URI WOLLNER REALLY LOVES BARBEL. Especially the Damascus barbel, a native to rivers of northern Israel like the Hasbani, the Banias, and the Dan, all of which feed the upper Jordan on its way to the Sea of Galilee. Barbels occupy a slim branch on the carp family tree, so it shouldn’t have been surprising when Wollner spoke of them with the same reverence—even using the same analogy—that many North American anglers do when speaking of carp. “They are the bonefish of freshwater,” Wollner says. “Seconds after you hook one, they are into your backing.”
Around 2009, Wollner was asked to make a blog post about Israeli flyfishing on the website . His first
