Basunti - fresh water game fish in India

Angling opportunities at Basunti are unparalleled. Overlooking Maharana Pratap Sagar, a vast 40 km long manmade wetland it provides almost all the year round opportunities to fish for the mighty Golden Mahseer, one of India's most celebrated freshwater game fish.

The mahseer at Pong Dam are canny but always good fun with catches of 2kg-5kg common and 8kg-10kg caught from time to time with the largest fish recorded locally in recent years at 14kg.

Besides mahseer, other fish caught at Pong Dam - as Maharana Pratap Sagar is also known - include malhi, soal, carp, shovell-headed catfish, bachwa, snakefish and singara. A total of 27 fish species belonging to five families have been recorded in the lake and the triubutaries of the Beas river, which feed it. The area also provides direct employment to about 1,500 local fishermen.

With Basunti's own shikari, who has fished these waters for the last 20 years, guests can fish from the shore, take boat trips to Ranseer island or go upstream to several chosen marks known to the locals. Early morning and late afternoon to dusk make the best times to fish. The mahseer hunt chilwa (baitfish) just under the surface but will hook on spinners much of the time. However when all else fails fresh livebait, caught by our shikari, does the job.

With distant views of the Himalayan foothills, the area is an angler's paradise and besides the fishing on Basunti's doortsep some of the finest trout streams in India - abounding in both brown and rainbow trout - are within a day's reach.

Angling rules are liberal and the fee for the licence, which we obtain on guest's behalf, is nominal.