Fly Fish Iran

[PocketWater]

I didn't see this on here after searching, so thought maybe some folks would find it interesting. I was pretty surprised how beautiful Iran looks. Not how I pictured it in my head, at least.

http://www.orvis.com/news/fly-fishing/fly-fishing-in-iran-part-i-rivers-and-species/

http://www.orvis.com/news/fly-fishing/fly-fishing-in-iran-part-ii-history-rivers-and-fly-patterns/

Anyway, just ran across this piece and though I'd share.

 

[geebee]

Thanks for sharing - I had two friends in the UK who grew up in or had family in Iran, they said the skiing there was off the charts in winter.

pre the overthrow of the Shah in the late 70's, it was a very popular vacation spot for wealthy expats who were living and working in Lebanon.

And contrary to popular opinion, their Pashto girls can be absolute stunners - huge almond shape brown eyes.

I'm told the history and landscapes there are stunning - and it is where a lot of things were first invented - monotheistic religion (zoastrinism) which predates Judaism, astrology, the number zero, etc etc.

Their Pashtun food is amazing too, unbelievable lamb.

as you can tell, its a place I've always wanted to visit - I had no clue they had trout but that does make sense, because everywhere the English went that had mountains and cool water, they took brown trout with them . now I want to go even more !

cheers

mark.

 

[geebee]

for anyone else interested, a couple more links for you :

http://morcast.com/site/category/iran-fly-fishing/

http://larfishing.com/sv/fly-fishing-blog/137-fly-fishing-in-the-home-of-snakes.html

http://www.orvis.com/news/fly-fishing/video-a-fly-fishing-paradise-in-iran/

cheers

mark.

 

[PocketWater]

That looks like a nice video on the last link geebee. Will watch it more closely when home from work.

 

[gulfgreyhound]

Any place the Brits went the trout followed GG

 

[PennypackFlyer]

Even with all the beautiful photos,

I don't think I can say, "Fish on" faster than they can say "hostage on"

 

[PocketWater]

From what I have heard, obviously don't know first hand, but I have heard the people of Iran are mostly pretty cool people that actually like a lot of Western ideals....and it seems to just be their leadership which is insane.

Maybe that is all bullcrap though and you would be stoned to death or thrown in prison and called a 'spy' just for being there.

 

[PennypackFlyer]

It is like any country that we have invaded.....at first they accept our presence and help with open arms.....but somewhere's along the line our honorable intentions change and the American body bag count begins to increase. And than we start killing more so that the numbers break more or less even.

 

[moon1284]

Wow, this sounds like an awesome place for me and the old lady to get away and catch some trout. We'll probably just wet wade so our waders don't bring didymo with us.

 

[geebee]

PocketWater wrote:
From what I have heard, obviously don't know first hand, but I have heard the people of Iran are mostly pretty cool people that actually like a lot of Western ideals....and it seems to just be their leadership which is insane.

Maybe that is all bullcrap though and you would be stoned to death or thrown in prison and called a 'spy' just for being there.

possibly both - the Islamic countries I've been to the locals were insanely friendly. by nature arabs are traders and money overrides political beliefs in my experience.

that was also the experience of my friend who worked in Lebanon during the boom times of the 60's and 70's when it was the playground of the rich and wealthy with casinos, brothels, nightclubs, yacht parties etc

my experience is that local guys out there love Levi Jeans, Marlboro cigarettes and Coca Cola. They also all wear fake Ray Bans and fake Nike Adidas etc. (they also love soccer)

now that's the people, the government ? not so much....

its very much like Viet Nam and Russia was when I visited 15 + years ago. lovely people, crazy government. ( I was detained by the Military Police in Hanoi for walking on the wrong side of the Street opposite Ho Chi Minh's tomb. I walked on the far side, westerners must walk on the near side, the far side was for Viets only...)

I think we'll soon be finding that Cuba and Cuban's are similar - the people want the 'glamour' of capitalism, the government don't want its 'moral decadence'.

cheers
Mark.

 

[RyanR]

PocketWater wrote:
From what I have heard, obviously don't know first hand, but I have heard the people of Iran are mostly pretty cool people that actually like a lot of Western ideals....and it seems to just be their leadership which is insane.

Maybe that is all bullcrap though and you would be stoned to death or thrown in prison and called a 'spy' just for being there.

It's actually true, it's a very, very small fraction of people there (mostly their government leaders and hardline Ayatollah supporters) that "hate" Westerners. The anti-American protests we see on the news are largely staged by the government. The people of Iran are just trying to raise their families and earn a living, same as us. My recently retired boss is Iranian, born and raised there, emigrated here as a young adult. He & I were both wrestlers so we used to talk about that (wrestling is pretty much their national past time. They absolutely love the sport.) I mentioned that I would've loved to see the World Championships that were there a couple years ago. He said I would've been safe and treated very, very well by the Iranian fans. He said Iranian wrestling fans tend to really like American wrestlers because of our more open and offensive style (particularly in contrast to the typical Russian style which is often quite boring- get a quick lead and shut down.)

As for trout. There's a great coffee table style book by James Prosek called Trout of the World. It's beautifully illustrated in very detailed water color. A very worthwhile purchase. There have been unique species of trout in that region (and other unexpected places) for a long, long time.

 

[Dave_W]

I spent some time fishing in the Zagros Mountains between Iraq and Iran a few years ago. However, I (we) were heavily armed.

Certainly, the Kurds tend to like Americans. . . the other folks in that corner of the world, not so much.

 

[DaveKile]

Dave_W you always surprise me. Didn't know you were there in that part of the world on your tour.

There's probably a correlation of who we drone and how much they do or don't like us?

 

[PocketWater]

I'm pretty sure in the 2015 Fly Fishing Film Tour, there was a film on fly fishing in Cuba. Looked really nice there, too.

 

[RyanR]

Jardines de la Reina, the Gardens of the Queen. Just waiting for it to open up, always wanted to visit & fish Cuba.

After seeing those gorgeous photos of Iran's trout country and the trout themselves I'd love to go on a goodwill expedition there. Looks like I'll have to fit that in around my Kamchatka trip now too. One can dream anyway!

 

[phiendWMD]

I email with an Iranian women. She is a friend of a friend. Mostly I just like to ask questions to anyone who will answer and she answers. I tend to trust her because she doesn't give me sanitized answers. Sometimes the questions I ask have the answers most Americans might expect. She doesn't sugar coat it. More often though, the responses would surprise a lot of people.
Iranians want jeans, cell phones, and an opportunity to raise their families in safety like everyone else.
I worked for an Iranian family in Dallas for a while. They are still some of the kindest most generous people I've ever met. Anyone ever have a job where the whole company was served lunch cooked by the owners every Friday? That's the kind of people they are.