The sun was setting when Jim Corbett put down his camera and picked up his fishing rod. His objective was a clear photo of a tigress and her cubs, but when the light grew dim and no tigers appeared, he passed the time performing what he called a sport fit for kings – fishing for Mahseer.
It was among his most pleasant pastime activities, as the Mahseer was considered the best sportfish in the world. For Corbett, it had to be hunted in pleasant surroundings in order to be the most fascinating of field sports. Calling it the ‘fish of my dreams,’ he wrote:
Fishing for mahseer in a well-stocked submontane river is, in my opinion, the most fascinating of all field sports. Our environments, even though we may not be continuously conscious of them, nevertheless play a very important part in the sum total of our enjoyment of any form of outdoor sport. I am convinced that the killing of the fish of one’s dreams in uncongenial surroundings would afford an angler as little pleasure 140 Man-eaters of Kumaon as the winning of the Davis Cup would to a tennis player if the contest were staged in the Sahara.
Maharajahs and viceroys hunted the mighty Mahseer. The reason fishermen like the Mahseer so much is the fight it gives back – it’s one of the most energetic fish that can be snagged on a line. H.S. Thomas’ 1873 “A Rod in India” highlights just how fun and energetic it is to catch such a fish, which can weigh up to 120 pounds (54 kgs). In Rudyard Kipling’s story “The Brushwood Boy“, the protagonist says of the fish “besides whom the tarpon is a herring” that “he who lands him can say that he is a fisherman.”
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