream alerted me that the camp was packed and they were ready to raft again. I marched back to camp and climbed onto the raft.
We rafted a total of four rapids. Highlights: Phil got stung by a bee and Arun broke one of the big raft oars so we had to stop and give him our spare one. His raft was driven against a cliff wall at one rapid and the sheer weight of the raft with people and luggage snapped it clean in two.
At one set of rapids the rafters did their usual trick of disappearing downstream for ages to survey the river. We were in the shadow of a mountain so lit a fire as best we could with the dampish wood around us. We snacked on biscuits and nuts while we waited for the rafters to return. As we were huddled around the fire, I caught sight of one of the rafts drifting downstream. I let out a cry and we raced across the beach to rescue it. I think Nino would have been a little shocked to have seen his raft (devoid of people) float by him as he was checking the rapids downstream. We secured the raft again and returned to the warmth of the fire.
The rafters returned and we all climbed aboard. These rapids twisted and turned their way ahead of us but the rafters felt sure that we were near the Subansiri. We were all cold as we crashed and paddled our way through a few kilometres of rapids and then finally, as we rounded a corner, the confluence with the Subansiri came into view with a welcoming sandy beach to camp on.
There were cheers and handshakes and hugs and laughter as we stood at the junction of these two mighty rivers. We had completed a journey by raft that no-one else had done. We had had a great adventure, sometimes frightening, sometimes frustrating, but it was an adventure that we’d all remember if only for one of the days. That was the day when an insignificant looking frothy patch of river dumped half of our party into the water and nearly claimed the lives of two (and a chicken!).
A huge fire was built and lit with the abundant firewood that lay strewn across a vast sandy beach. Leopard tracks criss-crossed the beach and we noted that some of the tracks were mother and cub so we would have to be careful. We were on a beach that locals would find extremely hard if not impossible to reach so the river around us was hopefully virgin water.
The Subansiri was running a little muddy and it was icy cold and very powerful. During monsoon, this confluence must be an awesome sight and sound as these two big rivers come together. The beach that we were camping on was a massive deposit of boulders and rocks covered with sand following the last monsoon. Huge decapitated trees rose from the Subansiri like dark pillars as the river pushed relentlessly against them.
We pitched our tents on soft level sand, warmed ourselves by the roaring fire and devoured a late lunch. Rods were hastily assembled and 10 anglers fanned out from the camp to fish excellent looking water on two rivers. I walked over the boulder strewn beach and started fishing the Subansiri. The speed of the river here was ferocious as it swept by me towards the confluence. I fished a few hundred metres down to the confluence and then fished back upstream. I was just started to think that the water was too fast to hold fish when bang!, my rod bent over and I was into a fish. It took the silver spate spoon a metre from the bank and swirled powerfully at the surface before surging off with my rod arched over. The force of the river made the fish unstoppable and it stripped off around 50 metres of line in a few seconds. I started hopping/running over the boulders in pursuit. The confluence wasn’t far away and I knew that if the fish reached this I wouldn’t stand a chance of stopping it. I leant as hard as I dared against the fish and cupped my hand over the clutch to try and prevent it from taking more line. The tension on the line made it whine in the stiff breeze blowing downstream as I held my breath. The fish stopped running and sulked on the bottom. I maintained pressure and started to retrieve line as I hopped from boulder to boulder. I managed to get below the fish and now put side strain on it to tire it further. The stand-off continued for a little while and then after a few more powerful lunges the fish succumbed so I dragged it into the side. It was a really plump good-sized Boca of about 12lbs. I considered releasing it but figured we had nothing for supper tonight so killed it instead. I whistled and waved to the camp and someone came running over to get the fish which I held aloft. We would eat well tonight.
We all continued fishing until darkness and then returned to camp to compare notes. Sanjay had hooked a golden mahseer by the camp in the Kamla but had lost the fish after a short fight. No-one else had hooked any fish or had any takes.
The rafters made an excellent celebratory feast for us all and the Boca tasted delicious. We spent the evening toasting ourselves by the fires and chatting. Spirits were visibly lifted as we were on known water now. Nino had taken a group of Norwegian anglers down this section of the Subansiri a few months earlier so knew the rapids and knew the camp sites ahead. The anglers had caught many mahseer too so our angling prospects ahead looked hopeful.
I left everyone talking and drinking around the fire and crept into my tent.
We then walked above the rapid and fished the river where it was shallow and clear running over small pebbles and the occasional boulder. Rup was fishing behind me as we made our way back downstream whilst fishing. Rup let out a cry and I looked back to see his rod bent into a fish. He’d been using a silver spate spoon and the mahseer had taken it in a few feet of water. The fish fought well in the fast water but soon I was able to land it for Rup. It weighed 13lbs and Rup was justifiably pleased as I took some pictures of him holding it. Once again Rup produced the goods from water where I had just previously been fishing. We cast sporadically on the walk back downstream to the camp and arrived back in time for breakfast.
After breakfast I wandered off downstream from the camp to fish some likely looking water alone. I clambered on top of a huge boulder and watched as my spoon fluttered in the water below me. I could see mahseer darting out from the boulder and giving my lure a really good look before rejecting it. These are the sort of things that most of us miss when we’re fishing because we’re either too far away to see it, or else the water is too murky. It was good to see though, if not a little frustrating, because it showed that there were still fish here and as usual, the angler (me!) was quick to cite a host of excuses as to why we are not catching.
I continued casting and then hooked a supper-sized Boca that got off shortly after. I had three more fish follow my lure before I reached the head of another rapid. A shrill whistle from upstream alerted me that the camp was packed and they were ready to raft again. I marched back to camp and climbed onto the raft.
We rafted a total of four rapids. Highlights: Phil got stung by a bee and Arun broke one of the big raft oars so we had to stop and give him our spare one. His raft was driven against a cliff wall at one rapid and the sheer weight of the raft with people and luggage snapped it clean in two.
At one set of rapids the rafters did their usual trick of disappearing downstream for ages to survey the river. We were in the shadow of a mountain so lit a fire as best we could with the dampish wood around us. We snacked on biscuits and nuts while we waited for the rafters to return. As we were huddled around the fire, I caught sight of one of the rafts drifting downstream. I let out a cry and we raced across the beach to rescue it. I think Nino would have been a little shocked to have seen his raft (devoid of people) float by him as he was checking the rapids downstream. We secured the raft again and returned to the warmth of the fire.
The rafters returned and we all climbed aboard. These rapids twisted and turned their way ahead of us but the rafters felt sure that we were near the Subansiri. We were all cold as we crashed and paddled our way through a few kilometres of rapids and then finally, as we rounded a corner, the confluence with the Subansiri came into view with a welcoming sandy beach to camp on.
There were cheers and handshakes and hugs and laughter as we stood at the junction of these two mighty rivers. We had completed a journey by raft that no-one else had done. We had had a great adventure, sometimes frightening, sometimes frustrating, but it was an adventure that we’d all remember if only for one of the days. That was the day when an insignificant looking frothy patch of river dumped half of our party into the water and nearly claimed the lives of two (and a chicken!).
A huge fire was built and lit with the abundant firewood that lay strewn across a vast sandy beach. Leopard tracks criss-crossed the beach and we noted that some of the tracks were mother and cub so we would have to be careful. We were on a beach that locals would find extremely hard if not impossible to reach so the river around us was hopefully virgin water.
The Subansiri was running a little muddy and it was icy cold and very powerful. During monsoon, this confluence must be an awesome sight and sound as these two big rivers come together. The beach that we were camping on was a massive deposit of boulders and rocks covered with sand following the last monsoon. Huge decapitated trees rose from the Subansiri like dark pillars as the river pushed relentlessly against them.
We pitched our tents on soft level sand, warmed ourselves by the roaring fire and devoured a late lunch. Rods were hastily assembled and 10 anglers fanned out from the camp to fish excellent looking water on two rivers. I walked over the boulder strewn beach and started fishing the Subansiri. The speed of the river here was ferocious as it swept by me towards the confluence. I fished a few hundred metres down to the confluence and then fished back upstream. I was just started to think that the water was too fast to hold fish when bang!, my rod bent over and I was into a fish. It took the silver spate spoon a metre from the bank and swirled powerfully at the surface before surging off with my rod arched over. The force of the river made the fish unstoppable and it stripped off around 50 metres of line in a few seconds. I started hopping/running over the boulders in pursuit. The confluence wasn’t far away and I knew that if the fish reached this I wouldn’t stand a chance of stopping it. I leant as hard as I dared against the fish and cupped my hand over the clutch to try and prevent it from taking more line. The tension on the line made it whine in the stiff breeze blowing downstream as I held my breath. The fish stopped running and sulked on the bottom. I maintained pressure and started to retrieve line as I hopped from boulder to boulder. I managed to get below the fish and now put side strain on it to tire it further. The stand-off continued for a little while and then after a few more powerful lunges the fish succumbed so I dragged it into the side. It was a really plump good-sized Boca of about 12lbs. I considered releasing it but figured we had nothing for supper tonight so killed it instead. I whistled and waved to the camp and someone came running over to get the fish which I held aloft. We would eat well tonight.
We all continued fishing until darkness and then returned to camp to compare notes. Sanjay had hooked a golden mahseer by the camp in the Kamla but had lost the fish after a short fight. No-one else had hooked any fish or had any takes.
The rafters made an excellent celebratory feast for us all and the Boca tasted delicious. We spent the evening toasting ourselves by the fires and chatting. Spirits were visibly lifted as we were on known water now. Nino had taken a group of Norwegian anglers down this section of the Subansiri a few months earlier so knew the rapids and knew the camp sites ahead. The anglers had caught many mahseer too so our angling prospects ahead looked hopeful.
I left everyone talking and drinking around the fire and crept into my tent.
7th November – The ratfs are just around the corner - honest?
I woke before first light and fished in the darkness without success whilst I waited for everyone else to rise.
We had an early breakfast and then packed up the camp to make an early start on the rafts. We were behind time and still had no clear idea of how far the Subansiri confluence was. The rafts were loaded and we set off across the eddy pool. We knew there were more rapids just ahead but we couldn’t check them properly due to sheer cliffs blocking our way downstream.
We tied off the rafts on the far side of the river and inspected the rapids ahead. They were straightforward and we got through them fine before pausing to inspect the next set. This pause turned into 1.5 hours as we watched and waited for Nino and Arun (who had disappeared downstream) to return. They walked at least 3km downstream and when they eventually made it back to the rafts, they said we would have to walk three sets of rapids.
Nino said that there was a jungle path that would take us passed a bluff and they would be waiting for us somewhere below that. Each raft would be taken fully laden with gear but without us through the rapids and they would wait for us in calmer water downstream.
We all set off across the boulders to find the jungle track. It was tough going as the boulders were big and not easy to negotiate. Phil and I dropped down to the riverside to take a look at the rapids for ourselves. I have to say that I considered them to be no worse that some of the other rapids we had rafted. I think issues over the last few days had left everyone a bit jittery and I felt Nino and Arun had also lost their nerve with regards to having us on board in big rapids.
The jungle path was located and everyone set off to find the rendezvous downstream (which hadn’t really been made clear to us at all) except for Phil and me. We stayed by the river and took pictures of the rafts shooting the rapids. There was a ‘chicken run’ which they choose and it all seemed very easy and harmless so I was still surprised at Nino’s choice to make us all walk.
Rather than walk back up to find the jungle path, Phil and I set off down the river bank as we figured we’d come across everyone eventually. We saw lots of night lines in the water where locals were baiting up heavy lines to catch anything that took the bait. It was a fairly easy walk expect for a few places where we had to negotiate cliffs. At one point we saw Nino and the other rafts on the far side of the river resting. There was a landing spot on our side where we thought they would stop to pick us up but they drifted right by it and disappeared around another corner.
We met up with the others who had taken the jungle path that was now near the river and set off to find the rafts downstream. On the jungle path they’d come across a simple hunters shelter made of banana leaves. Beneath the canopy was a small fire with a frog impaled on a stick being smoked over it.
The path quickly faded and became a maze of bamboo and jungle. I jabbed and cut my head several times on broken bamboo stalks that poked out of the jungle above me as I focused on where I was walking. We got to a point where the path disappeared completely and the ground fell away below us. Tazir climbed/slid his way down to the river to try and find a lower route. Rocks were now being dislodged and I was nervous that someone was going to get hurt by falling debris if we tried to proceed via this route. Some of the others were getting tired as they’d been scrambling and walking through the jungle for a few hours now. I joined Tazir and we found a route down by the river so shouted for everyone to retrace theirs steps and come down to join us. The river here was relatively calm so I was mystified as to why Nino hadn’t stopped to pick us up here and there was still no sign of them downstream. I walked ahead whilst Tazir waited for the others to join him and after a few hundred metres saw the three rafts moored on our side of the river. I called back to Tazir that the rafts were not far now.
Watching everyone scrambling down the river to get to the rafts was a sorry sight as they reminded me of walking wounded. Sanjay’s knees had given up completely and he was in pain. Dhiraj’s face was black and blue and he had to walk carefully over the rocks. Bob was virtually blind without his glasses so couldn’t go fast at all. Alka was very tired and was being helped by Billy. I felt that it was not a good decision to get us all to walk through the jungle for so long as especially as many of the party were not at their peak of physical fitness.
Finally we all plonked ourselves exhausted on the rafts and I asked Nino for biscuits and water for everyone. Time was getting on again and we’d spent most of the day walking or waiting in the heat. It was very frustrating.
We set off on the rafts again and looked for a suitable beach to camp for the night. The river was not being kind to us and the sides were steep and rocky. After a few kilometres or so, we chose a tiny patch of sand and rocks next to a small stream falling into the river from a steep hillside. It was very cramped but we figured that it was the best we’d find. The sun was off the river now and the temperature was falling rapidly again. Everyone scrambled to find a suitable place to pitch tents which brought some interesting improvisations. Phil and I excavated a site by removing sand and rocks to form a flattish plateau. We then just erected that fly sheet and tied it to branches as we couldn’t be bothered with the tent inner itself. Other people strung up fly sheets to overhanging branches and soon a very makeshift camp appeared. The rafters set about getting food and hot water going for tea and coffee.
Everyone took to washing in the side stream to get rid of the grime and dust from today’s exertions. Rup started fishing shortly after and soon hooked (as only Rup can) a small mahseer but lost it. No-one else was fishing so I set up my rod and wandered off upstream. The river was featureless here and running straight so I just side-stepped my way up river casting upstream and retrieving downstream. I saw what looked like leopard tracks in the sand. The light was almost gone as I made my way back downstream to the camp. A few other people had fished but no-one had caught anything.
Supper was good and everyone ate heartily. The day had taken its toll on many of us and we all got an early night. With no real clue as to where the Subansiri confluence was we were all now hoping it was soon, very soon. The Kamla was a great river with excellent looking water however, the uncertainty over camping spots, the amount of surveying required for so many unknown rapids and the relative lack of mahseer (compounded by the dynamiting going on), left us all with the desire to get to the better known water below us (somewhere).
We had an early breakfast and then packed up the camp to make an early start on the rafts. We were behind time and still had no clear idea of how far the Subansiri confluence was. The rafts were loaded and we set off across the eddy pool. We knew there were more rapids just ahead but we couldn’t check them properly due to sheer cliffs blocking our way downstream.
We tied off the rafts on the far side of the river and inspected the rapids ahead. They were straightforward and we got through them fine before pausing to inspect the next set. This pause turned into 1.5 hours as we watched and waited for Nino and Arun (who had disappeared downstream) to return. They walked at least 3km downstream and when they eventually made it back to the rafts, they said we would have to walk three sets of rapids.
Nino said that there was a jungle path that would take us passed a bluff and they would be waiting for us somewhere below that. Each raft would be taken fully laden with gear but without us through the rapids and they would wait for us in calmer water downstream.
We all set off across the boulders to find the jungle track. It was tough going as the boulders were big and not easy to negotiate. Phil and I dropped down to the riverside to take a look at the rapids for ourselves. I have to say that I considered them to be no worse that some of the other rapids we had rafted. I think issues over the last few days had left everyone a bit jittery and I felt Nino and Arun had also lost their nerve with regards to having us on board in big rapids.
The jungle path was located and everyone set off to find the rendezvous downstream (which hadn’t really been made clear to us at all) except for Phil and me. We stayed by the river and took pictures of the rafts shooting the rapids. There was a ‘chicken run’ which they choose and it all seemed very easy and harmless so I was still surprised at Nino’s choice to make us all walk.
Rather than walk back up to find the jungle path, Phil and I set off down the river bank as we figured we’d come across everyone eventually. We saw lots of night lines in the water where locals were baiting up heavy lines to catch anything that took the bait. It was a fairly easy walk expect for a few places where we had to negotiate cliffs. At one point we saw Nino and the other rafts on the far side of the river resting. There was a landing spot on our side where we thought they would stop to pick us up but they drifted right by it and disappeared around another corner.
We met up with the others who had taken the jungle path that was now near the river and set off to find the rafts downstream. On the jungle path they’d come across a simple hunters shelter made of banana leaves. Beneath the canopy was a small fire with a frog impaled on a stick being smoked over it.
The path quickly faded and became a maze of bamboo and jungle. I jabbed and cut my head several times on broken bamboo stalks that poked out of the jungle above me as I focused on where I was walking. We got to a point where the path disappeared completely and the ground fell away below us. Tazir climbed/slid his way down to the river to try and find a lower route. Rocks were now being dislodged and I was nervous that someone was going to get hurt by falling debris if we tried to proceed via this route. Some of the others were getting tired as they’d been scrambling and walking through the jungle for a few hours now. I joined Tazir and we found a route down by the river so shouted for everyone to retrace theirs steps and come down to join us. The river here was relatively calm so I was mystified as to why Nino hadn’t stopped to pick us up here and there was still no sign of them downstream. I walked ahead whilst Tazir waited for the others to join him and after a few hundred metres saw the three rafts moored on our side of the river. I called back to Tazir that the rafts were not far now.
Watching everyone scrambling down the river to get to the rafts was a sorry sight as they reminded me of walking wounded. Sanjay’s knees had given up completely and he was in pain. Dhiraj’s face was black and blue and he had to walk carefully over the rocks. Bob was virtually blind without his glasses so couldn’t go fast at all. Alka was very tired and was being helped by Billy. I felt that it was not a good decision to get us all to walk through the jungle for so long as especially as many of the party were not at their peak of physical fitness.
Finally we all plonked ourselves exhausted on the rafts and I asked Nino for biscuits and water for everyone. Time was getting on again and we’d spent most of the day walking or waiting in the heat. It was very frustrating.
We set off on the rafts again and looked for a suitable beach to camp for the night. The river was not being kind to us and the sides were steep and rocky. After a few kilometres or so, we chose a tiny patch of sand and rocks next to a small stream falling into the river from a steep hillside. It was very cramped but we figured that it was the best we’d find. The sun was off the river now and the temperature was falling rapidly again. Everyone scrambled to find a suitable place to pitch tents which brought some interesting improvisations. Phil and I excavated a site by removing sand and rocks to form a flattish plateau. We then just erected that fly sheet and tied it to branches as we couldn’t be bothered with the tent inner itself. Other people strung up fly sheets to overhanging branches and soon a very makeshift camp appeared. The rafters set about getting food and hot water going for tea and coffee.
Everyone took to washing in the side stream to get rid of the grime and dust from today’s exertions. Rup started fishing shortly after and soon hooked (as only Rup can) a small mahseer but lost it. No-one else was fishing so I set up my rod and wandered off upstream. The river was featureless here and running straight so I just side-stepped my way up river casting upstream and retrieving downstream. I saw what looked like leopard tracks in the sand. The light was almost gone as I made my way back downstream to the camp. A few other people had fished but no-one had caught anything.
Supper was good and everyone ate heartily. The day had taken its toll on many of us and we all got an early night. With no real clue as to where the Subansiri confluence was we were all now hoping it was soon, very soon. The Kamla was a great river with excellent looking water however, the uncertainty over camping spots, the amount of surveying required for so many unknown rapids and the relative lack of mahseer (compounded by the dynamiting going on), left us all with the desire to get to the better known water below us (somewhere).
6th November – Mahseer at last...
I woke at first light following a restless night of angst-ridden dreams about chickens and rapids. I could hear Rup stirring in his tent but other than him and me, no-one else was awake yet. In the dawn half-light, I took my rod and cast a black and gold spoon into the eddy pool where Rup had caught his fish yesterday. On the third cast, I felt a thump as a fish grabbed my spoon 20m out in the river. It felt like a good fish and fought well as others were stirred awake by the commotion of an angler playing a fish by the camp. It was a good mahseer of 21lbs which I tied onto a stringer next to Rup’s from yesterday.
Everyone was up now and fishing as the pool seemed to be yielding results. Rup hooked a fish on a jointed plug but lost it soon after. I moved over to fish the fast shallow water where the rapid falls into the eddy pool and hooked a fish that also felt good. I leant hard against the fish to set the hooks for a few seconds and then all went slack. I reeled in to find that one of the split rings and trebles on the jointed plug had been pulled completely off. The hooks were barbless so the fish would have shed it quickly but it was annoying just the same. The eddy pool action eventually fell quiet so we stopped for breakfast and then anglers headed off in various directions to find new water to fish as the heat of the day took hold.
After lunch Nino took Bob, Sanjay and Billie on one raft to allow them to cast against the deep water by cliffs on the far side of the eddy pool. They drifted into the main current and then came back around in the eddy pool a few times before Nino dropped them ashore on the far side. Sanjay and Bob both caught smallish Boca which they brought back for supper.
Arun’s raft was dragged onto the sandy beach and deflated. The metal frame that Dhiraj had smashed into was bent so it was dismantled and straightened. After letting the raft dry out, the puncture was located and a patch glued into place. The raft was left deflated for the rest of the day and only partially inflated in the evening to test the leak.
Phil had been galvanized into fishing by the action of the last couple of days and we helped get him a rod and reel set up. Billie had given him a reel to use but unfortunately the reel handle had lost an important screw that stopped the handle from falling out when it was being used. We tried various things to fix it but they kept breaking. Eventually, I whittled a small piece of wood into a thin screw-like shape and fixed a plastic disc to one end so it looked like a large drawing pin. This was screwed into the reel handle and seemed to work, as long as Phil was gentle with it.
Rup and I walked upstream to fish the confluence and the rapids above it. Rup landed a 3lb Boca which he killed for the pot and then lost a 5lb mahseer after a short fight. I had three takes on my jointed plug but never managed to see the fish as they all came off.
We all came back to camp for supper and got another fire going. Nino deep fried the Boca that we had caught and it tasted delicious. Rum was now being rationed because last night’s stress-busting alco-fest (combined with all the other nights where rum and whisky was consumed with wanton abandon) had severely impacted our supplies.
We all slept relatively soberly for the first time this trip. Even Dhiraj’s snoring, which would normally reverberate around the camp and ward off tigers, leopards and other wild beasts, was subdued.
Everyone was up now and fishing as the pool seemed to be yielding results. Rup hooked a fish on a jointed plug but lost it soon after. I moved over to fish the fast shallow water where the rapid falls into the eddy pool and hooked a fish that also felt good. I leant hard against the fish to set the hooks for a few seconds and then all went slack. I reeled in to find that one of the split rings and trebles on the jointed plug had been pulled completely off. The hooks were barbless so the fish would have shed it quickly but it was annoying just the same. The eddy pool action eventually fell quiet so we stopped for breakfast and then anglers headed off in various directions to find new water to fish as the heat of the day took hold.
After lunch Nino took Bob, Sanjay and Billie on one raft to allow them to cast against the deep water by cliffs on the far side of the eddy pool. They drifted into the main current and then came back around in the eddy pool a few times before Nino dropped them ashore on the far side. Sanjay and Bob both caught smallish Boca which they brought back for supper.
Arun’s raft was dragged onto the sandy beach and deflated. The metal frame that Dhiraj had smashed into was bent so it was dismantled and straightened. After letting the raft dry out, the puncture was located and a patch glued into place. The raft was left deflated for the rest of the day and only partially inflated in the evening to test the leak.
Phil had been galvanized into fishing by the action of the last couple of days and we helped get him a rod and reel set up. Billie had given him a reel to use but unfortunately the reel handle had lost an important screw that stopped the handle from falling out when it was being used. We tried various things to fix it but they kept breaking. Eventually, I whittled a small piece of wood into a thin screw-like shape and fixed a plastic disc to one end so it looked like a large drawing pin. This was screwed into the reel handle and seemed to work, as long as Phil was gentle with it.
Rup and I walked upstream to fish the confluence and the rapids above it. Rup landed a 3lb Boca which he killed for the pot and then lost a 5lb mahseer after a short fight. I had three takes on my jointed plug but never managed to see the fish as they all came off.
We all came back to camp for supper and got another fire going. Nino deep fried the Boca that we had caught and it tasted delicious. Rum was now being rationed because last night’s stress-busting alco-fest (combined with all the other nights where rum and whisky was consumed with wanton abandon) had severely impacted our supplies.
We all slept relatively soberly for the first time this trip. Even Dhiraj’s snoring, which would normally reverberate around the camp and ward off tigers, leopards and other wild beasts, was subdued.
5th November – A small patch of water...
I woke early and fished my way back down the 3km that Rup and I fished yesterday. Not one fish took or showed any sign of taking. I had decided to walk downstream and wait below the next rapid to take pictures of the rafts coming down again. Chris and Rup joined me later and walked further downstream to fish while I waited for the rafts to arrive. Again, the wait seemed like forever. We couldn’t understand why the rafters hadn’t established a system to get things more organized and efficient.
When they eventually came into view, I got some great action shots of the rafts smashing through the stopper waves of the rapid before climbing aboard and drifting downstream. Spirits were good natured on the rafts as we slowly drifted a long flat stretch of the river. At a couple of places, the rafters pulled into the side to take a look downstream at set of rapids coming up.
All went well until one point where we paused to survey a fairly gentle looking set of rapids and plan our route through them. Arun’s raft with Billy, Alka, Sanjay, Dhiraj and Vikas on board didn’t manage to stop at the side ahead of us. Arun seemed relaxed about it all and I guess assumed that he’d drift down a bit and come to the side of the river further down. The raft disappeared around a bend in the river ahead of us. Our raft and the supply raft had stopped and we were clambering off downstream (I was fishing) to look at the rapids ahead just around the bend. We figured we’d see Arun’s raft when we got around the corner but he was nowhere to be seen. We could see the rapids ahead and they looked fairly straight and gentle so we guessed that Arun must have shot them immediately without stopping to look first.
We made our way back to the rafts and set off to shoot the rapids ahead. Nino asked Ito to take the supply raft to go ahead as it was lighter and they’d be able to check the route and signal to us if there were any problems in the rapid. As we drifted towards the head of the rapid, the supply raft was 100m in front and commencing its bumpy ride through them. We saw the supply raft lurch sideways and then suddenly both Ito and Tilak disappeared into the water. I was sitting in the middle of our raft and was the highest so shouted to Nino, “They’ve been thrown in!” We drifted helplessly towards the rapids and watched as both rafters emerged from the waves and struggled back onto their raft. Tilak managed to get to the oars and stabilize the raft whilst Ito hung onto the side. We were now taking the same route that the supply raft took and Nino was in the process of lining up our raft to commence shooting the rapid. At that point I noticed Arun on the left bank running across the rocks waving frantically at us.
Arun had decided to take the raft down the rapid without surveying it first. The rapid did indeed look fairly innocuous until his raft hit a hole in the river behind a huge submerged boulder. The water downstream of the sunken boulder created a body of stationary or reverse-flow water. When Arun’s raft fell into this hole the raft immediately stopped. The sudden change of speed hurled Alka from the raft into the rapid her helmet was torn from her head by the force of the water and she lost an earring. Dhiraj’s was thrown forward and had his face smashed hard against the raft’s metal frame. Fortunately, no one else on the raft was ejected or injured and they were able to rescue Alka and get the raft into quiet water below the rapid. Arun had then run back upstream across the rocks to try to forewarn us of the danger. But he was too late.
“Arun says go right, go right!” I shouted to Nino, but Nino was otherwise engaged as one of his oars had come away from its rowlock. We were a big heavy raft with eight people and gear on board so the remaining paddlers were in no position to change course in the rapidly accelerating river. I scanned ahead in the water looking for holes, rocks, anything that looked dangerous but couldn’t see anything. Arun was still signalling and shouting at us from the bank and then I saw it ahead. It was barely noticeable at first, just a patch of white frothy water behind a small bulge in the river where water was flowing over something below the surface. We were too close now to take any avoiding action so I just screamed “Hold on!” and grabbed a rope that was securing luggage to the raft.
The raft rode over the top of the bulge in the river, slid sideways into the eddy pool and stopped dead. The weight and momentum of the raft forced the bows deep into the frothing eddy and I saw Phil, Bob and Amit disappear into the foaming water. Bob, Amit, Chris, Nino and Tazir were thrown into the river and it felt like the raft would flip completely. Miraculously it didn’t but only Rup, Phil and I remained on board. I still had my fishing rod in one hand and was clinging to the luggage ropes with the other as the raft was spat from the eddy pool and continued downstream.
Chris (who would no doubt be saying “I told you so!” when he finally got back on board) had been desperately clinging to a rope in the water and then a wave pushed him straight back in to the raft. Nino had by now managed to get back into the raft and was getting control of the oars. Phil had managed to grab Amit’s arm who was hanging from the front of the raft and I helped drag him back on board. Then we realized Bob and Tazir were missing.
When the raft first hit the eddy pool, Bob had been sucked from the raft and fell into the stopper wave formed behind the submerged boulder. He had been tumbled round and round in the water unable to determine what was up, down, left or right and his glasses had been torn off in the water. Fortunately for him the stopper wave eventually relinquished its hold and spat him out. We saw him in the river 20m behind the raft drifting downstream. Then I spotted Tazir about 15m behind us in the water, under the water actually. Tazir had been thrown from the raft but was not wearing a lifejacket and had exhausted himself just trying to keep at the surface. I saw his head emerge from the river and then he disappeared again, his arms flailing about trying to find strength. Our raft was too big to stop and rescue Tazir so I bellowed at the Ito and Tilak (who were alongside us in slack water) to throw a line to Tazir upstream. They kind of understood what I was saying but couldn’t see Tazir so didn’t know where to go to. Fortunately Bob had also seen a fuzzy Tazir in front of him and grabbed him so they could both struggle ashore. Nino managed to get our raft into the side and everyone flopped exhausted onto the rocks wet and bedraggled.
We got a fire going and everyone got round it to dry out and warm up. People were shivering and some were in mild shock. Fortunately the sun was on us so it and the fire warmed us quickly. Dhiraj’s cheek was going black and blue and his top lip was swelling and bleeding badly. Biscuits were found and handed out to give us all energy. There was lots of talk and banter but I think we all knew that was a very lucky escape. Tazir had, in his words, “given up hope” until Bob grabbed him and dragged him ashore. I got a photo of everyone shouting and waving as a ‘we survived!’ memento. We all shook hands and hugged at our lucky escape.
I wandered back upstream to try and spot the hole in the river that had caught all three of our rafts. It was even more difficult to see from the riverbank and looked so innocuous now. Looking at the rapid as a whole, it appeared almost childishly simple to raft, far easier to negotiate than the other rapids we had rafted earlier and definitely less frightening than the one Chris had freaked out over.
After about an hour, we had pretty much dried out but no-one was in any mood to get back in the rafts so we had a discussion with Nino about how to proceed. Arun’s raft had been punctured during their journey and so this would have to be repaired soon. We could see an eddy pool downstream beyond a small confluence and a shallow rapid. It was decided to gingerly make our way across the river, beyond the confluence and beach in the eddy pool downstream where we would camp for two nights to allow repairs to be made to Arun’s raft. Just then a commotion attracted everyone’s attention. One of the two remaining chickens had managed to escape from it’s bamboo cage and had fallen from the raft into the river in its bid for freedom. It was clucking wildly and flailing about in the water as it got swept downstream. Amit jumped in and recovered the feckless bird which lightened the mood of us all somewhat. I suspected that these two chickens would not last the night anyway as we had no mahseer to eat and a hearty meal was in order to boost morale.
We got back onto the rafts and headed off towards the eddy pool 1K downstream. We drifted by the confluence which looked gorgeous and everyone was eager to fish it later or tomorrow. The small rapid before the eddy pool was very shallow and our raft repeatedly dragged on stones as we drifted down. At one point the raft stuck completely so we had to climb out and cajole it over the boulders. Arun’s raft caught up with us and drifted by but Arun forgot to get his large oars out of the way. I was in the water looking back at the raft when I saw Arun’s oar about to decapitate Chris, Rup and Nino in the back. “Heads down!” I barked and we all ducked as Arun’s oar narrowly swept over our heads. What next!
We made it to the eddy pool which was perfect, deep and big and very fishy with a lovely sandy beach for us to camp on. The sun was sinking behind the mountains so we made camp quickly and got a fire going to continue drying things out. Dhiraj’s cheek continued to swell which was causing the wound in his lip to open and bleed. We applied ointment and gave him painkillers to help him take his mind off it. We figured that nothing was broken otherwise he’d be in much more pain which offered some encouragement for him.
Nino and the boys made us tea and biscuits and then Rup set up his rod and cast a silver spate spoon in the reverse eddy right in front of the camp. Suddenly he let out a cry and his rod was bent into a fish. After a short but powerful fight a beautiful golden mahseer of 13lbs was beached. It brought tremendous encouragement to us all as we were beginning to lose faith that the golden mahseer were still in the river. Once again Rup did the business as he’s so often done and pulled out a mahseer when we all thought there were none there. Other rods were hastily assembled and we all set up casting. Then Rup lost another fish from the eddy pool and then another soon after which really got out spirits up, mind you, we all secretly wanted Rup to stop fishing now so that we could have a chance. We all split up and fished the eddy pool, confluence and other likely looking spots along the river but no other fish showed that afternoon.
We returned to camp and gathered more wood to build an even bigger fire for the evening as light faded quickly and the temperature dropped. As I suspected, the chickens were hastily dispatched and now formed the centerpiece of the evening feast of chicken curry, aloo, dal, rice and pudding. Red wine and rum was produced as we warmed ourselves around the fire to take away the aches and pains of the day. Bob was having difficulty seeing without his glasses and would stagger semi-blind around the camp. Dhiraj was being extraordinarily stoical about his face and the pain that was obviously hurting. We had deliberately withheld showing him his face in a mirror for fear that it would scare him still further. We eventually reneged and when he saw himself he was indeed shocked at how big his check and top lip had become.
At one point in the evening Tazir came over to Bob by the fire and knelt beside him. He had to get someone to translate his words as his English was not good. Somewhat emotionally he told Bob that he owed him his life and that he would never forgot what Bob had done to save him. He really had given up hope and was sure that he would drown in the rapid. Tazir then handed Bob his small machete that he had made himself and had had all his life. It was a token of his gratitude and indebtedness to Bob. It was a poignant moment and we all cheered and applauded with our heads full of alcohol.
All of us went to our tents that night with personal reflections of an ordeal that no-one expected from a very simple straight set of rapids 1km behind us.
When they eventually came into view, I got some great action shots of the rafts smashing through the stopper waves of the rapid before climbing aboard and drifting downstream. Spirits were good natured on the rafts as we slowly drifted a long flat stretch of the river. At a couple of places, the rafters pulled into the side to take a look downstream at set of rapids coming up.
All went well until one point where we paused to survey a fairly gentle looking set of rapids and plan our route through them. Arun’s raft with Billy, Alka, Sanjay, Dhiraj and Vikas on board didn’t manage to stop at the side ahead of us. Arun seemed relaxed about it all and I guess assumed that he’d drift down a bit and come to the side of the river further down. The raft disappeared around a bend in the river ahead of us. Our raft and the supply raft had stopped and we were clambering off downstream (I was fishing) to look at the rapids ahead just around the bend. We figured we’d see Arun’s raft when we got around the corner but he was nowhere to be seen. We could see the rapids ahead and they looked fairly straight and gentle so we guessed that Arun must have shot them immediately without stopping to look first.
We made our way back to the rafts and set off to shoot the rapids ahead. Nino asked Ito to take the supply raft to go ahead as it was lighter and they’d be able to check the route and signal to us if there were any problems in the rapid. As we drifted towards the head of the rapid, the supply raft was 100m in front and commencing its bumpy ride through them. We saw the supply raft lurch sideways and then suddenly both Ito and Tilak disappeared into the water. I was sitting in the middle of our raft and was the highest so shouted to Nino, “They’ve been thrown in!” We drifted helplessly towards the rapids and watched as both rafters emerged from the waves and struggled back onto their raft. Tilak managed to get to the oars and stabilize the raft whilst Ito hung onto the side. We were now taking the same route that the supply raft took and Nino was in the process of lining up our raft to commence shooting the rapid. At that point I noticed Arun on the left bank running across the rocks waving frantically at us.
Arun had decided to take the raft down the rapid without surveying it first. The rapid did indeed look fairly innocuous until his raft hit a hole in the river behind a huge submerged boulder. The water downstream of the sunken boulder created a body of stationary or reverse-flow water. When Arun’s raft fell into this hole the raft immediately stopped. The sudden change of speed hurled Alka from the raft into the rapid her helmet was torn from her head by the force of the water and she lost an earring. Dhiraj’s was thrown forward and had his face smashed hard against the raft’s metal frame. Fortunately, no one else on the raft was ejected or injured and they were able to rescue Alka and get the raft into quiet water below the rapid. Arun had then run back upstream across the rocks to try to forewarn us of the danger. But he was too late.
“Arun says go right, go right!” I shouted to Nino, but Nino was otherwise engaged as one of his oars had come away from its rowlock. We were a big heavy raft with eight people and gear on board so the remaining paddlers were in no position to change course in the rapidly accelerating river. I scanned ahead in the water looking for holes, rocks, anything that looked dangerous but couldn’t see anything. Arun was still signalling and shouting at us from the bank and then I saw it ahead. It was barely noticeable at first, just a patch of white frothy water behind a small bulge in the river where water was flowing over something below the surface. We were too close now to take any avoiding action so I just screamed “Hold on!” and grabbed a rope that was securing luggage to the raft.
The raft rode over the top of the bulge in the river, slid sideways into the eddy pool and stopped dead. The weight and momentum of the raft forced the bows deep into the frothing eddy and I saw Phil, Bob and Amit disappear into the foaming water. Bob, Amit, Chris, Nino and Tazir were thrown into the river and it felt like the raft would flip completely. Miraculously it didn’t but only Rup, Phil and I remained on board. I still had my fishing rod in one hand and was clinging to the luggage ropes with the other as the raft was spat from the eddy pool and continued downstream.
Chris (who would no doubt be saying “I told you so!” when he finally got back on board) had been desperately clinging to a rope in the water and then a wave pushed him straight back in to the raft. Nino had by now managed to get back into the raft and was getting control of the oars. Phil had managed to grab Amit’s arm who was hanging from the front of the raft and I helped drag him back on board. Then we realized Bob and Tazir were missing.
When the raft first hit the eddy pool, Bob had been sucked from the raft and fell into the stopper wave formed behind the submerged boulder. He had been tumbled round and round in the water unable to determine what was up, down, left or right and his glasses had been torn off in the water. Fortunately for him the stopper wave eventually relinquished its hold and spat him out. We saw him in the river 20m behind the raft drifting downstream. Then I spotted Tazir about 15m behind us in the water, under the water actually. Tazir had been thrown from the raft but was not wearing a lifejacket and had exhausted himself just trying to keep at the surface. I saw his head emerge from the river and then he disappeared again, his arms flailing about trying to find strength. Our raft was too big to stop and rescue Tazir so I bellowed at the Ito and Tilak (who were alongside us in slack water) to throw a line to Tazir upstream. They kind of understood what I was saying but couldn’t see Tazir so didn’t know where to go to. Fortunately Bob had also seen a fuzzy Tazir in front of him and grabbed him so they could both struggle ashore. Nino managed to get our raft into the side and everyone flopped exhausted onto the rocks wet and bedraggled.
We got a fire going and everyone got round it to dry out and warm up. People were shivering and some were in mild shock. Fortunately the sun was on us so it and the fire warmed us quickly. Dhiraj’s cheek was going black and blue and his top lip was swelling and bleeding badly. Biscuits were found and handed out to give us all energy. There was lots of talk and banter but I think we all knew that was a very lucky escape. Tazir had, in his words, “given up hope” until Bob grabbed him and dragged him ashore. I got a photo of everyone shouting and waving as a ‘we survived!’ memento. We all shook hands and hugged at our lucky escape.
I wandered back upstream to try and spot the hole in the river that had caught all three of our rafts. It was even more difficult to see from the riverbank and looked so innocuous now. Looking at the rapid as a whole, it appeared almost childishly simple to raft, far easier to negotiate than the other rapids we had rafted earlier and definitely less frightening than the one Chris had freaked out over.
After about an hour, we had pretty much dried out but no-one was in any mood to get back in the rafts so we had a discussion with Nino about how to proceed. Arun’s raft had been punctured during their journey and so this would have to be repaired soon. We could see an eddy pool downstream beyond a small confluence and a shallow rapid. It was decided to gingerly make our way across the river, beyond the confluence and beach in the eddy pool downstream where we would camp for two nights to allow repairs to be made to Arun’s raft. Just then a commotion attracted everyone’s attention. One of the two remaining chickens had managed to escape from it’s bamboo cage and had fallen from the raft into the river in its bid for freedom. It was clucking wildly and flailing about in the water as it got swept downstream. Amit jumped in and recovered the feckless bird which lightened the mood of us all somewhat. I suspected that these two chickens would not last the night anyway as we had no mahseer to eat and a hearty meal was in order to boost morale.
We got back onto the rafts and headed off towards the eddy pool 1K downstream. We drifted by the confluence which looked gorgeous and everyone was eager to fish it later or tomorrow. The small rapid before the eddy pool was very shallow and our raft repeatedly dragged on stones as we drifted down. At one point the raft stuck completely so we had to climb out and cajole it over the boulders. Arun’s raft caught up with us and drifted by but Arun forgot to get his large oars out of the way. I was in the water looking back at the raft when I saw Arun’s oar about to decapitate Chris, Rup and Nino in the back. “Heads down!” I barked and we all ducked as Arun’s oar narrowly swept over our heads. What next!
We made it to the eddy pool which was perfect, deep and big and very fishy with a lovely sandy beach for us to camp on. The sun was sinking behind the mountains so we made camp quickly and got a fire going to continue drying things out. Dhiraj’s cheek continued to swell which was causing the wound in his lip to open and bleed. We applied ointment and gave him painkillers to help him take his mind off it. We figured that nothing was broken otherwise he’d be in much more pain which offered some encouragement for him.
Nino and the boys made us tea and biscuits and then Rup set up his rod and cast a silver spate spoon in the reverse eddy right in front of the camp. Suddenly he let out a cry and his rod was bent into a fish. After a short but powerful fight a beautiful golden mahseer of 13lbs was beached. It brought tremendous encouragement to us all as we were beginning to lose faith that the golden mahseer were still in the river. Once again Rup did the business as he’s so often done and pulled out a mahseer when we all thought there were none there. Other rods were hastily assembled and we all set up casting. Then Rup lost another fish from the eddy pool and then another soon after which really got out spirits up, mind you, we all secretly wanted Rup to stop fishing now so that we could have a chance. We all split up and fished the eddy pool, confluence and other likely looking spots along the river but no other fish showed that afternoon.
We returned to camp and gathered more wood to build an even bigger fire for the evening as light faded quickly and the temperature dropped. As I suspected, the chickens were hastily dispatched and now formed the centerpiece of the evening feast of chicken curry, aloo, dal, rice and pudding. Red wine and rum was produced as we warmed ourselves around the fire to take away the aches and pains of the day. Bob was having difficulty seeing without his glasses and would stagger semi-blind around the camp. Dhiraj was being extraordinarily stoical about his face and the pain that was obviously hurting. We had deliberately withheld showing him his face in a mirror for fear that it would scare him still further. We eventually reneged and when he saw himself he was indeed shocked at how big his check and top lip had become.
At one point in the evening Tazir came over to Bob by the fire and knelt beside him. He had to get someone to translate his words as his English was not good. Somewhat emotionally he told Bob that he owed him his life and that he would never forgot what Bob had done to save him. He really had given up hope and was sure that he would drown in the rapid. Tazir then handed Bob his small machete that he had made himself and had had all his life. It was a token of his gratitude and indebtedness to Bob. It was a poignant moment and we all cheered and applauded with our heads full of alcohol.
All of us went to our tents that night with personal reflections of an ordeal that no-one expected from a very simple straight set of rapids 1km behind us.
4th November – Dynamite...
I slept in as I was very tired from yesterday’s exertions over the rocks. I emerged from my tent to see a few anglers fishing in the big pool in front of the camp. Spirits were a little low after yesterday. Rup had heard dynamiting upstream and the rafters had seen dynamiting downstream when they went to survey the next series of rapids. They were even given a 7lb Boca by the dynamiters who were carrying a 40lb+ haul of fish away from the river. It seemed that the golden mahseer had either disappeared downstream to the Subansiri or else they were freaked out by the dynamiting and not in a feeding mood.
Rup and I fished downstream for about 3km in really good looking water without a touch. We clambered and climbed our way around a sheer cliff to reach a really good looking pool. I used my fish finder in this pool to get a feel for what was out there. The fish alert signal bleeped regularly at me but I reminded myself that it didn’t mean they were mahseer. I took the slow action as an opportunity to wash my clothes and myself in a rock pool.
There were amazing boulders strewn along the river bank with patterns and strata that made them look like giant boiled sweets. There were also many beautiful butterflies and plants to distract us from the lack of action in the water. The sky clouded over in the afternoon and a light rain fell for a spell which cooled things down.
Back at camp, Sanjay managed to hook a good Boca of about 12lbs in the afternoon which fought well for 15 minutes before coming off. This lifted our spirits a little when we heard about it and then Alka hooked and lost a Boca near the camp just as the light was fading. The fireside talk over supper discussed moving further downstream to reach the Subansiri earlier than planned in order to get away from the water disturbed by the dynamiting.
Rup and I fished downstream for about 3km in really good looking water without a touch. We clambered and climbed our way around a sheer cliff to reach a really good looking pool. I used my fish finder in this pool to get a feel for what was out there. The fish alert signal bleeped regularly at me but I reminded myself that it didn’t mean they were mahseer. I took the slow action as an opportunity to wash my clothes and myself in a rock pool.
There were amazing boulders strewn along the river bank with patterns and strata that made them look like giant boiled sweets. There were also many beautiful butterflies and plants to distract us from the lack of action in the water. The sky clouded over in the afternoon and a light rain fell for a spell which cooled things down.
Back at camp, Sanjay managed to hook a good Boca of about 12lbs in the afternoon which fought well for 15 minutes before coming off. This lifted our spirits a little when we heard about it and then Alka hooked and lost a Boca near the camp just as the light was fading. The fireside talk over supper discussed moving further downstream to reach the Subansiri earlier than planned in order to get away from the water disturbed by the dynamiting.
3rd November – A rapid phobia...
I woke at first light a little groggy from the beer last night and went downstream to fish in the chilly morning mist. I clambered over some massive boulders and fished a nice looking series of eddies that formed at the side of a rapid. I was fishing with a small copper spoon and caught two Boca from one pool, the larger of which I killed to take back to camp. Arun joined me later and also took a smallish Boca on a spinner which he killed too.
I returned to camp for a late breakfast and saw Chris looking in a terrible state. He was licking his wounds from the various falls last night and cursing our taunts and lack of sympathy. The rafters took forever to pack up camp again. Chris, Billy and Alka decided they would walk round the next two sets of rapids as the rafters had said they would be tricky. I said I would walk down too but take pictures of the rafts shooting the rapids to capture the action. A chorus of chicken noises erupted from those that were going to shoot the rapids towards those that were not. We clambered downstream and waited on the rocks for the rafts to appear. It took an eternity for the rafts to get loaded during which time, Chris became more and more convinced that the rapid we were looking at was unraftable. True, it looked violent and water was churning down it. True, it looked technical and there was no simple clear path through it. However, the raft captains had checked it and seemed happy that they could negotiate it. Chris’ paranoia was rubbing off on Billy and Alka now and they all agreed that the rafts must be stopped and carried around the rapid instead. We continued debating and then the rafts came into view and shot the first rapid. I ran to a high rock and whistled and waved at them to go to the side and not shoot the next rapid. All three rafts found back eddies to moor up in and we had a chat.
Nino was confident that they could have negotiated the rapids but now that would not be possible. Because I had called them over to the side, they would not be able to get the rafts onto the right entry point in order to safely shoot the next rapid. I couldn’t understand why it wasn’t possible to haul the rafts back upstream in the eddy pools to get a better trajectory but Nino insisted that this was not possible. So, the only course of action was to offload the three rafts and walk our entire camp belongings and rafts around the rapid. This took the rest of the day to complete and many, many trips from the rafts across car-sized boulders to a small patch of sand 200m downstream. It was sweltering work and hazardous. A few people slipped on the rocks but fortunately there were no injuries. As the light was fading, one of the rafts was dragged by eight people over the rocks and lowered back into the river. The other two rafts would have to wait until tomorrow. Everyone sat exhausted and drank water. A few of us fished halfheartedly but mostly people just relaxed and discussed how we could avoid doing anything like that again. It was agreed that tomorrow would not be a rafting day to allow everything to get reloaded and sorted out. We had only managed to raft a few hundred metres today so a longer raft trip would be necessary the day after tomorrow to make up for the distance lost. The raft captains were given the all clear to take decisions about which rapids could be rafted and which couldn’t. A series of signals was agreed that could be used to abort a raft shooting a rapid if an emergency arose.
We had missed lunch due moving all the camp and raft gear so a big supper was made. Chris got utterly wasted on beer and rum again and disappeared into his tent early. Tazir made ‘bug’ chutney which was basically garlic, ginger, bamboo shoots and crushed bugs mixed together. It actually tasted rather good as long as you didn’t think too hard about it and ignored the bugs’ legs that got stuck between your teeth.
Everyone got to bed relatively early after supper due to the afternoon’s efforts taking their toll.
I returned to camp for a late breakfast and saw Chris looking in a terrible state. He was licking his wounds from the various falls last night and cursing our taunts and lack of sympathy. The rafters took forever to pack up camp again. Chris, Billy and Alka decided they would walk round the next two sets of rapids as the rafters had said they would be tricky. I said I would walk down too but take pictures of the rafts shooting the rapids to capture the action. A chorus of chicken noises erupted from those that were going to shoot the rapids towards those that were not. We clambered downstream and waited on the rocks for the rafts to appear. It took an eternity for the rafts to get loaded during which time, Chris became more and more convinced that the rapid we were looking at was unraftable. True, it looked violent and water was churning down it. True, it looked technical and there was no simple clear path through it. However, the raft captains had checked it and seemed happy that they could negotiate it. Chris’ paranoia was rubbing off on Billy and Alka now and they all agreed that the rafts must be stopped and carried around the rapid instead. We continued debating and then the rafts came into view and shot the first rapid. I ran to a high rock and whistled and waved at them to go to the side and not shoot the next rapid. All three rafts found back eddies to moor up in and we had a chat.
Nino was confident that they could have negotiated the rapids but now that would not be possible. Because I had called them over to the side, they would not be able to get the rafts onto the right entry point in order to safely shoot the next rapid. I couldn’t understand why it wasn’t possible to haul the rafts back upstream in the eddy pools to get a better trajectory but Nino insisted that this was not possible. So, the only course of action was to offload the three rafts and walk our entire camp belongings and rafts around the rapid. This took the rest of the day to complete and many, many trips from the rafts across car-sized boulders to a small patch of sand 200m downstream. It was sweltering work and hazardous. A few people slipped on the rocks but fortunately there were no injuries. As the light was fading, one of the rafts was dragged by eight people over the rocks and lowered back into the river. The other two rafts would have to wait until tomorrow. Everyone sat exhausted and drank water. A few of us fished halfheartedly but mostly people just relaxed and discussed how we could avoid doing anything like that again. It was agreed that tomorrow would not be a rafting day to allow everything to get reloaded and sorted out. We had only managed to raft a few hundred metres today so a longer raft trip would be necessary the day after tomorrow to make up for the distance lost. The raft captains were given the all clear to take decisions about which rapids could be rafted and which couldn’t. A series of signals was agreed that could be used to abort a raft shooting a rapid if an emergency arose.
We had missed lunch due moving all the camp and raft gear so a big supper was made. Chris got utterly wasted on beer and rum again and disappeared into his tent early. Tazir made ‘bug’ chutney which was basically garlic, ginger, bamboo shoots and crushed bugs mixed together. It actually tasted rather good as long as you didn’t think too hard about it and ignored the bugs’ legs that got stuck between your teeth.
Everyone got to bed relatively early after supper due to the afternoon’s efforts taking their toll.
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