Hooked on to angling

Angling is game fishing, a form of fishing where people catch a fish only to put it safely back in the water.

Angling is game fishing, a form of fishing where people catch a fish only to put it safely back in the water.

Dr Sanjoy Sureka (HT Photo)

But why would someone do that? “Because angling is also a great clean-up act. You want to keep the banks clean where you operate. You would also want to ensure that there are enough fish in water bodies so that the ecological balance therein isn’t disturbed. That’s why anglers, unlike fishermen, don’t just catch fish. They release them back in the water too, often supplementing marine life by introducing fresh life forms into the eco-system,” said Dr Sanjoy Sureka, a urologist at SGPGIMS and an avid angler.

Facts

UP will soon have its first angling club in Lucknow.

A group of hobbyists from SGPGIMS are working to set it up.

Once ready, the club will promote angling, an activity that promotes fishing for a cause.

Angling that is quite popular in the US and Europe, has its followers in India though it’s yet to catch on in the state. Anglers use hook, line and other equipment to catch fish. But unlike professional fishermen who usually catch to sell, anglers do it as a recreational activity that also helps maintain the ecological balance in water bodies.

It also helps to keeps river banks clean, for as Dr Sanjoy Sureka said, “You don’t like unclean surroundings around you. Similarly, the anglers too like to keep the area where they operate clean.”

“Anglers do all sorts of things ... including water-quality testing,” he said.

Sureka (37) is among the handful of anglers active in Uttar Pradesh, where this form of game fishing hasn’t quite caught on despite the fact it was Ali Husseni, a UPite from Sultanpur who popularised the sport in India.

Sureka along with Dr Rudrashish Haldar, an anaesthestiologist and Dr Rahul Jena (both also from SGPGIMS), Mohd Husseni or Babloo bhai (as he is popularly known), are among the select active anglers in and around Lucknow. PGI director Dr Rakesh Kapoor lends active support to the activity.

UP set to have its first angling club

In fact, UP is all set to have its first angling club, courtesy this group from SGPGI. When ready – the registration of the club is underway - it would help promote ‘ethical fishing’ besides developing virtues like patience through recreational fishing and also raising awareness about the need to keep water bodies clean.

“Fish test your patience. At times they won’t take the bait. So you have to wait till it does. And when it does, you also have to ensure that you don’t harm it. The exercise isn’t complete until you have ensured its safe release back into the water,” said Sureka, who often angles in the Gomti or the Ghaghra rivers.

Sureka said that while he is quite composed when he is operating on patients, as an angler that composure gets tested. “For a 10 kg fish inside water puts up a resistance of 30 kg. Since we aren’t fishermen interested merely in catching it, we allow it to tire out. That process of allowing it to ‘tire out’ is quite testing. But when you have it in your hand it all seems worth it. Also, the process of releasing it back into the water is emotionally rewarding. Philosophically speaking, it’s like a creative release,” he said.

The release is de-stressing

“You see, apart from being a stress-buster, the activity also helps us become better humans as most anglers will promote ethical fishing. For instance, it pains us when we see small fish being caught and sold in the market. I for one don’t catch small and female fish. There are strict norms for game fishing,” he said. “It’s not as if anglers can’t take fish home to eat. They can, but here too there are norms. Like let’s say one-bag-a-week norm. Even to take home, it’s not the small ones that are taken. Older fish which have lived their life can be removed and replaced by newer ones. It’s like creative destruction to enable newer creation and maintain the life cycle in that water body,” Sureka explained.

Usually, anglers are drawn to bigger fish that fight and resist ‘arrest’.

“The bigger ones, that resist the hook interest anglers the most. That is the reason perhaps why the Golden Mahseer - Mahi meaning fish and sher meaning tiger – is one of the toughest fresh water sport fish to tackle and could weigh up to 50 kg. That’s the sport. You catch a fish without harming it and then release it back in the water,” Sureka said.

The doctor said that he plans to release some fresh marine life in the water bodies of Lucknow. “That’s the beauty of it all. Once you are hooked on to it, you become more conscious of the environment and the ecology. The other day, while driving down to Kanpur, I stopped by at several places along the Ganga to check the water quality. That’s the kind of consciousness that has come about since 2007 when I first got engaged in angling,” he said.

Golden Mahseer with thick powerful lips and sensory hair like organs in front of the mouth, called barbells, is among the endangered species whose capture and killing is discouraged.