City hooked by angling competition

hyderabad: away from the din and blare of the city on sunday, 28 anglers had a field day hooking fish at durgamcheruvu at the angling competition organised by ap tourism development corporation limited. the competition had the old as well as little ones hooked. conducted for the first time in the city, this quiet sport had more takers than expected by the corporation.old timers as well as first timers waited with baited breath for fish to bite. john franklin, who has been angling since 1963, had little luck with the fish on sunday. its all luck, he said as he sat smoking and staring at the fish jumping in the lake. narrating his love for jhak marna, the tradition of fishing in the city, franklin said it began when he saw the then nawabs angling in hussain sagar. hussain sagar was not polluted during that time and had many fish, he said. every nawab had his place and no other person could sit there. hussain sagar was a favourite with the nizams too, he said.a week before the nizams came, the workers used to introduce more fish, feed and fatten them, which were then hooked by the royals, he described. i used to stand at a distance and watch them and that is when i got interested, he said. jhak marna is one of the favourite pastimes of this nawabi city which has many a faithful followers down generations. i hooked my first fish when i was four. it was more of a catch than a hook because i dived right into the water and came out with it,franklin's son, neil said. he was inspired by his father's jhak marna and got hooked when he was only eight-years. so, what is the bait that hooks people to fish? peace, concentration and the thrill of a catch, another contestant, shoaib bin awad, who is also an interior designer said. he has been angling for the last five years. forty-year-old dr m a rehman, who won the prize for the heaviest catch — a 4.7 kg catla — said that he had been angling for the last 16-years. after biting the bait, the 20-minute fight between the catch and the angler were a delight to watch. though the catch were few and far between with the weather being unfair, the anglers seemed to enjoy themselves. but they all had one common thread of thought — hussain sagar would be a great lake to catch fish if it were cleaned.