July 4th, 2008

Happy Independence Day!!!,
              Today is a day to celebrate the birth of our great nation.  The men who gathered in a hot stuffy room during the summer of 1776 in Philadelphia and put their names on a piece of paper, at great personal risk, were banking on a dream.  That dream lives on today, fueled by the indomitable American spirit and paid for by the blood of men and women serving on our soil or on distant lands.  I am home with my family today, but many times I've spent this holiday and others in remote corners of the world, far from home and the ones I love.  My thoughts and prayers this day are with those serving away from their families.  Stay strong, stay safe and come home proud!  You are the reason the Red, White and Blue flies over a land of freedom and equality.

     In the last update I reported on a giant fish caught on Camp Slayer, within the Victory Base complex. In case you did not see that one or need to have you memory jogged, here it is:

SFC Douglas Anderson and his giant mangar

     I was able to interview the Soldier who caught this giant mangar on Camp Slayer, SFC Doug Anderson via e-mail. Doug is a life-long fisherman, though numerous deployments over the past few years have cut into his time on the water. He has served in the Arkansas National Guard for 33 years and is currently in his second deployment to Iraq. When he is at home with his wife and three girls, he like to fish for bass and catfish. He began fishing in Iraq as a way to relax and connect with life back in the world he left behind.
     He has caught some pretty impressive catfish, but never dreamed that the biggest fish of his life would come from a pond in the middle of Iraq. His pursuit of this beast began weeks before he actually caught the fish. The water of the lake on Camp Slayer, right outside the building he works in are clear enough to see this fish. Soldiers had spotted him numerous times, cruising near the surface looking for food. Doug fished for three weeks without hooking the beast but one of his Soldiers did manage to get a barb into the mangar, but it broke the fishing rod. Doug was smarter. He wrote Kenny and Wendy Panther, owners of Arkansas Trading and Loan and members of the same church that he attends back in Arkansas. They sent a rod and fishing equipment over, guaranteed to hold up with big fish.
     He hooked into the monster four times before finally reeling him in. Sometimes he used sausage for bait, but the bait that really worked was a bagel.  The first three times he hooked into the fish were on a cheap rod/reel loaded with 50 pound test line left behind by a previous unit. The fourth time was with the set up Kenny and Wendy sent him. This time the gear held up but the fish wrapped him around some concrete blocks and cut the line.
     The fifth time however proved to be the charm. Doug baited his outfit with a bagel (bread is a deadly bait for mangar), and cast out in the area the behemoth was known to frequent.  His efforts were soon rewarded with a strike and it was game on!  He had hooked his quarry far away from any obstructions, and Doug was hopeful this battle would not end like the previous four. 
     While he was fighting the fish Doug, fishing alone, was wondering how he would land the fish. The shore of the man-made lake is a wall flat rocks held together with mortar, sloping down into the lake. The water is a couple feet below the top of this bank, which can make landing any fish a problem, let alone one this size. About five minutes into the fight Doug saw his Battalion Sergeant Major walking along the lake.  The SGM stopped and watched him for a while and then took off walking again.  Later Doug asked him why he didn't come back and help, the SGM said "the pole didn't look like it was bent that bad so I didn't think you needed any help."  Another five minutes passed and the fish was making some pretty strong runs, getting into deeper, open water where Doug wasn't too concerned about a break-off.  However, when the fish made a run toward a nearby bridge and dock, Doug became nervous. This is where the beast had broken his line before.  Just then, he saw a Soldier he worked with walking across the foot bridge in the front of the building.  Doug yelled at him to hurry up, that he had the BIG one on his line and needed help.  The Soldier came over to make sure Doug wasn't pulling his leg and then ran into the building to grab gloves. 
     When he returned, the Soldier brought the majority of the people from their office with him.  The fish made a couple more runs and Doug finally got him up to the edge of the lake.  Doug handed the rod to one of the Soldiers who had come to help and told him to keep pressure on the line.  Then Doug and his assistant crawled to the edge of the water, holding on to Soldiers boots and a pipe at the edge of the water to keep from falling in.  As soon as Doug touched the fish he took off again, making the drag sing.  Doug jumped up and noticed the rod was pointed straight at the fish while he was pulling line out.  Doug grabbed the rod and got the beast stopped about 50 yards into the run.  Doug reeled him back in, and the fish rolled over on his back at the edge of the water - as worn out as Doug was from the fight.
     Again, Doug and his trusty assistant crawled to the water's edge to get the fish.  They got into position, where each grabbed a gill plate and drug him up on the bank.  Both were covered in water and mud after the fish's thrashing and their lack of coordination.  After a few quickly snapped pictures they turned the fish back in the water. It was getting warm that day and Doug was worried about getting him in pretty quick.  That is one reason there are not any better pictures. The fish did survive, Doug saw him a couple weeks later, just before sending me the details of this interview, out behind the building eating small fish and bread that had been thrown out.  Maybe another Soldier will experience the fish of a lifetime - in a combat zone!

     Just how big was SFC Anderson's fish? Its measurements were 70.5 inches in length and 39 inches in girth so I put them into a calculator for striped bass (a fish I believe closely resembles the body structure of a mangar) and came out with a weight of 134lbs. Another calculator gives a weight of 147lbs. I think this may even be light, because mangar have a huge head (lots of bone), big shoulders and a thick tail. Initially Doug told me the fish was 105lbs, but that is way under estimating this beast.

     ESPN had a correspondent in the area and has more photos of this fish, you can see them here: ESPN Fishing In Iraq 

   

   



   
Brian sent these shots from some of their latest outings - great mix of fish guys!!!

     Greetings everyone,
         Hope all is well. Wanted to shoot out a quick update and some pics from the last couple weeks. Fishing seems to have picked up a bit, four of us went out last Sunday (22Jun) and between Z-Lake and Victory palace lake caught over 20 fish. They are still hitting well on little roadrunner spinner and jigs. A little bit of everything from Carp to Asp. We've also found our new club 'pro', PVT Stetler, a great young kid from California who grew up tying and fly fishing and has already taught us 'newbies' many things and has been in the process of reorganizing our storage locker.
     We also received donated fishing gear from two great groups of folks this week:

Kevin Smith from Project Healing Waters
And
Ron Russell from the Virginia Coastal Fly Anglers

     Both sent great boxes with rods, reels, supplies, flies, vests, coffee, magazines, fly boxes, etc that really restocked our locker and gave us the ability to set up many new rigs to sign out to Service members over here. Please give them a huge shout out, the impact they have on the folks over here is just amazing.
Fish on!
Brian

Brian, Scott and Jason with the supplies donated by Kevin Smith of Project Healing Waters - thanks a million!!!

     I got these pictures of catfish in from SFC Coonrod. He wrote:

     Hear are a few more pictures of a Friday night outing on Camp Slayer. The smaller Wels Cat had a very beautiful color, I needed a little help with the bigger one (26"), my buddy David was there to assist. I don't have much time left hear, I'm trying to get out as much as possible. Thanks, and take care.
James

     An amazing woman sent me this e-mail and photos last month - she is working in the same vein we are and certainly making life better for this group of Soldiers. She wrote:

     Hi Joel,
I just wanted to let you know that I have been working with a group of Army Soldiers that are in Iraq and have been having a ball! But what a job!! I have sent them a multitude of reels, rods and what not. Through the generosity of a lot of manufacturers and stores, I was able to supply them with almost everything that they might need.
on continuing this if I get enough stockpiled. Donations are still coming in and I am continually making phone calls with a great response. We have some awesome fly fishermen and women out there!! They are in Kirkuk, Iraq on their 3rd tour. The canal is behind their motor pool.
Regards,
Irene Baldwin

   

   
Irene's Soldiers and their canal

     Guys on the ground are keeping me supplied with pictures, here are the latest:

   
SPC Kyle with a big mouth carp - first one of those for our gallery, thanks Kyle!


Dennis shows off a fat carp from the canals.

   
Jason shows off a couple of his first Iraq fish - nice going!

   
Christopher caught what appears to be a shaboot down in the International Zone.

     That is the latest from Baghdad. Thanks for reading all the way through to this point, this update was a doozy! As always, I will post the reports and pictures as I get them in.  

Fish on!  Joel

Baghdad Time & Temp