Musandam Oman April 2012

When I set foot on the plane, I realized how long my absence is going to be, Leaving 2 young boys behind and a pregnant woman for 23 days is a bit hectic, I consider my self very lucky as I barely hear my wife complain, however the guilt for being away for so long will always surround me and made me realize how much I miss being around my family and my good friends, The problem is that I can’t stand still without wetting a line; I guess my fishing obsession is getting worst. This trip was organized right after my first trip to Southern Oman in April 2011, Joining me on this trip is Yagara-san from California and Matthew Born from Dubai, Matt fished with us last year and we had a blast fishing with him, I am very keen to share a ride with him on the water as there is always fun and good laugh between him and Nick from Ocean Active. I also fished with Yagara-san, on many occasion his knowledge and help is beyond my expectation, The plan was to fish Southern Oman for 5 days with the first group but ****** Nature is raising the red flag against us! Prior to my departure from the US I received a call from Nick informing me of bad weather but giving us an alternative to fish the ‘North Musandam’ Upon my arrival we made the decision based on the weather and with the help of Ocean Active we made it happen, I have to say that no monster have been caught but the fun and the great time we had – ‘priceless’, we caught many species from GT’s to AJ, to sailfish, spangled emperor, Mackerel, Queen fish, big eye, Yellowfin tuna, we manage couple of descent size fish and a taste of Musandam great sea current, which make the 25kg pull like a 50kg. The water was so clear and most of the fish been caught on a strong current, baits were everywhere, tons of bait at certain spot with busting long fin tuna all over that makes you pull the rest of the hair you have on your head, the most difficult fish to catch period! We sure missed a couple of fish and at a certain time my line got bitten by a shark trying to attack the lure that had a GT on it, minor lure losses and failed tackle to mention but the funniest of all is when I get smoked at a certain spot and my line get shaved to lose a Moutoukenmaru prototype lure, the odds and the luck showed up after 15 minutes and while we are ¼ miles away from where we hooked that fish and lost the lure. Mattew shouted, isn’t that your lure, pointing 3 feet away from the boat, how lucky I am, in this big ocean my lure surfaced 3 feet away from the boat, I pick it up and started cracking up on what to be the oddest things that could happen on the water, amazing how luck can smile at you :) Sailfish were thick and it was so fun to see them airborne, giving us the signal to hit the throttle and we were not disappointed, we had many hook up until Nick made it happen, the sailfish took his lure 2 feet away from the boat while he is shouting grab the leader, Captain Damon ran to him to back up the drag and make him work a bit :D After a couple of run and some acrobatic movement the fish settled down and Nick manage to grab it to have a lap pictures :) This is my 10th trip to Musandam for the past 5 years and I still haven’t get enough from this place, there is always something special that happens on this magical place, I’ve said it before and I will say it again, Musandam is one of my favorite GT spot. As I am writing down the report the weather seems about to give us a break so hopefully Southern Oman will become reality in another couple of days. I would like to thank all the boys from Ocean Active that went out of their way to accommodate us and made it happen to us, I thank Captain Damon, Captain Cameron, and John, Anura, Hassan and finally my good friend and ally Nick Bowles from Ocean Active Tackle used Rods: Saltywater Tackle Race Point 200,250, prototype 300, Carpenter Monster Hunter, Hot's Tide Lez, Shimano Reels: Shimano Stella from SW5000 to the SW20000 Line: Sunline, Jerry Brown, Shout, Varivas Lures: Carpenter Gamma, Carpenter Bluefish, Siren, ASWB, Shell Shaping, Craft bait, Moutoukenmaru Enjoy the pictures guys! Tight lines Sami