I had begun hatching plans last year to bring my family out to come and fish the Musandam with me and everything came together this September. My dad Deane and my older and younger brother Rory and Murray flew in to Dubai on a Saturday morning eager to see me and begin their epic fishing trip. There was only on snag in the plan I was still fast asleep in my bed in Dibba instead of at the airport to collect them. After a few phone calls and some colourful language directed towards myself from my siblings and dear father it was all sorted out. An hour and two speeding tickets later I met up with the boys at Nicks House for a reunion that was short on tears and high in jibes about early birds getting the worm.
We made a quick stop at the Ocean Active shop to stock up on a few last minute supplies and made our way to GT house in Dibba. We met up with the GT house crew of Damon, Brett and Anura and soon settled in to our digs for the trip. The excitement was running high in spite of the long flight from SA and the fishing wish list for the trip was expanding as the beers where decreasing. The brothers wanted GT’s dad wanted Spanish mackerel everyone wanted a sailfish, Tuna where up on the list as well as none of the guys had caught a Long Tail before the pressure was mounting by the minute!
We grabbed an early start the next morning not wanting to waste a day that the weather forecast promised would be our best for the trip. We cruised up in flat seas and as we rounded the last headland we were greeted by the sight of birds and tuna smashing bait all over the place, a perfect way to start the day the light rods came out and spoons and lures where soon sailing through the air. The fish where a mixture of little long tail and bonito so a few went into the hatch for bait and Damon rigged one live to see if we could catch a Spanish mackerel for my dad.
On our way bright and early
Light tackle action
Damon collecting bait!
As we moved off Damon dropped the live Bonny back behind the boat and it was immediately smashed by something big he handed the rod over to my dad who watched the line disappear from the little Accurate game reel at an alarming rate. We set off in pursuit of the fish and gained some line back, at this stage we thought we had hooked the mother of all Spanish Mackerel fifteen minutes later we were starting to wonder if we had picked a fight with the Kraken we would gain a few meters and lose twenty as my Dad toiled under the desert sun. Twenty five minutes into the fight dad called it a day and handed the rod over to Rory and the battle continued speculation was rife as to what we had hooked cobia, billfish, shark? We just didn’t know the fish would sound then come up to the surface tear away from the boat then sound again eventually we decided it must be a Yellow fin Tuna a sporadic visitor to the Musandam. With afresh man on the rod it still took us another 45 minutes before we saw colour beneath the boat but to our surprise it was a Long Tail tuna not an YFT. After the usual nervous moments we had the fish on the deck and it was high fives and smiles all round after weighing the fish back at GT house it pulled the scales to 37.5 kilo’s making it the biggest Long Tail tuna ever landed by Ocean Active in the Musandam what a way to start a trip.
Dad taking strain as I offer sage advice and encouragement like a good son
Rory taking charge of the fight
The Mystery Solved
Dad and Rory on the board in a big way
We headed onto our first GT drift leaving the tuna behind and had multiple fish come after the lures I manages to hook up as Rory and Murray cursed and performed beside clearly the guys weren’t expecting a pack attack on their first cast and the fish fever was hitting an all-time high! I landed a good GT and we had another pass or two but the small Geets where too thick and the bigger fish kept being beaten to the lures so we decided to switch locations. Generally it’s not the best idea to leave fish to find fish but we were riding a high and felt that nothing could stop us now.
First GT for the trip
Monster!
We moved to an area with a nice reef system so my dad could put live bait out the back while we cast from the front the action continued as Dad landed a few Greater Barracuda and Rory nailed one and lost the lure to a second from the front. I’m not a huge fan of Barracuda as they seem to seek out my favourite lures and I was considering a move to “cheaper” waters when Murray went tight after a bit of coaching from the resident experts which seemed to be everyone on the boat besides poor Murray he brought a great GT up alongside Al Sayyed 1. Damon got his wraps on the leader and the fish was on the Deck it measured 128cm and is officially the biggest GT the boys had ever laid eyes on so Murray was over the moon.
Dad with one of many Barracuda’s
Rory smiling with a Barracuda after just before feeding my Siren Bolt to his cousin
Murray doing casual battle with his GT
Captain Damon working the leader
One very chuffed little brother with the biggest GT of the Trip and the source of a fair amount of envy
By now the sun was beating down so we decided to head off to look for a Sailfish we put some lures rigged with belly shines from the mornings Bonito out the back and had a slow troll enjoying the breeze it didn’t take long for the first fish to come into the spread but he buggered around in typical sail fish fashion then lost interest later another fish was up and seem more determined to eat but we missed him as well. By now the day was nearly done and the current had faded and we began making our way home for some liquid refreshment and one of Anura’s brilliant curries at GT house
The following day found us leaving the Marina in a stiff wind and lumpy seas but nothing near enough to deter us after the previous day’s action. We found the Tuna in the same spot this time with Big Eye Trevally thrown in the mix one of my favourite fish on the light gear. Each man had a 5k Stella paired with a Shimano Aerocast and fish after fish hit the deck for a photo and safe release. Suddenly Dad tangled with something a little larger the tuna touch had struck again. It was an epic battle on the light tackle taking about an hour with a small assist from me at the end and we had an 18 kilo Long Tail on the boat a great effort on light tackle.
Big Eye Big Guy!
Pappy reposing like a gentlemen as he fights his tuna
It was an awesome feeling sitting with my dad who got me hooked on fishing as a child and my brothers who have been my partners in many fishing escapades and celebrating another excellent fish on the boat
This is what was left of dads lure after the Tuna wrangling session
We continued to catch the big eye and tuna and the odd Small GT but the wind was getting worse so we decided to seek calmer water and some lunch. Murray managed a decent GT and we briefly tangled with some Mahi Mahi before the wind chased us off the water and we decided that cold beers and hot curry were the better option.
Days three and four were our worst weather days with strong winds coming from the east which is good sailfish weather Dad elected to stay home as we braved the elements it turned out he made the right choice in the end. The sailfish were running rampant and we hooked up twice on stick baits but couldn’t get them to stick and we couldn’t chase down the fish we saw feeding and pitch baits to them as the sea was too rough leaving us wet and frustrated. We called it a day early and hammered our way home. Not really wanting a repeat of the day before we skipped our penultimate day and took a drive into the mountains through the Wadi’s and up the passes to keep ourselves entertained a trip that’s essential if you have the time as the scenery is breath taking very brown but still beautiful.
Wandering up the Wadi
Rare Omani aerial goat also known as flying mountain mutton.
Our last day had arrived and we wanted to end off with a bang, the weather had broken the day before and we were greeted but great seas the current wasn’t going to push too hard but the swell left over from the two windy days would help make up for it. Amazingly the Tuna where still hanging around in the same spot this time I was first on the board landing a 15 kilo long tail on the light Shimano combo a personal best for me in the Musandam on the next drift Rory went tight and landed another 18 kilo fish Leaving Murray going where’s mine? Fight fish of this calibre on top gear makes you appreciate how far fishing tackle has come and how we constantly redefine what’s possible with the gear available to us now it took us each around an hour to land our fish but we were never worried about losing them it just took a little patience and the odd insult from a sibling to get them to the boat.
Getting pressed
Result!
Rory getting pressed by his Tuna
A very chuffed Rory
What no tuna for me?
The conditions were far from perfect for GT’s with very little current but we had caught our share of good tuna and we still wanted a few more GT’s and if the gods were smiling a Spanish Mackerel another fish on the hit list that had eluded us like the Sail fish, we had had our fair share of shots at the sails but not a sniff of a couta so far which was surprising as they had been thick just the previous weekend.
We started off doing long searching drifts over one of the reefs but nothing seemed interested in what we had to offer even the Barracuda were ignoring my most prized lures. We were about to move of but decided to do one more pass we had a quick pep talk changed up the lures a bit and Damon prepped a live bait to make sure we had all the bases covered. Murray had taken up residence on the nose of Al Sayyad after watching from the side-lines while Rory and I had battled our tuna, as his lure an ASWB got within 5 foot of the boat a big couta doing approximately Mach 2 slammed his stick bait and just kept going. Damon started to bring in his live bait and that got smashed as well. We soon had both fish on the boat and Murray’s definitely had the superior specimen at20 kilos and it made for an awesome dinner back at GT house. We finished of the day with a few more small Geets before calling it day we had 2 days of R&R coming up in Dubai and felt we needed our strength.
AWSB getting the job done
I couldn’t have asked for a better trip and I have to thank Nick, Allan, David and of course Damon and Anura for making it possible. I’m off to the Halaniyats in a few days with a bit of luck the madness will continue.
