lets go fishing: October 2015

………………………………………………………………………………………………….. Fishing again in Karnataka ( The Mad Monkey episode)

To all my Fishy Friends out there. Hello! Have a good Day !

The Lion is back after 5 months with another Fishy adventure from Karnataka and to be honest with you all ! The Catches were Good but the Fishing was BAD !

Lol … yes you read it right ! It is so unlike of me to have a Bad trip , but it sure makes an interesting post to read , like a Bollywood movie that has lots of action, drama, suspense and of course the evil Villain

Note: ( In this post names of the persons has been changed and places is withheld to protect the identity of the persons respecting their right to privacy and this post is written only with a mere intention to educate anglers about the hazards of fishing with total strangers, depicted here is one of the many types of anglers out there in this Fishy world - later on in another post I will elaborate more about all the types of anglers I have met and dealt with throughout the journey of my Angling life ;-P )

As you all know that I regularly keep getting mails from new anglers seeking knowledge about fishing and I almost religiously try to reply and help them at the earliest convenient time I can spare despite my busy schedule.

There was an angler who use to contact me from a sleepy port town of Karnataka, often asking for tips to catch fish from the rocks , he had tried all tricks available on the net but failed to get some decent size fish as they kept cutting him on the rocks , initially his conversation began with small chats and then the lists of queries started to get a bit longer , he then asked for my cell number and it was given , he said he was desperate to win his fight against the fish which kept on hijacking his lures , I gave him some important details about fighting the fish and he acted upon it successfully taking out Fish after Fish and he even called me up several times to thank me saying " Sayed bhai your tips were the ultimate help for me ! Other anglers use to just tell me to change my reel or rod or try a different knot but only your tips got me Fish ! Sayed bhai if your knowledge thru phone can help me so much then it is my desire to fish with you and learn more from you ! Why don't you please come over here and fish with me Sayed bhai ? It will be an Honour to fish with you SIR ! " these words were in his regular requests and I use to laugh it off citing my busy work schedule until one day the Fishing Bug resurfaced and bit me hard! I now started day dreaming about fishing in office

Dreaming about Fish and Mermaids

Now it was the time to seriously take a leave and do some quality fishing as my Lures were literally starving and desperate for the taste of fresh fish blood on their sharp claw like hooks

I took up the invitation from Karnataka and decided to go there with a friend , when I informed my host to book our room in the Hotel he was absolutely ecstatic ! Our train tickets were booked and suddenly a day before the departure all plans seem to collapse at the last moments when my friend cited urgent meeting as the reason to back out but I decided to stick to the plan, I boarded the Kochuveli express from Panvel and reached my destination in the morning to find my host waiting for me at the platform although it was a bit hard to recognize him as he looked a bit different from his facebook pictures , judging from his nose and colour anybody could blindly declare that he was born under the Horn of Africa (LOL ) but its true that he was very much Indian , our Formal handshakes were followed by the emotional Jaddu ki Jhappi ( Hugs) because my host was euphoric and animated in his expressions " Sayed bhai I still cannot believe that you are in front of me . " were his repeated declarations until I held his hand firmly and said in jest " well then I'll have to pinch you hard enough to make you believe of my painful presence ha haa haaa do you want that ? " on the station my host requested me to stay in his house as his wife is gone for a month and he is staying alone , me staying at the Hotel will result in wastage of time in his coming there and picking up and dropping me after every fishing session plus he also wanted to chat a lot regarding his fishy queries . Since I had come only for 2 & half days ,I obliged to the request of my host and went along with him , upon entering his house I was greeted by a strange odour that had permeated everywhere , no Tv , no Fridge! no wardrobe cupboard ! his rented house did not even have a single bed in any room, bed mattress was on the floor it was fine with me as I was used to even sleeping on the rocks by the seaside while fishing thru the night and I had not come this far for the comforts of a cozy bed but only to hook some decent size Beauty, take pictures and brag about it on my blog ;-) the only things he had was an old rumbling window AC , a laptop , a cheap dslr camera and an electric stove for cooking food " Sorry Sayed bhai the bathroom lights are not working " declared my host and I said " its alright I have brought my fishing head lamp " all around the house tell tale signs of recently done incomplete cleaning were visible , the house looked as if it was not cleaned for months ! I could sense a lot of negativity floating around in the house , here I was stuck !! I could not move out to some hotel without offending my host , that was something I wouldn't do !!

After breakfast from a local restaurant we returned to room and chatted till lunch and my host had prepared Bengali style red snapper curry which was very tasty .

I am told that he will introduce me to two of his local angler friends who also are great fan of my catches and are eager to meet me then we shall all be fishing together behind a remote mountain , I meet the two local anglers " baashit and Shams " (of these two only the latter seemed mature adult of 40 while baashit was just a college going kid who was more interested in fiddling with my host's camera than fishing) the trekking begins almost immediately , we are now going down a mountain thru dense vegetation of closely clustered bushes and trees, our zigzag path was made by the rainwater flowing down towards the sea, it’s the most dangerous trail as I was cautiously aware of the risk of trespassing thru the King Cobra and Viper territory as this was a rainforest , it took us more than 30 mins to descend to the treacherous rocky shore with deep water , very soon everyone except my host is casting in all directions, I was busy casting until I caught his curious stare , after an hour of casting I decide to take a break for releasing hot water in some quiet corner and I returned to find my host trying to look casual while inspecting my tackle with magnified intensity and a little envy, strangely he struck to me as a far from stable character , intelligent but short of wisdom and full of malice !!

After the brief break my casting resumes and after sending lots of colorful luring offers down below , finally I manage to attract a sexy Beauty and this time it’s the much awaited silver beauty called Barramundi which came after a gap of one & half years , no sooner the fish is out of the water my host pounces on the fish trying to hold it unsuccessfully while I am repeatedly telling him to wait till the fish is taken a little away from the water where there is no danger of the fish falling back in the water, little does he heed as the struggling fish slipped two times from his hands leaving him with two longs cuts on his thumb , now he backs out with his bloodied hand , I order my obedient lure to release the fish from its clutching hooks and dedicated this catch to my Host and gift him the entire Fish , he says " Sayed bhai you take this and all other catches that are about come later to Mumbai " and I flatly refuse the offer reminding him that it’s the Quality Fishing time and good memories that brought me here and not fish meat ! I had never taken back fish to Mumbai when I last fished in Karnataka, Kanyakumari and Gujarat ,

Far out on a distant rock suddenly Shams also catches a juvenile grouper on bait and I am shocked to see my barefooted host behaving like a Mad Monkey hopping from rock to rock risking life & limbs only to handle the fish, on the way he fell several times after slipping on the wet rocks and even sprained his ankle ,also watching these antics is his friend baashit cackling and laughing like a Hyena ,

" he is a strange man ! That's why his wife left him " baashit begins disclosing and I am shocked again for two reasons (1.) knowing about my host's private life (2.) this info coming from the one whom he considers a friend

I immediately move away to the next rock far from the gossip monger ! I am not here to skinder ! it's not my style ! that's why when Gajodhar bhaiya use to call me to fish in Powai lake , Mumbai. I always came up with excuses for not showing up ;-)

Its already sunset when we start ascending the high mountain we came down from ,Believe me guys it was a punishing 1hour climb with all our backpacks and fishing rods, gaffs etc the absence of a torch made the climb more dangerous, lest we step on a snake then we are finished , I had this small but strong headlamp as my only solace thru the tormenting journey upwards . My host gives the Barramundi to Shams for safe custody as we don't have a refrigerator , We pick up dinner on the way home and after dinner I faced a never ending list of questions related to fishing and I patiently replied to each and every one of them with outmost sincerity. finally my visibly enlightened host allows me to sleep around 1am .

************************************ End of Day -1 ************************************

Day -2 we wake up late and lethargic due to the strenuous workout of the previous day now after breakfast we hurry to meet Shams who is waiting for us ready to go at another fishy spot , we reach there and start our casting , the Barometric pressure indicated an unfavorable fishing time and it was right ! No fish were hooked by any of us , my host & his friends were claiming the murky colour of the water as the main reason for the fish not biting , Shams invites me to his House for Lunch and I politely tell him that I cannot accept his invitation unless my host approves of it , my Host then tells me " Sayed bhai ! Shams here is also a great fan of your catches and has been following you with equal zeal . Please do grace his house with your presence " I humbly accept the invitation and made sure that we went there with a box of sweets . Shams served us some lip smacking yummy food it was the very Barra that I had caught the other day . Our evening session was planned after sunset at a place which is my host's favorite fishing point , he claims to have caught all his fish from that place and here also the results were the same as morning , I always fish according to my instincts that’s what governs my lure selections and colours and duration of casting and the interesting points to cast from ! if it tells me to keep casting then I may keep casting all night long , this time I did not even unpack my rod because this place is a finger like jetty made out of huge rocks near a fishing harbour where all fishing boats are anchored to unload their catches , the rocks of this jetty is an open toilet for the laborers who work on the boats , the entire area is stinking and you really have to watch your step while walking on the rocks , my Host asks me to start fishing there and I said that we do have a place called the Worli gutter in Mumbai and some danglers love to catch Barras and snappers from these crappy waters and some consume them while some sell them in auction at fish markets . If I didn't fish in those crappy places then why would I make an exception today ? I told my host that he can fish there as long as he wants I will stand at a safe distance and give him company . Shams too packs up after casting for an hour and joins me , he said he also doesn't like coming here because of all the filth . while my host is enjoying his fishy moments moving barefooted on the rocks without any torch or headlamp , we are being attacked by hundreds of mosquitoes buzzing around our ears , they bravely seem to challenge us and bite .. Lol.. Finally at 10.45pm my host decides to packup for the day , its visibly evident that he is unhappy with me for not fishing at his favourite fishy point ! And I don't care a bit about it because nobody can force me to fish where I don't want to !! , Shams takes leave and we hurriedly search for any open restaurants at this late hour in a sleepy town most of them have already closed , finally we find one place just about to down its shutter at 11pm , we are lucky enough to get Chicken masala and Parothas , I always made sure I paid for every food expenses and mineral water bottles during my stay here .-----End of Day -2

******************************The Long Night Begins *************************************

We now reach home with our dinner at 11.30pm , I placed the dinner parcel besides me and I am just about to remove my socks when my host suddenly asked me a Shocking question " Sayed bhai what is the purpose of your visit to this town ? "

I stared blankly for a horrible still moment ! Not believing what I just heard & Giving him one more chance to rectify his erroneous utterance I said " Sorry come again ? What did you say ? I didn't quite get you ? Again it was the same bloody question !!! " Sayed bhai what is the purpose of your visit to this town ? " His voice was contemptuous , all his warmth was replaced with glacial coldness just because I refused to fish in a shitty place like that ? I have my standards man !

I said " Dude you know the purpose of my visit because it was you who repeatedly called me here to fish with you and is this some kind of a Joke or a game that you're playing here ? " He laughed openly without feeling a gleeful absence of shame and declared with smug stupidity " you know Luckily a very powerful person of this town happens to be a Bengali " instantly my ready reply to slap on his face was " So what ! I haven't done anything wrong ! Nor broken any law ! He won't scratch my multi-Ballbearing reel, not even if your mom happens to seduce him like Indrani Mukerjee !! " of-course I did not say it to him.. but now he is reading this post n frothing in his mouth LMAO... although I was terribly upset but I made all efforts to appear calm and composed while replying to him , deep inside my mind I had already kicked and punched him in the face a dozen times and was continuously doing so An ugly anger was building in my stomach and I was controlling it well ,

Nothing that happened in my life has been too shocking to handle so far ,
Lion has had the maturity of calm knowledge with the vinegar of hard experiences in life

The argument about my visit continued from 11.30pm till 2am it was clearly evident that he's testing the dUCKING patience outta me & my ferocious side was almost close to overcome my calmness and explode in fury like the Incredible Hulk

then I picked my cell phone and called his friend Shams who received my call after many rings , first I apologized for disturbing him so late and then narrated how his friend was acting weird and asking me these stupid questions ! He too is shocked at this and calls him on the phone and tells him to just go to sleep and he will come at 8.30am and sort it out , the Mad Monkey agrees immediately to pause the argument till morning but when the call ends , my complaining to his friend made him more mad, He was dreadfully upset, he now wore a stupid face with burning eyes

again he returns to the same bloody topic , Sayed bhai how many anglers are you going to come back with next time ? Isn't it your intention to empty this area of all the big Fish? I never met you in real life we first chatted online then talked on phone was that enough to convince you to come all this far and fish , how did you trust me so easily , do you have any ulterior motives about this place ? I have already calculated all my options and if I bash this Monkey up and how bad will it get and what sections of IPC will I be charged ? I had already called up his friend at the odd hour and updated him about his mad friends behavior that will support my plea of self defense in the face of harassment in court , not a bit worried about his friend not supporting my version and turning a hostile witness because all my calls are being recorded by default and sent to my mail id when I am roaming

The temper that I seldom show had now exploded ,I suddenly stood up ! gave him a cold hard stare and in a stern voice I told him " enough is enough ! Who the dUCK he was to question my motive after calling me here ! And if he had those sick doubts about my motives then why the dUCK did he call me here ?? and insisted me on staying at his house only to later face a cross examination ?? I reminded him that it was him that had come begging to me for tips to catch big fish and not the other way round ! I reminded him how he with his very own slutty tongue had several times praised and thanked me for sharing the ultimate Secret of controlling the fish and winning the psychological war against the fish , I reminded him that real Anglers always welcome each other with open heart and share knowledge about fishing, that’s what I have written in my profile section on my Blog and I myself had hosted many Anglers at my house in Murud Janjira ,

Omesh Moorjaani came regularly from Pune,
Atul patil-from- Pune,
Raj ramchandran- from- Mumbai
Christopher Rodricks -from- Bangalore
Junaid Pathan -from-Nippani, Belgaum
Nadeem Athar-from- Mumbai
Aamir Bhavnagari-from- Ahmadabad, Gujarat
Pilot Jibran latif-from -Mumbai
Mani or Salmonmani is his user name on IA -from Chennai
DR Guna - from -Malaysia

I may be even forgetting some more names here I said,

even I myself went to Gujarat , also to Kanyakumari and also another location in Karnataka and this is not something new or a Cardinal sin that I have committed by accepting your invitation you psychotic fool !!

and now the Mad Monkey seemed tranquilized by this heavy dose of Truth serum that I administered him thru his business end

Miraculously he bent and one by one touched my both feet and then touched the same hand to his forehead and apologized with moist eyes saying " Sayed Bhai I have made a terrible mistake of doubting you I feel very bad give me a hug and please forgive me Sayed bhai you are my Guru, my Idol, my source of inspiration for fishing , like an elder brother to me " I hug him now with a superficial smile and say " Its ok my naughty small brother " although the raging storm inside me has still not subsided and just as my temper rose slowly ,it will subside also slowly

he now breaks down and I am irritated as well as curious for the reason behind this new nautanki of the mad monkey , he now discloses that 5 months ago his better half( wife) had beaten him black n blue , gave him a bleeding nose and swollen face before she left for the Solace of another man She was with me for 5 years we worked together and in 5mins she disconnected me from her life

A crook that he was and also a convincing liar !! As he spun a spectacular web of lies around me to convince me that he was a good man and a victim of mistrust & betrayal But deep inside I knew it's not the whole truth ! What else can a woman do when her crazy mate doesn't earn enough to support her needs and just wastes time in fishing and photography those which are hobbies to be pursued in spare time not fulltime

I had rarely seen a soul so unhappy !! I showed artificial sympathy by asking him " Ohh ! That’s Bad ! really really Bad ! and what did your neighbors say didn't they hear all that commotion in the house ?

Setting his jaw in renewed determination he said " I will get her ! The neighbors @#$%& them " Clearly his mind was plagued with negative thoughts , I tactfully asked him " how on earth did you come up with the ridiculous thoughts that I will come back here again with many anglers and empty all the fish ? " to which the mad monkey revealed his mon key baat he named an angler from a city close to Mumbai whom he was secretly in touch with, had been poisoning his mind against the Lion .

Ok ! So this Bass,toad dangler angler whose mama grew up playing dUCK dUCK with every Cock & Bull in this sleepy town is trying to get even with me because I never took him along for fishing despite him pleading several times because he is actually an over smart midget with an attitude problem.

A quick glance at my time piece revealed that the Dark Night of Torment had passed and it was now 4.30am , my mind ,body and sleep has been dUCKED up , just realized that we had skipped Dinner in the confusion and now the rats were playing Hunger Games in my stomach! I asked him to check if the Dinner which I had bought at 11.30pm last night was still good enough to eat ? ( The temperature had dropped here at night) , Affirmative was the reply and so I requested him to heat it up so that we both can at least have a few morsel of it instead of starving till 8 .30am , that's when the local hotels will serve breakfast

We both grab a few bites and he says " Sayed bhai you know there are only two worlds for me now ! 1.) the world of Fishing 2.)and the world of internet and he can live happily in these two worlds, I decided to prod him a little by saying don't smoke so much Beedis instead try something else that will give you a calming effect ;-) and that much prodding was enough for him to blurt out that he had done all sorts of drugs and was once a heavy addict, ( Ahaa ! That explains the degradation of the brain cells lol.. )

I saw nothing but a desperate man with a penchant for fiction , who is looking to give meaning to a life in shambles .

I suggested him to keep a television in the house that will keep him updated of the world around him and keep his empty mind occupied leaving no room for the Devil's workshop to set in ;-) After smoking a dozen beedis, at 6am he now decides to sleep for a few hours , I too decide to grab 40 winks My mind is all made up ! as I don't trust this guy at all ! I'll be moving out in a Hotel room right after we meet Shams !

Fatigue of a sleepless night forced us to sleep until 10.30 when Shams called on my cell phone to ask why don't we come to meet him as his customers are lining up , both of us freshen up hastily and go to his shop, Shams is busy attending customers and is free around 11.30am and the three of us sit in a nearby restaurant for the discussion over breakfast . I explained to Shams how my Host was behaving in a strange manner last whole night and he later realized his mistake and apologized for the same by touching my feet and hugging me and that the moles of Suspicion were planted by an evil MC angler who happens to be from this village . Shams tells him that " if you ever had doubts about Sayed bhai then you should have not called him here , it just doesn't seem right to call a person this far and then raise questions on his integrity ,we have a culture of respecting our Guests like GODs and Sayed bhai has just come here for only two and half days ! why make a tamasha ! By the way what help did your friend provide you in your fishing ? You yourself told me that you benefited immensely from Sayed bhai's tips "

……….. in the next few seconds ZZZzzzzttttt zzzzipp zzzzattaaaak…. Some short circuit happens in the mad Monkey's peanut size brain !! Once again he repeats the same bloody question of last night " Sayed bhai I still doubt about the purpose of your visit here !" and I was like " WTF ! BC! MC ! TMC ! you Bass,Toad !

Now he really seemed to me like a stinking scum of the earth ! Seizing the opportunity I declared that I am not staying with this lunatic anymore and he needs urgent counseling !

Shams accompanies me to his house and helps me clear out my bags and stuff from the damned place I move out to a nice Hotel have a relaxing long bath to wash out all the negativity that may have tried to creep in me , in the evening I declined an offer for fishing with Shams but moved around sight seeing on the Enfield Bullet Courtesy --> Shams

Next day Shams took me to Goa on Bike it was fun ! Shams was trying to make the last day of my trip a happy & memorable one because somewhere deep down he had felt very bad for what happened with me .

I was again Shocked when the hotel Manager refuses to accept my payments of room rent and food charges saying that it has already been paid by Shams my eyes are moistened at the thoughts of my host turned hostile and his friend showering the hospitality. I quickly unpack my lures basket and take out a selection of my finest Lures which I have procured from Abroad thru friends and put them in a Box , went to the shop of Shams and gifted it to him , he humbly accepts it and again hands me 2kg of local sweets as a parting gift, He even arranged for a cab to drop me at the station in the evening .

What a fine Gentleman Mr Shams had turned out to be ! And Lion is forever indebted to him for his kind gesture towards a total stranger .

Shams the Goldenheart with Lionheart

After all there is still some goodness left in this big Bad World . And always remember guys No matter how good you are to people how they reciprocate tells you a lot about their Morals , Manners , Ethics and the kind of upbringing they have had since childhood.

I had come 850kms from Mumbai to meet a friend who turned out to be a worthless pile of dung and instead GOD Almighty introduced a Goldenheart to Lionheart

Always have Faith and Stand Firm ! The LORD works in Mysterious ways

Just wanted to mention this ----> when the argument ended in the morning my host had asked me " Are you going to mention me in your trip report ?" maybe I said smiling mischievously and he said don't mention this place or me or put my picture in your post Sayed bhai . I said OK and I also want you not mentioning about this trip and incident to the MC dwarf angler or anybody else ! He agreed and I knew he wouldn't be able to control his verbal Diarrhea and he did exactly the same as expected ! When I left his room with my bags and reached hotel , I immediately threw him out from my friend's list of Facebook and when he discovered this , he immediately called a few anglers and narrated his rosy version of the story,

The Bass,Toad did not keep his word but Lion is a man of his word , even while writing this post I made sure not to disclose the area, his name , identity or his picture or caste or religion. Love & Compassion to all creatures is the first Religion of Humanity , A mad monkey is also GOD's creation and it also has the right to live in a dignified manner

Note: ( In this post names of the persons has been changed and places is withheld to protect the identity of the persons and their right to privacy and this post is written only with a mere intention to educate anglers about the hazards of fishing with total strangers, depicted here is one of the many types of anglers out there in this Fishy world - later on in another post I will elaborate more about all the types of angler I have met and dealt with throughout the journey of my Angling life ;-P )

Citing the incident mentioned in this blog as a major reason behind the below announcement

To my eager readers and the young aspiring anglers who are waiting or wanting to go fishing with me ---SORRY GUYS ---------------> Lion's Training Camp is closed for Good !

While many of you have been respectful even after learning angling and are regularly in touch with me, even years after fishing together , some of you have moved abroad and some to other states, some of you have become big managers with plump postings although we cannot meet now but our hearts and minds are still connected and bonded by brotherly love and Mutual respect for each other, you all never forgot to wish me on festivals and occasions, only a handful of c category anglers coming from d class background and brought up by e class people have behaved wrongly with me repeatedly after their selfish motives were completed and now I don’t have the time or patience to bear it any more .

I reached Mumbai but the very next day headed somewhere alone for some quality Fishing time , LOL yes guys alone ! To pacify my fishing bug and get a few good ones that can allow me to proudly Brag on the net

LOL this beauty is staring at the Camera like our PM

My Antique rings in the picture : The Firoza or Turquoise, ancient stone ring from Iran and the US Army ring .. Oh yes and also a Sexy Barramundi but that's new

This is my First Barra Selfie
( I have edited the face of my host but his black fingers are visible )

my cozy hotel room

If you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks, then you will never reach your DESTINATION

Never let Success get into your Head & Never let your Failures get into your Heart

A wise old angler once said to me " Sayed always put up a smiling face and display your catches ! it will be a gift to your friends and SLAP to your Enemies