The fishing trip you take in Nepal depends almost entirely on who's running it. Here's how we approach the operating side — certifications, conservation, local knowledge, and the standards we hold ourselves to.
The credentials a trip operator holds tell you a lot about the kind of trip they run. Here's ours.
Every river guide is certified by the International Rafting Federation (IRF). Lead guides on technical rivers (Karnali, Sun Koshi, Tamor, Kali Gandaki) hold IRF Level 4 or higher and have personal logs of 50+ commercial trips on their assigned rivers.
All river guides hold current WRT certification, refreshed every two years. Safety kayakers accompany every section of significant whitewater. Rescue protocols are practiced regularly.
Every lead guide carries an active Wilderness First Aid certification. Comprehensive first-aid kits travel with every group and include trauma supplies, splints, and basic medication. Lead guides on remote sections carry satellite communications.
Fishing Trips Nepal is a registered tourism business with the Government of Nepal's Department of Tourism. We hold the licenses required to operate guided fishing and rafting trips on Nepal's rivers, including protected-area permits for Bardia National Park.
Affiliated with the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) — Nepal's national tourism authority — and aligned with their standards for guide training, group ratios, and safety practices.
Mandatory catch-and-release on Golden Mahseer (IUCN Endangered) and other listed species. We use barbless hooks, knotless rubber landing nets, and minimize handling time. The fishery's long-term health is the point — not the trophy count.
The things that don't fit on a credentials list, but matter just as much.
Some Nepal operators are travel agencies that white-label trips run by others. We're the operating team — our river guides, our safety kayakers, our cooks, our equipment. The buck stops with us, which means accountability when things go right and when they don't.
Every trip is shaped around the river it's on. The Karnali itinerary doesn't apply to the Babai. The Trishuli is run differently from the Tamor. Our guides have personally fished and run every river we offer — most of them, hundreds of times.
Our published day-by-day plans are what actually happens on the river — not idealized marketing schedules. If a section gets affected by weather or flow, your guide will brief you the day before. We'd rather over-deliver than over-promise.
We run flagship Karnali expeditions for guests with twenty years of trophy Mahseer experience, and we run weekend Trishuli trips for guests who've never held a rod. The trip you book is the trip we built — calibrated to the angler in the boat.
The Golden Mahseer is listed as Endangered by the IUCN. That's not a marketing line — it's the reason every trip we run is catch-and-release, every fish is photographed and returned within minutes, and we use barbless hooks and knotless landing nets on every trip. The rivers stay good because we treat them well.
Mandatory practice
Barbless hooks, knotless rubber landing nets, minimal handling time, no removal of fish from water for photos.
Park partnerships
Operating permits with Bardia National Park; park-assigned guides on every Babai trip, working alongside park conservation goals.
Tell us when you'd like to come, what kind of fishing you want, and how long you can be on the water. We'll come back with a real, tailored plan.