Angling in Chennai rides a wave of growing interest after COVID

As more angling enthusiasts pick up the fishing rod and bait across Chennai, we join them to investigate the lure of the sport

At Olive Beach, Muttukadu, the hands of the salty wayward sea are quick to erase the footprints of anglers on its bank. A billowing blue flows from every distance.  Bait boxes are spread out along the sandy banks and gusty winds reverberate. As the crabs scuttle with the ebbing waves, a string of anglers has their eyes on the drifting currents — to hook a prized catch.  

After a COVID-19-induced pause, professional and recreational anglers have taken to the sport like fish to water. As the pandemic saw people spending a lot of time on online platforms like YouTube — videos posted by angling associations in Chennai like Poseidon Sport Fishing Tackles and Charter and Anglers Fishing Tackles have sent ripples among enthusiasts.  

Angling is a kind of sport fishing that requires a blanket of calm, crisp blue skies and serene weather. The meditative sport is played with the help of a fishing rod which has a lure or bait attached to its tip. Lures are shiny plastic devices that resemble smaller species of fish. There are primarily two kinds of fishing — seawater and river water fishing.

As interest in the sport grows, people have also taken to fishing in lakes, ponds, and smaller water bodies. Angling tackles are priced between ₹2,000 and ₹2,00,000. While Poseidon has discontinued boat rides for fishing, Anglers Fishing Tackles offers boat rides that cost ₹3,000 per person for a 2-3 hour trip.

A redeeming feature of the sport is that the fish hooked by each angler is released within five seconds of it being caught. “In all professional angling competitions, fish must be released into the water within the stipulated time. On failing to do so, the participant is disqualified from the games,” says professional angler Dinesh Kumar Ravindran, owner of Anglers Fishing Tackles. The thrill of the sport depends on hooking a fish, taking a photograph with it, and immediately releasing it back into the waters. Commercial fishermen, on the other hand, go on to sell the fish in markets.    

In Chennai, Anglers Fishing Tackles organises All India Game Fishing Association (AIGFA) Tamil Nadu Fishing Competition which is held on salt waters. Since its inception in 2013, the competition has been held in the fish-laden waters of Malvan, Ganapatipule (Maharashtra), Mangalore, Mysore, Neil Island in Andaman and Kovalam beach in Chennai.

The competition usually draws more than 110 professional anglers from across the country. The participant hooking various species of fish is given the first place along with a prize money of about ₹4 lakh.