Welcome to the Baghdad Angler's Club and School of Fly Fishing's homepage, enjoy!

"Updated November 30, 2008"

If you are stationed in Iraq - Send me pictures of your fish and I'll put them in the gallery. There are some great stories out there, please share 'em!

If you don't know about Project Healing Waters, you owe it to yourself and our wounded Veterans to check out the link below:

November 30th, 2008

     Happy Thanksgiving to all,
         Especially those who are far from home in foreign places. Veteran's Day has come and gone since my last update, and that day gave me the opportunity to reflect on the sacrifice made by so many so that all of us may have so much. Many of the people who support this endeavor are Veteran's and I am thankful for each and every one of them. I am just as thankful for those who are currently serving in any theater around the globe. While I am so happy to be home with my family, I am saddened by the thought of those who do not have that opportunity this year. I hope that they can find some time for themselves, reflect on life and give thanks. Even better, that they can do that while out on the water.
     For those who want to donate gear to the club, just click on the link above or send me an e-mail.  Keep using the guest book feature, I know the guys in Iraq are reading your comments.

     Lots of guys have gotten out on the water since the last update. One of firemen on Camp Victory caught another of the huge mangar. Daniel Miller caught the fish below on 25Oct. It weighed over 100 lbs and was over 4 feet in length. Congratulations to Daniel on a remarkable catch.

   
Daniel Miller's Giant Mangar - the catch of a lifetime!

     Scott, the current President of Baghdad Angler's Club and School of Fly Fishing, sent me some shots from last Sunday, along with this note:

     Fishing today was slow but the quality was great! The fish (pictured below) is a Shaboot, caught on a small piece of breakfast sausage. He is about 36 inches long and was released back into the lake. (water quality here keeps us from eating anything in the lake)
Thank you to all of you who have donated gear or just sent your best wishes. Fishing gives us a chance to disengage and enjoy something we might be doing at home.

V/r Scott

     Scott has also provided me some guidance on the rules for fishing around Camp Victory. These are not official and only provided as a reference. If you are fishing around the camp and concerned about the rules, check with the VBC Mayor Cell.
     Fishing is not allowed between the two Tongan guard points in front of the Al Faw Palace and no fishing in areas where the land owner has the area fenced off. That leaves about 90% of the water open access.
     Scott adds he has fished about 60% of the available water and the fish are not difficult to catch. He recommends small spinners, Road Runners, Mepps, or Kastmasters and similar spoons in gold for clear water and silver for cloudy water. He usually catches 6 to 12 fish on the days he gets out. For fly fishing, Wooly Buggers and small streamers seem to work fairly well for the Asp.

   
Scott sent in these photos of the dandy shaboot he caught last Sunday.

   
This Soldier is showing off a nice asp and only the third big head carp picture I've gotten.

     A couple guys have sent in pictures and here they are:

   
Todd Guelle shows off an asp and a carp caught on sausage, his preferred bait in Al Faw Lake.


Keith Keana shows of a fat carp from 8 Lake, next to the Air Force House.

   

Jay Van As is a contractor working in Iraq and has had quite a bit of luck at Lost Lake using dates.

   
Alex Sambrano, another contractor, holds an asp and a barbel from Camp Slayer.

     This past month seems to have been retro in a way. I've gotten in pictures from as far back as 2004 from guys who want to share their pictures. To my knowledge this is the most extensive record of fish caught in Baghdad, so I am happy to post any and all pictures from anyone who wants to share. are. are. are. are. are. are. are. are. are. are. are. are. are. are. are. are. are. are. are. are. are.

   
Polish Major Piotr Kacunel, who I fished with in 2005, asked me to post these pictures of his mangar, caught on a sausage back in 2005.

   
Maj Dan LePage sent in a batch of photos from 2005 - seems he and I were fishing some of the same water at the same time. Too bad we never met.
   
Dan LePage with a couple of Victory Carp

Dan LePage with a nice Wels catfish.

   
Dan LePage sent in these picture of some more nice fish from Camp Victory in 2005

   
Dan LePage with a nice Lost Lake carp and a really nice asp.

     That wraps up this update.  For the folks with boots on ground, keep the pictures and stories coming in.

Fish on! Joel

Again, don't forget to checkout Project Healing Waters, it is worth your time.

Another group of Soldiers that get out on the water when they aren't wearing
Army Green is Army Bass Anglers. Their website is below, see what you think.

Don't forget to check our the rest of our sponsors - we couldn't do this without them.
BAC&SFF Sponsors

If you haven't seen it, the clip below from FOX news shows our guys in action.

Fox News Story on Operation Catch Fish

Number of Visitors since 29 August 2006

Baghdad Time & Temp

Disclaimer:  "This is a private website that I created and funded myself. It has no corporate affiliation nor is it, in any way, officially related to
the Government of the United States."