Got back from Pakistan

Hello Guys

I just got back from my trip to Pakistan. I was gone for about a month. Had a great time did lots of hunting (Duck & Partridge) and some fishing. The fishing was amazing considering that it was off season. I was in the NWFP province near the border of Afghanistan for a duck hunt. The place is called Chisshma( Meaning fresh water). This place is absolutely amazing  large natural fresh water impoundment with millions of ducks and thousands of wild bore. It is also an excellent fishing area. Most of the fishing is done for commercial purposes and an occasional angler will brave a trek to this inaccessible place. You basically have to drive through the Tribal belt to get here. Supposedly this is where Osama is hiding. It is very dangerous and they day before an army post was attacked and eight Pakistani soldiers were killed.  The roads are poorly maintained so a 140 km drive ended up taking 8 hours. After shooting a few hundred ducks I decided to bust out the pole and fish. Since it was winter I was unable to find any worms so is used the next best thing. I slit open a duck and used its intestine ....fished for three hours not  a nibble.

I asked a few locals if they could find me some worms and after some negotiating (100 rupees = $1.50) a 9 year old kid got me about 10 night crawlers.

I reel out my pole throw away the duck guts and put on the worm. I was using 15 lb test. I managed to land 1 fish while my nephew (pictured) caught two. I had my 15 lb line snapped off about 7 times. The red colored fish is called  rohu and the other is a mulee ( some kind of catfish). Of all the fish i have caught, I have never experienced a hard fighting fish as the rohu, I thought i had hooked a train. Rohu is some sort of carp but when hooked it runs like a wiper and is more acrobatic than a trout on a fly. And here is the best part the meat is absolutely white and very very sweet. The catfish was also excellent table fair. 

I have heard that local fishermen (netting) have caught fish as big as 100 kg. The biggest fish was a thel (some sort of carp). I have also seen a fish called a soul it was about 50 kg. It looked just like a peacock bass but without the orange coor and ha the trademark tattoo on its tail. There are also fish called faugee khagaa averaging 20 - 30 kg, it looks like a pike. If i ever get a chance to o again Im taking some lures and possibly make my visit during late spring.

Enjoy the pics.