Fishin In Iraq

[Elton]

No, I won't be popping over to sample it just yet....

 

http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/authors/elton65.htm

[Newt]

Great stuff to read though.

 

Hopefully someone will have a clue what fish are pictured.

[Ken L]

Thats a hell of a fish and a can't help wondering whether they are the so called "Mahseer" that grow to huge sizes in the river tigris.

[Lid]

Very interesting - thanks Elton.

[Guest Ferret1959]

 

Just shows how caring we are don't it?

 

I don't want a fight please.

 

Just pointing out one of the differances with UK fishing.

Edited January 21, 2006 by Ferret1959

[GLOBE]

Elton - I've been making plans to fish seriously for these fish for the past 20-years, but each time I've fixed the plans I've needed to break them due to wars or problems in the areas I was going to fish - SE Turkey, Syria, and Iraq.

These fish are the Tigris Barbel (Barbus Seich) and can grow to 8ft in length and weigh more than 200lb. They are found mainly in the Tigris and Euphrates river systems (and introduced to other waters). More information about these fish can be found in my latest book.

 

They are fantastic looking fish, and although the old books call them the "Tigris Salmon" they of course have no relation to a salmon! The Tigris Barbel is closely related to the Mahasser of India, although in my opinion they are even more closely related to the Comizo Barbel of Spain.

 

Hopefully, if some of the areas I've wanted to fish for SO LONG, do finally settle down and become 'relatively' safe, I'll be packing my gear and travelling out there (not vey likely looking at the way those regions are at the moment). It is so sad to know that a third of the marshes areas and water levels were drained during the wars...I just hope that some pockets of the rivers and lakes have escaped the drainage, nets, or explosives.

 

Maybe I should pack my flat-jacket and helmet for the next expedition?

[Indian Angler]

Thats a really interesting article.

Those fish have to be some sort of mahseer. The head of the 3rd fish is similar to the mahseer here, but the scales are much smaller. Mahseer here have pretty large scales. Also the fish in the pic has barbels , similar to mahseer. The position of the dorsal fin is further back. The S Indian mahseer have the dorsal fin further forward.

Body shape wise its similar to N Indian Mahseer which are longer and sleeker, basically because they inhabit fast flowing rivers and streams. I,d imagine rivers in Iraq to be quite similar to the rivers we have up north. That fish ( shape) is def a fish from fast flowing water. May have been bred in that lake, but its a fast water fish.

 

Hmm must bookmark that article

 

Regards,

 

Indian Angler

[Paul Boote]

Yup. Barbus esocinus -

 

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=Bar...le+Search&meta=

 

I went after them in eastern Turkey in the 1990s, and required a Turkish girlfriend's army-officer father to give me a military escort! Fished hard for no fish, just a load of carp (did I spell that right?). I have mentioned this fish on AngNet before - stuff about the big ones the Brits caught during the Mesopotamian campaign of the First World War...

Edited January 21, 2006 by Paul Boote

[jeepster]

nice article, and good to see some troops making proper use of their time

when i was in basra (early 2004) most of the guys in the team i was stationed with had got fishing tackle with them, but had been warned that the river we were on the banks of, the chat al arab, was full of 1001 nasty bugs and critters that would do you in quicker than a rampaging arab mob, so we never got to fish.

on our frequent trips up the river (in an amazing little boat that had water jets at each corner, could spin 360 degrees in less than a second and stop in a distance shorter than it's own length) we saw local guys fishing with banks of car batteries (not sure how you hook those, maybe a hair rig) and through our interpreter we found out that they were fishing for what they called catfish, average size 18 inches, but they all spoke of monsters they'd seen that not even 10 car batteries could stun

thinking about it, the amount of river water ingested on a trip on the jet boat was far far more than if you'd been fishing, but i guess cuts and wounds were more what they were concerned about.

still, i'd rather die fishing than in an rpg attack on our convoy on the way to the airport, which was nearly my fate

[Paul Boote]

It should also be noted that Sadam was a keen "fisherman". He and his entourage would roll up to an Iraqi river and BOMB the devil out of it. The Iraqi population doubtless does the same, as do many rural Indians for mahseer... Little wonder that the fish featured in the article were Palace lake fish...

 

But lake fish don't interest me. Love to have a biggie from a river, though - without half the Allied forces watching my back: it's not fishing then (as I found in Turkey), it's a stupid stunt. Maybe in fifty years or so (if the Turkish and Syrian dams upriver haven't destroyed the Tigris and Euphrates)...

Edited January 21, 2006 by Paul Boote