Fishing in Nepal

Nepal is a land of diverse topography, climate, ethnicity and biodiversity. Within an average breadth of about 150 km, the altitude varies from 60 meter above sea level to the world's highest peak Mount Sagarmatha scaling 8848 km it has three large river basins namely Koshi in the east, Narayani in the central and Karnali in the west.

The rivers of Nepal supports more than 100 species of fish including the human size catfish known as Gonch, famous sporting fish the Mahasheer and delicious species the Jalkapoor.

Some important game fishes of Koshi and other rivers of Nepal :

No	Common/ Local Name	Scientific Name	Size	Weight	Habitat	Bait	Season
1	Mahasheer/ Sahar	Tor putitora	2.5 m	50 kg	Large and deep rivers	Fish	Mar. - May./Sept. - Dec
2	Deep Bodied Mahasheer	Tor tor	3 m	50 kg	Large and deep rivers	Fish	Mar. - May/Sept - Dec
3	Copper Mahasheer /Katle	Acrossocheilus hexagonolepis	.6 m	5 kg	Large and deep river	Fish and meat	Mar- June / Sep. - Nov.
4	Fresh Water Shark/Gounch	Bagarius bagarius	3 m +	100 kg +	Large and Deep rivers	Fish	Mar. - May/Sept - Dec.
5	Jalkapoor	Clupisoma gaura	.5 m	1 kg	Large and deep rivers	Worms and meat	Mar. May/Sept. Dec
6	Fresh Water Eel/Raj Bam	Anguilla bengalensis	3 m	18 kg	River and pools	Frogs and worms	Mar - May/ Sept. - Dec.
7	River Catfish/ Bachawa	Silondia silondia	.5 m	2.5 kg	River confluence	Worms and meat	Mar - May/ Sept. - Dec
8	Giant Murrel/ Saur	Channa maurilus	2.5	15	River, stream and lakes	Worms, fish and insects	Feb. - May/Sept to Dec
9	Mud Eel/Hile Bam	Amphipnous (Monopterus) cuchia	.8 m	1.5 kg	River, stream, lakes and swamps	Meat	Feb. - Apr.
10	Feather Back/ Patali	Notopterus notopterus	.4 cm	2 kg	River, streams and lakes	Worm, insects and meat	Feb. - May / Sept - Dec
11	Knife Fish/ Chitala	Notopterus chitala	1 m	8 kg	River, streams and lakes	Worms, insect and meat	Feb. - May / Sept - Dec
12	Catfish/Buari	Wallago attu	1.8 m	12 kg	River, streams and lakes	Fish, insects and meat	Feb. - June/Sept. - Nov.
13	Tenger Catfish/ Tengri	Mystus seenghala	.4 m	14 kg	River streams	Fish, insects and meat	Jan - June/Sept. - Nov

S. No.	Important fish species as baits		Predatory species
	Common Name	Scientific Name	Common Name
1	Flying Barb	Esomus danricus	Mahasheer and Catfish
2	Sucker Head	Garra gotyla	Mahasheer
3	Singhe Catfish	Heteropneustes fossilis	Catfish, Fresh Water Shark 'Buster'
4	River Barb	Puntius chillinoides	Copper Mahasheer
5	Gravel Catfish	Glyptothorax telchitta	Mahasheer
6	Torrent Minnow	Barilius sps	Mahasheer