Barot – A Fisherman’s Dream

Throughout my stay at Basunti, there was to be one jewel in the ever so sparkly crown which I was truly looking forward to like a child waiting for Christmas Day. It was the trip to a distant Indian village, named Barot, which we were told by David was completely off the tourist map, next to the river Beas, in a lush forested valley and was stocked full of Trout, ready to be plucked out with our rods! We were told stories of how in previous years gone by, fishermen had gone there and caught both Brown and Rainbow Trout in continuous streams. Obviously this requires not just a natural abundance of fish, but pure skill and the latter was what I was worried about. My fishing career previous to Basunti involved going to a trout farm when I was 10 (cheating I Know), and a year later on a canal holiday leaving a line out overnight with a single piece of sweetcorn on the lure and catching a tiny cat fish. As for Rosie, she had none – only watching her father as a child. What we did have however on our side was the formidable team of both David and Andy whom were our guides and fishing cynosures for the weekend. As you most probably know David is the headman at Basunti whom had kindly taught us most of what we needed to know prior to the trip, and Andy is the most enthusiastic, dedicated and knowledgeable man in the game – hence a nickname of Andy ‘Fish’.  The dream team.

The trip up to Barot is a location scout’s dream, the Scottish Highlands on an epically large scale. Just seeing the place is enough let alone to fish here! Expect to see – never ending deep valleys, large imposing trees, hobbit green grass terracing, shiny slate cliff faces, local tribe people spinning on their laps, unspoilt pockets of houses shunning the dreaded concrete, and best of all no fishermen – more for us I suppose.

We were booked into the famous Negi’s guest house located bang wallop next to the river. Mrs. Negi is famous mainly for cooking up the fish you catch on the day – although maybe famous only to the Basunti crowd whom have this rather special agreement going on (so don’t tell anyone). Both Rosie and I were hoping to try out this agreement which was dependant on our new found skills. So we checked in, unpacked and dived straight in for a 3 hour’ish session as it was already quite late in the day. Andy adopted both spinning and fly fishing with the remainder just on spinning. Straight away David caught a large trout, but the slippery bugger got away. Then Rosie was the next, screaming and shouting her way into losing the trout – her face was that of utter euphoria.

Then another for Rosie, she was so elated she didn’t know what to do – like a child on cherryade, so Dave came to the rescue and helped pull the fish in and put him to sleep ready for the Negi treatment. Andy was the supremo on this day, catching the lions share with Dave a close second (although they all slipped away), then came Rosie and zilch for me. Just to clarify my position being last, I was obviously quite happy looking around the place and chatting to the local tribes women spinning scarfs – so not bitter in the slightest.

We returned with our (or rather their) priced catches of Rainbow Trout – 4 in total – ready for the Negi treatment. After 30 minutes or so, she invited us downstairs into the dining area where she served up plate after plate of hot fried fish steaks, served with vast quantities of  fried aloo (essentially chips). It was an edible dream, I now see why she is famous. But most of all we were happy with all our tales of the who, what, where, when and why’s of the day. One of the most interesting tips which a local passed down as he saw Rosie struggling with a trapped lure, was to pull some long grass, tie it around the line, hold the rod up in the air as high as possible and let the grass slide down the wire, like a zip line. Then when the grass hits the streaming water it helps to pull the lure out. It ruddy worked.

The next day awaking to a beautiful calm sunny morning, we got down to serious business. We had a car for the day, starting several miles up the river, our plan was to work our way down to our palace of residence for the evening feast (albeit with bellies still full and with hopes riding high – or was that just me with my current record). Our aim was to park up, split up, find the calmer pools within the fast flowing rapids, cast out, catch fish then do it again elsewhere downstream.

Straight away David caught a whopper, but as per previous he got away. Initially nothing for all else, so we moved on. Each place we stopped was a picturesque as the next, extraordinarily beautiful surroundings, the river was stunning and you have the Himalayas in full view towering over you making you feel slightly insignificant.

Anyway, back to the fishing. I was on a mission to catch some fish, as I felt the need to participate in the satisfaction of knowing I was helping feed the dream team. It reached around 2pm, after a lunch consisting mainly of biscuits and Chi Masala Tea spurring me on, I positioned myself behind a large boulder which was as big as small bungalow 20 ft down from the valleys main road.

I cast out and straight away – bang – something on the line. I started to reel it in with not a lot of space behind me when a local man appeared whom must have been watching me. After a small fight with the fish I had partially reeled it in, when he grabbed the line and swung it onto the bank. What I had caught was a wild Brown Trout. Utterly amazing and looked quite tasty too.

That was me satisfied. Rosie had appeared with a smile like the joker, ear to ear. I looked fifty  yards upstream, Andy was fly fishing and seemed to be catching far more than us – so much so that he was freeing them from the ‘Negi fate’. What a gentleman.

The day was drawing to a close, so we headed back to the guest house to find David waiting for us with a massive Rainbow trout constituting the majority of the evening meal.

Once again, we delivered the goods to the land lady and she did what she needed to do. Being outside in the vast expanse of a Himalayan Valley does wonders for the appetite. Another beyond satisfying meal, only this time I had contributed to the feast!

Alex & Rosie & the fish we caught (RIP).