Dhangali: Exotic place in the vicinity of Rawalpindi where River Jehlum turns Emerald

[gypsy_acumen]

Some more pix of newly constructed bridge

[gypsy_acumen]

V.Nice Xplore ... i'm waiting of that time when i'll be on dis Bridge...

Asl beauty he is bridge ki hai, nai walay sey tou transportatin mein he asani hogi. Its a bridge that should be preserved. Its one of its own kind. Though its very difficult; after construction of new bridge, anyone will take care of it. And it will survive the rush and ferocity of seasonal floods (which flow over this bridge).

[gypsy_acumen]

After the photoshoot we were undecided whether to visit new bridge first and take some exotic shots from there. Or go down to this mesmerizing bridge.

[ranasherdil]

my knowledge share about Dhan Gali... Dhan Gali is starting point of Mangla Dam lake...

And due to upraising of Mangla Dam... the old bridge will not be useable.. and new higher bridge will be used that is newly built in these pics.

I visited Mangla Dam site.. Mangla Fort... and power house..last year...

My presentation was on Mangla Dam in our Management training...i remember that I presented there that... a new bridge is being built at Dhan Gali as the old will be not used due to upraising of Mangla Dam..

Mangla dam has been raised 40+ feet.. the upraising was complete on my last year visit. Also this year dam is filled 40 feet higher than the previous year. Congratulation to All Pakistan.

[murtazee]

such a nice place to visit .....
will surely get a plan for visit

[zahid135]

Beautiful place.
very good photography

[imtishal]

Crossed it on last monday (I was coming from chaksawari).It sure is a beautiful place. Especially nowadays as the water level is almost full,plus the jhelum is clear these days so the area provides beautiful views.
As for the fish, Although the place seems promising but from an angler point of view it's not a gud time to fish here due to following reasons,
1 - It's basically a gorge, hence the water level is very deep so not every place is suitable for fishing however one can find a few spots.For better results it would be better to go to kas-gaht or palak. han spinning on boat is a possibility.
2 - The area is infested with jaal-pati.or jahan par jaal ho ga wahan par machli nahi rukaye gi.

And as for 'china mahseer',please note that there is absolutely no relation between a china (actually a sub-species of carp) and mahseer (also from carp family).china (also called ghulfam/common carp) has lowest rank in carp family and mahseer is at top. china carp/common carp/gulfam was imported for aqua-farming from china hence name includes china, whereas mahseer is our native fish.
Most ppl don't know the difference between two and Shopkeepers lie about this and sell china at the rate of mahseer (which btw is an endangered species,so should be avoided).The bone structure and physical appearance of both are totally different.So don't be fouled by shopkeepers and whenever they say 'yeh china mahseer hai', tou ask him 'kah bhai tumne khabi mahseer deikha hai?'.For ppl like me who know fish,china sells for around 200rs/kg and for others it sells for Rs 300-350/kg.I don't buy mahseer,as for it's endangered category.
The other fish you were holding is called catla-catla (biological name),big head (english) or theil/theila (local language),it most feeds on algae and insects so the meat isn't of gud taste.

[ranasherdil]

@imtishal

nice info about fish... I think you must start a fishing and fish thread...

Thanks...

[gypsy_acumen]

Thank you very much imtishal for such in-depth details. As you exactly know the species; can you post the pictures of "Rahu" & "MahaSher", so that we are no more being fooled by thier name anymore :).

Also a little bit more details about bone-structure "Kantay". Which one have bifurcated/two pronged "Kantay".

I definitely second you; it wasn't Mahaseer (one piece that was different from others), it may be China or Gulfam as you mentioned. Shopkeeper was calling it china-mahaseer. I thought at that moment, it was some mixed breed so mentioned the name whatever he told.

[gypsy_acumen]

Crossed it on last monday (I was coming from chaksawari).It sure is a beautiful place. Especially nowadays as the water level is almost full,plus the jhelum is clear these days so the area provides beautiful views.
As for the fish, Although the place seems promising but from an angler point of view it's not a gud time to fish here due to following reasons,
1 - It's basically a gorge, hence the water level is very deep so not every place is suitable for fishing however one can find a few spots.For better results it would be better to go to kas-gaht or palak. han spinning on boat is a possibility.
2 - The area is infested with jaal-pati.or jahan par jaal ho ga wahan par machli nahi rukaye gi.

And as for 'china mahseer',please note that there is absolutely no relation between a china (actually a sub-species of carp) and mahseer (also from carp family).china (also called ghulfam/common carp) has lowest rank in carp family and mahseer is at top. china carp/common carp/gulfam was imported for aqua-farming from china hence name includes china, whereas mahseer is our native fish.
Most ppl don't know the difference between two and Shopkeepers lie about this and sell china at the rate of mahseer (which btw is an endangered species,so should be avoided).The bone structure and physical appearance of both are totally different.So don't be fouled by shopkeepers and whenever they say 'yeh china mahseer hai', tou ask him 'kah bhai tumne khabi mahseer deikha hai?'.For ppl like me who know fish,china sells for around 200rs/kg and for others it sells for Rs 300-350/kg.I don't buy mahseer,as for it's endangered category.
The other fish you were holding is called catla-catla (biological name),big head (english) or theil/theila (local language),it most feeds on algae and insects so the meat isn't of gud taste.

I was waiting for your reply. In the meantime i have googled about "Rohu", "Mahseer", "Catla Catla" and big head carp. The details are given in the following links:
1. Mahseer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
2. Rohu - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
3. Labeo rohita, Roho labeo : fisheries, aquaculture, gamefish
4. Bighead Carp - aristichthys nobilis Freshwater Fish of Thailand
5. Mahaseer | Pakistan Fishing
6. Rohu | Pakistan Fishing
7. Molecular genetics of the rohu Labeo rohita (Hamilton 1822)
8. http://www.thefishsite.com/articles/804/cultured-aquatic-species-catla-catla
9. http://www.thefishsite.com/articles/862/cultured-aquatic-species-bighead-carp
10. http://www.thefishsite.com/articles/867/cultured-aquatic-species-roho-labeo
11. Carp Fish – Catla Catla | Pakistan Fishing

From points 4 & 9, It is clear that none of them was bighead carp.
From points 1&5, it is clear that Mahseer is very different in appearance to what we have found. Even it is different from other variety of fish which are sold as Mahseer
From 2,3,6 & 10; Rahu is slightly different in shape & appearance region-wise. some are more close to catla catla fish while others are not.
From 11 it is very similar to what we had. It is the second most important species after rahu.
From 8, again it is not like what was served.
Thus Catla Catla is a close call. It is very similar to some Rohu species however distinctively different from bighead carp. It is difficult for a common person to distinguish Rohu from Catla Catla.

Another important point. Almost all fish eat algae (mostly they are herbivores), insects. Even Mahseer sometimes eat a frog as well (please refer to one of the above threads.. i think wikipedia). However you better know that it tastes great

[imtishal]

@rana sb

Yaar I'm just a student of this 'shouq'...:). However,If u have any queries i'll be glad to answer them or provide answers from my other sources if u didn't knew the answers.As for a separate thread I think someone already did so,but it didn't went well donno y.

@gypsy_acumen

Sorry bro,I posted my reply and then closed my system for the day..So didn't knew u replied and require more info.But i guess u have already searched it on net and now know the difference and know how to distinguish between china and mahseer..
For kantaye,v have to go abit indepth at the life style of fish and i don't wanna bore u with the details..:). So in short,china has big and less kantaye (that's one of the main reason for it's selection for aqua-farming) then catla,rahu and last mahseer (highest number of kantaye).
As for your observation regarding theil (catla), yes it's not pure theil it's a cross between rahu and theil ,most likely reason for that is to introduce taste and lessen the amount of fat as compared to theil, locally name is hybrid or hybreed.
The most distinctive feature of a pure rahu is a self-texture horizontal line which runs in the middle of body till end.A freshly caught rahu will be light grey from top and pinkish white color from bottom,and as the time pass by the grey becomes darker and pinkish turns to very light yellow or off-white.Body will be cylindrical and proportionate.
You are somewhat right about their diet.BUT it's the ratio of these things which develops taste in fish.For common man the preference would be like this,
1 - Rahu
2 - Narain (mori,mrigil), it's of same shape as of rahu but of golden color
3 - Theil
4 - China

Please note that i have mentioned only scaled (chan-naye wali) commonly available fish.
otherwise there are other species as well..which have more taste and are scaled too.
Then there are non-scaled fish (maali,singharah,baam etc), unki eik alag story hai ..

[imtishal]

In the world of freshwater angling,Mahseer is called king of freshwater fish and china is referred as a sweeper (kachra uthane wala)..:).And whenever i hear shopkeeper calling, china/common carp as china-mahseer tou mera dil karta hai kah unki back mai ghusa don unka china-mahseer..:),Or ap log badshah kaye rate mai sweeper kaha rahaye hein ..

[Farhansa]

thanx for informing is about a wonderful place near rawalpindi. its very near.
i will visit there after 2 weeks.
Wooden bridge is very attractive.

[asifcae]

sadly masheer is not found in this part of the river.
it is found in Punch river on which Mangla Dam is constructed.....
as it is a clear water fish.

it is found in Tabela and also in upper indus river at places like attock. it a very beautiful fish indeed. indeed along with the Bass it is the most prized trophy of any angler.
the top trophy of Pakistan freshwater i suppose

[imtishal]

^ ^
2 weeks ago a fellow angler caught a 2.5kg Mahseer from kas-gaht.which is about an hour's boat ride upstream from the bridge.
Last year,there were reports that mahseer is being caught from palak bridge.

[asifcae]

^ ^
2 weeks ago a fellow angler caught a 2.5kg Mahseer from kas-gaht.which is about an hour's boat ride upstream from the bridge.
Last year,there were reports that mahseer is being caught from palak bridge.

strange to hear that....
i wasnt expecting and mahseer in Jehlum river........

its even very hard to find in Mangla with clear water also......

[imtishal]

It probably travels down stream from ponch river and then moved towards jhelum river because the water flow was greater as compared to ponch.
Also there are other strange things happening in mangla this year..:), Another guy has caught 9.5 kg mirror carp last weekend from chaprian.

[gypsy_acumen]

@imtishal

Very nice to hear from you. I 100% agree with you that shop-keepers make fool of most of the customers. In pindi the most of the time shop-keepers sell other fish in the name of "Salmon" which is disgusting.

[imtishal]

^ ^ ...hahahaha yeh eik alag kahani hai...that 'Salmon' is actually snow carp caught from tarbeela dam in extreme winters,from Indus inlet..
At such times,I'm amazed at the innocence of ppl and cunningness of shopkeepers.
Snow carp = rs 300kg , Salmon = rs 2000 kg (metro rate) and shopkeeper sell 'salmon' @ rs 700 kg...If i remember correctly..

[asifcae]

It probably travels down stream from ponch river and then moved towards jhelum river because the water flow was greater as compared to ponch.
Also there are other strange things happening in mangla this year..:), Another guy has caught 9.5 kg mirror carp last weekend from chaprian.

well i have no idea abt mirror carp man....

yes sometimes strange things do happen like this big Mali was caught on atta in Mangla....o:o

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