Beginning of My Angling Journey

Hi, my name is Chinmoy Basak, and I belong to a small village in West Bengal, India, called Bhingole. Our village is surrounded by numerous water bodies, including ponds, lakes, canals, and rivers. Growing up in this environment, I was introduced to a variety of sweetwater carp fishes such as Rohu, Katla, Mirgel, Common Carp, Grass Carp, and other catfish species from a very young age.

Naturally, I was introduced to hook fishing from a very early age. To be precise, it was during one of my summer holidays in 1994. I was at my maternal uncle’s house, which we Bengalis affectionately call “Mamar Bari.” I was with my father, and he was fishing with a pole rod in my uncle’s pond. He was the first guru who taught me how to do float fishing. I was so hooked to it that, from that day onwards, it became my alternate-day activity.

In those days, we used cow dung as ground bait and mostly wheat flour as hook baits. Believe it or not, even today, I use cow dung as ground bait sometimes. Interestingly, in North East India, people mix cow dung with wheat flour as hook bait to catch Mahseer, known as the tiger of the river.

Later on, we were slowly introduced to some secret Indian herbs and spices as ground bait, mixed with mustard wax and sweet wastages. But those things we will discuss along with my various other exciting angling stories. Until then, goodbye and Tight Lines.