Fishing has been favorite pastime amongst many communities all across the globe. Given the advantage of our country with long coastal lines, rivers and streams, ponds and lake, India has always had been a good destination for fishing all across. Several places in the country are amongst the best destinations for trout fishing. Fishing holidays are widely taken by several individuals, and it also has attracted tourism lately. Trout fishing similarly has been considered as among adventure sports in India. But what exactly is trout fishing and where did it come from? Let us know more about trout fishing and trout fishing as an attraction in the state of Kerala in particular.
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What is trout fishing?
Trout is a common species name in the fresh water fish. It belongs to genera of salmon, Salvelinus, and Oncorhynchus. As we observed from these scientific names, trout hence belong to a subfamily of Salmon and char. They belong to the same genera.
How did trout fishing enter India?
Trout fishing has entered and became popular in India due to British. They have popularized sport fishing as such. Angling has become a favorite pastime among many due to the popularity they got in. Sir Malcolm Halley used to fish around Ramganga valley back then. Further, slowly Jim Corbett Park, named after Corbett who is big time angler, has formalized this idea of fishing through its national park. It is then that trout fishing has become common in several sites as British introduced exotic species like brown and rainbow trout. They were transplanted from the then England to Indian rivers near Himalayan streams and lakes in the south like Munnar and Nilgiris.
Trout fishing sites in India
In the present day, anglers all across the globe flock to rivers and streams in India with the specialized equipment and expeditions. Trout fishing has become common in this phenomenon near Himalayan streams and rivers in the South. Places like Uttarakhand, Assam and Himachal Pradesh have spots for trout fishing currently. The fishing season usually around October to June is presently filled with anglers around these sites.
Fishing equipment for trout fishing
One needs to carry special equipment for trout fishing. A light weight rod of two or three meters is required. The reel should be around 8 cm at a minimum. These should be made sure with hooks and line. One can further go ahead and approach several adventure tour caretakers or operators around these sites to provide tents and accommodation along with other required things.
Trout fishing in Kerala
Kerala, given its geographical advantage with several lakes, streams and river around along with the long coastal line is naturally a site for scenic beauty and adventure sports. The mountains streams, lakes and backwater canals are in abundance here which provides ample opportunities for fishing. The anglers love this spot given the coastal line and back water canals all around.
Further, forget not, there are special fishing techniques used by locals to pick fishes which includes hand picking of kallumakai, that is, green mussels from rivers and streams. Further, they also do crab fishing at night, cast fishing through nets and so on. Given this, trout fishing and techniques are also quite common to witness in the state.
Given that angling is a best to pass time for even tea planters of British areas, trout, which is the fresh water fish was introduced even in Kerala which can live well even in low temperatures and high altitude areas. They got the fish through Bombay in special barrels and sent them to Munnar. The small hatchery was set up in Chenduvarai around 1909. Hence trout fishing in Kerala has become famous in this way where anglers go to sites like Mattupetty Dam and Devikulam Lake near Munnar. It was only around 1970 that trout which was above five pounds was caught. Later on, no such huge trout was caught. Later on, Cochin also developed as a base for several trout fishing spots near Fort Kochi, Kara, Aluva, Kundannur and Cherai beach. Even a fishing village came up around 28 km from Cochin named Chellannam. Anglers flock to these sites near weekends and holidays for their favorite pastime.
Given the importance of trout fishing in Kerala and history of how this entered India as a pastime, we can still notice this trend passing on to the current generation. Fishing spots have been increasing. Anglers have been flocking near these sites in Kerala for trout fishing. Several tour operators have also come up in few mainstream sites to deliver services to the anglers.