May 04, 2008

        Howdy all,
              I have been getting some news out of Iraq.  For those on the ground - keep the stories coming, I will use them and your pictures here.  This site is for you, so make the most of it!

       The school has gotten a lot of attention since the Field and Stream article and the story that ran on Fox news about Operation Catch Fish. Brian has certainly noticed  He writes:

       Greetings to all fishermen (and women!) out there, I hope all is well. I definitely owe an update since it's been a while.  Weather as you can imagine is starting to get on the warm side here, between the  sandstorms and just plain old hot weather it makes finding a nice day to fish even more challenging.  We have been getting out pretty consistently every Sunday morning and definitely just enjoy the camaraderie regardless of the fishing conditions.

The fish have definitely been moving with the water warming up, much more interest in top water.  This week when the club 'regulars' got out for a while, I was able to get a average sized asp fly fishing on a med sized black wooly with lead 'eyes' by getting it over the edge of the weed beds and letting it drop down into it.  Unfortunately my fly  skills are still pretty amateur and when the wind started picking up I had to switch to a spinning rig.  Our tried and true Kastmaster wasn't having much reaction so Scott and I both switched to a topwater frogs and each caught another nice Asp.  I included a few pics of a few from this Sunday.

We've had quite a bit more interest in the club lately with the articles in Field & Stream and also one by Reuters.  I've been signing out more and more equipment and absolutely get a huge smile on my face when I'm walking to work or driving somewhere and I see some Soldiers with fishing gear in hand.  I just want to say again thanks to fantastic American's like Joe Mercurio and the entire 'Catch Fish' crew who has brought more visibility to the club and made it possible to take it to the next level.  All the gear that they and many other sponsors have have donated have made it possible for us to enjoy a few hours 'away from it all' when we can.

Thanks again for all the continued support.

Fish on! Brian

This asp fell to a Wooly Bugger


On the lake - a great way to spend Sunday, even in Iraq.


Brian in action - nice asp!

       I have gotten some more great pictures from Jim, a civilian working in the area. He has had the best luck with mangar that I've heard of. Below are some of his pictures of HUGE fish.

 


These are the phalangeal teeth out of an asp - pretty interesting set of choppers.

I also got a picture of this Slayer asp from Chip.

Chris, one of our USAF anglers has had some luck over at Camp Slayer - arguably some of the best water on the Victory Base Complex.  In his own words:

I had to brag and send a couple pictures.  The first is of a Carp I caught at Slayer by the sunken boat.  We were using dough balls from DFAC bread.  The other picture is from just this Sunday the 27th.  The Asp were feeding in a sandstorm so I threw a top water Rapala lure out.  The picture's not discolored, those are actual conditions.