Next morning the alarms went off and everyone was up early. Some fresh coffee on the upper deck of the villa! I bring down fresh coffee from RAW Coffee in our shop in Dubai. This is some of the best coffee I have ever tasted! Chris likes his coffee really strong so I thought I would make a super strong batch with the press. I put about 6 heaped spoons in and pressed the coffee. I poured all of us a cup and when Chris had a taste I asked what he thought I got the reply “it is mildly strong!” I can see where he gets his power from!! But this comment would come back later in the trip!
We got onto the boat and headed out for the day, we decided to fish a full day and not come back for lunch as it looked like bad weather was on its way, so we packed a lunch plus all the normal snacks, drinks, tea, coffee etc. We headed out the marina and weather was still looking perfect. We tried a couple of places but not to much luck. The water was almost to calm. Minami-san asked me to fish as he wanted to do some filming. I had set up the Gipang 711MH with PE6, Stella 10000 and SOM16000 spool. I rigged the rod with 220lbs leader and an Ocean Active 125gr popper. This rod is meant for yellowtail in Japan so it has a soft tip for working stickbaits but good backbone to keep the fish out the rocks. I had discussed this rod with Chris and Minami-san the night before and they both assured me the rod had plenty of power! So I thought what better time to test the rod when the big boss was on the boat, if anything went wrong this was the time. To be honest I was very nervous to cast this light rig at the size GTs in Southern Oman. But nothing tried nothing gained!
After a good few places and casts Chris finally had a big fish hit right at the boat, the fish had come in like a steam train from about 10ms behind the popper, the fish hit the lure and Chris stuck the fish several times! It was another monster! The fish turned tail and headed straight for the horizon! Chris’s drag was again in full lock and the fish just carried on peeling line! In only 8m of water it was hard to control the fish and the fish reefed Chris! Same rod, same drag as the 62kg fish the day before, I can only imagine the size of the fish! I’m scared to put a size on it, as it was very beeeeg! But you can’t win every battle! Also you have to be reefed a few times in Southern Oman otherwise it is no fun! Makes the stories all that much better!
Chris re-rigged and we got back into position. A few more casts and Chris had another big hit, he struck the fish and got it under control quickly, after a few short minutes Chris got a nice 40kg GT to the boat. We got a few good pictures and released the fish.
Chris bending
Another good Southern Oman GT
I had still been working my 125gr blue OA Popper on the 711MH. I was putting in some long casts trying to call the fish from far and wide as the water was calm as glass. I was busy day dreaming when a massive fish came up directly from under the popper and caught me by surprise! The fish missed the lure and turned around for a second strike, I put my rod flat and started to wind like a wild man! This just angered the fish more and she came flying after the popper with mouth open, she looked like a whale shark coming towards me with open mouth! The fish engulfed the popper about 10m from the boat, totally amazing hit, I pumped the fish about 10 times hoping and small 125gr popper with ST66 3/0s would dig in deep and hold! We were in 9m of water and luckily the fish swam towards the boat and passed the bow, I had the spool locked in my hand and trying with all my power to hold the fish, the 711MH was bent over double but amazingly enough had an immense amount of backbone for a small rod.
Launching a few lures
Bending on the light rod
Great backbone for a small rod
Directing traffic
I could feel I had a lot of pressure on the fish and was turning its head. The spool would turn in my hand a few turns every few seconds and it was a total battle of wills! I could feel every head shake like a pain through my hand and the tail hitting the leader. I finally managed to get a few turns back onto the spool and then lost them again, this went on for a few minutes. The fish must have been sitting on the bottom and I thought it was now of never, I pulled on he rod as hard as I could and started to do several short pumps, I finally got the fish coming towards the boat! Slowly I managed to get line back and suddenly the fish changed direction and I got a whole lot of line back, with a few more pumps I had the fish in sight! I could see it was big but was not prepared for the size when she broke the surface! A monster GT and on a light rod! It took 3 of us again to load the fish! We put her at 52kgs, a monster on the 711MH. A lot of high 5s and a few pictures and we released her! Minami-san turned to me and shook his head and said that is a new record on the rod!! Awesome!! Then I turned to Chris and smiled and said “I think this rod is mildly strong like the coffee!”
There it is, 711MH mildly strong!!
Amazing fish on the light rod, very happy!
Check the shoulders on this fish!
Great to have caught this fish with Minami-san on the boat, very special
One last picture, not easy to pick up this big girl!
Swimming away strong!
Hallaniyat Shower, best part after a hard fight!
We tried for a few more hours but the current had died and the sea was flat with not much happening, so we ended up heading for the deeper water and did a bit of jigging, we caught a few more AJs and then as the sun started dipping we headed for home. Another amazing day in Southern Oman!
After a great meal and a few stories of the days fishing we all headed for bed. But the weather report was not looking good and wind was predicted for the following day. During the night the wind arrived early and started pumping around 15 knots.
We woke up the next morning to a lot of white horses blowing from the SW. We had breakfast and ventured out. After a few hours of rock and rolling we had a decision to make. We were going to get a gap in the wind early afternoon but it looked like the wind was going to blow for the remainder of the trip. I made the decision to stop the trip short and try drive up to our Musandam operation to try and get another good days fishing in. We had caught some big fish already and thought it would be good to try another destination to get some variety! We headed back to the island, packed our bags and headed back to the mainland. A hard decision knowing there are a lot of big fish around. But I thought it would be good to turn this trip into the Oman Odyssey trip and show Minami-san and Chris all of Oman and fish both our operations.
We arrived back on the mainland, packed the truck and headed up North. We made it as far as Haimah in the dark and decided to stop at a small hotel, we check in and then headed to town for a local restaurant and dinner with the local towns folk! A true experience and some great food! Not something that will be in your travel guide!
Oil pumps in the desert
Nothing for miles!
Chris always playing a few jokes, he tried a bit of hitch hiking in the desert but not to much luck!
Dinner at the local restaurant in Haimah, awesome food.
Haimah Hotel
After a good nights sleep we carried on up through the desert to Muscat, where we had a bit of western fastfood at Mc Donalds and carried on up to Musandam in the north. The trip took 12 hours but was a proper road trip with good company and conversation. It was good to be back in Musandam and meet up with all of the team. I have been away for a while so was great to relax with Anura and the team sorting out everything from a good prawn curry to huge steaks on the braai!
The Musandam villa "GT House"
Fresh longtail tuna sashimi around the fire pit
Dinner outside at our villa in the Musandam. Great to be back in the Musandam, place is amazing.
We met up with Matt Born and Gerhard Ziehenberger they were staying at our villa. They were both fishing on the 32ft Center Console and we would be fishing on the 40ft Center Console, so the competition was on!! We all had a great evening and dinner and got a good nights sleep!
We were all up early the next morning for a quick breakfast but it seemed the wind had followed us, but we decided to try get out and luckily after an hour the wind dropped and we had a great day out. We managed to get 1 GT on top water and 3 GTs on Jig plus a kingfish on jig. The fish were not big and biggest in the 25kg range. We also lost two good fish that broke one line off and the second the hooks pulled. Matt and Gerhard on the second boat got 2 GTs jigging with a big fish around 42kgs on jig. So in all a worth while move going up to Musandam. Great to be back in home waters and catching some good fish!
Loading up the boat in the morning
Traveling up in the two boats early morning
Team Hots
Minami-san letting loose
Famous current of the Musandam.
Minami-san fighting his first Musandam GT
Good GT
Chris hooked up on jig
Chris with a GT on jig
Me getting into the action on jig.
Chris with a kingfish on jig
Orange spot trevally on jig.
Longtail tuna some more sashimi!
Our Captain Damon, pink buff, long story!!
Matt and Gerhard on the 32ft with Capt Cameron. Having a bit of lunch
Gerhard with a big GT on jig
Team shot
Team shot at the villa with Cameron, Anura and Mangala
On the last day we headed for Dubai and did a bit of sight seeing going to the Burj Al Arab (7 Star Hotel), Burj Khalifa (Tallest Building, Atlantis and several other places. We also spent a bit of time in the Ocean Active Shop. Was great to sit with Minami-san and Chris and discuss what they thought of the trip and fishing and putting together a list of products from Hots for our shop. Nothing like first hand advise! I think we are going to have some fantastic products very well suited for our fishing!
This is the size of the GT the guys want on their next trip.
In the OA shop in Dubai
Atlantis Hotel on Palm Jumeirah
Burj Khalifa, tallest building in the World
Burj Al Arab 7 star hotel during dinner.
Final dinner with friends and family.
But as all trips they have to come to an end. It was sad to see Minami-san and Chris leave after such a great trip and they have truly become great friends and clients, I look forward to their next trip to Oman in the near future.
Minami-san and Chris with local Arabian head gear.
Cheers,
Nick
