Photo by Jim Klug
It wasn’t a good night sleep for me. About midnight the storms started. While some sleep through the rumbles of thunder and pattering of rain, it wakes me. I lay there watching the flickers of lightening. I also worry about the river blowing out and becoming unfishable. Unfortunately the storms went all night with occasional downpours. I was ten times more tired when I woke up than when I went to bed last night and felt like absolute crap.
Photo by Jim Klug
This meant a slow start for me. By the time I surfaced, Jigme, Bobby, Jim and Bryant were working the mouth of the tributary. The confluence was crystal clear and do to all last night’s rain, the main river indeed was off color. You could actually see the clear cut of stream water running several hundred yards. It seems logical these were ideal conditions to attract heaps of mahseer.
I probably didn’t get out of my tent until about 6:15. At least an hour late for me. I was greeted by a soaking shower. Next I learned no one touched a fish so instead of heading for the water in the rain with virtually no confidence, I filled my Yeti with fresh coffee and returned to my tent to read a few pages of the latest Drake I’ve been carrying around for two weeks.
About 8:30 I awoke to the guys returning for what would be a breakfast to die for. Naturally, I couldn’t sleep all night but after reading one paragraph with a cup of coffee in hand, I fell into deep sleep. Normally it would be a horrible waste of time, sleeping in on a fishing trip, but the guys were blanked. Four excellent rods and not a bump. Its weird that the tributaries have been unkind to us.
During breakfast the sun tried to peer through the stunning layers of clouds and jungle. It delivered some heat and it felt good. There was a chill in the air first time I woke. Our crew stretched all kinds of gear across the rocks with hopes for sun. Despite tents and tarps, everything got soaked overnight.
Photo by Jim Klug
I perked up when learning it was my day to share the boat with Bryant. Bryant, founder of Himalayan Flyfishing Adventures and the true reason we’re here, probably has more Bhutan fly fishing experience than perhaps anyone. Believe it or not, I think this is his 15th trip! Furthermore, Bryant is definitely right up there with Bobby and my legendary friend Misty Dhillon with knowledge of fly fishing for mahseer as well. So with my love for chasing this challenging large scaled fish, any chance I get to learn more doesn’t get taken for granted.
Photo by Jim Klug
Things got better when Bryant informed me today was our longest float and that we’d go full on for the chocolate mahseer. I have plenty of experience with golden mahseer, but it wasn’t till my 2014 trip to Bhutan that I caught my first chocolate mahseer. This week has been literally like visiting a “Chocolate Factory”. It’s been such a treat!
The rafts pushed off around 10 AM. With the tributary dumping in right above camp, the river seemed only minorly affected by last nights deluge of rain. But as we ventured downstream and the two forces of water mixed, the water quality disintegrated. Mahseer are used to such conditions and we knew we weren’t out of the game; it just wasn’t as clear as it had been.
Undeniably we weren’t out of the game. Although I was getting my butt handed to me, Bryant was tearing the chocolates up. On every good looking bank he at worst, rolled a chocolate. And many of the ones he landed were as chunky as we’ve seen so far this trip.
I wasn’t having nearly the luck flat out because the genius in me switched from the sinking line I’ve been succeeding with for three days, to a floating line. Honestly, I was excited to toss my new SA Magnitude Smooth Infinity Salt Clear Tip. And you know what, it was fun to toss especially on my new Bauer, but after watching Bryant hoist in several chocolates, at our picturesque lunch spot I switched back to my sink.
The weather improved dramatically by early afternoon. We had lunch around 2. Not only did they choose a pretty spot, but lunch featured one of my all-time favorites – pasta. The problem however, while we were enjoying it, the river rose more and got further off-color. Chocolate milk for chocolate mahseer – maybe?
Regardless of the weather being better this afternoon on our float, what happened way upstream last night was catching up with us. While we had a lot of rain at camp, it appears further up river there was even more. It’s impossible to predict these things because it takes several hours for issues to travel downstream.
While our confidence dropped, I’ve caught some large golden mahseer in muddy water. In fact, my first big one back in 2008 on the Ramganga River in India, I kid you not, the river was up five feet and you couldn’t see into the water one inch. It was red in color! No doubt that fish found my fly by the splash and plunk sound it made when it hit the water.
Off we went but over the next couple hours we caught very few chocolates. We covered a lot of ground unsuccessfully despite our guide, whom I need to introduce, Thinley, working his butt off. It was so slow that Jigme, who was with us as well, actually slept. He must be Houdini because he didn’t fall overboard even during a few class 2 rapids!
We were the last boat coming down. Most the guys were at camp when Chris radioed to us to slow down because he was filming us with the drone. Sure enough there was the UFO-like camera high overhead.
I launched my Clouser and it landed 6 inches from the bank and sort of under an overhanging bush. Chris always brings me good luck. Wham! Fish on. And I saw the fish and it was huge.
Photo by Jim Klug
Jigme was awake now. This fish exploded on the fly leaving a bowling ball size hole in the water. My 9-weight Air 2 Max was bent like I was fighting a jack. This wasn’t a standard sized chocolate.
Chocolates don’t make startling runs but they can pull. This tug o war lasted more than two minutes and had I not my 30lb Fluoro it may not have ended well. To land this chocolate, Jigme made a dazzling scoop with the net.
I bested my chocolate mahseer for the second time this week. This one was 25” and fat. Chris believes he has the whole thing on film. Even if Chris didn’t get much on the drone, he surely did being we landed the fish at camp. And of course, Jim had his still camera ready as you can see.
It was near 5 PM. Though I pulled a miracle, river conditions were bad. Rather than fish the evening we all kicked back with some Druks and had fun. It’s another beautiful camp.
Photo by Jim Klug
Around 7:30 dinner was served. It’s been another memorable day fly fishing in Bhutan. But I need to share some news – we can’t fish tomorrow. We knew this was coming I just haven’t mentioned it. Tomorrow is the Death Anniversary of Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, a national holiday here in Bhutan. In getting our permits for this trip, we were asked not to fish and we will absolutely honor this day as well. We plan to rest up and it so happens that Bryant and his crew have arranged us to hike to a village for lunch tomorrow. Tomorrow sounds amazing actually. Stay tuned!
Upon return from this wonderful journey, this trip will be available at Yellow Dog Flyfishing Adventures!
Great fish in tough conditions. I cant imagine how good it would be in good conditions! They are gorgeous fish.