I took the 13 hours flight to Dubai to be greeted by Nick and Mattew at the airport and off for the 10 hours drive to Southern Oman.
The desert and the mountain blended together in a harmony along this road; it was a peaceful ride all the way while crossing the Omani boarder.
We made it at the guest house with one concern, the Weather!
I took the chance and flew knowing that we might end up not fishing but as always somebody up there watching. Thank God for all the good things and the bad things that happen in our life, as we say from where I come, it meant to be!
Upon our arrival the wind began to die down looking for a promising tomorrow.
The mooning came in with full excitement to hit the water and take the challenge.
What I have seen in these 3 days of fishing in Southern Oman is compared to none of the GT trip that I have ever done.
We landed a total of 25 GT and 8 of those GT are over 50kg.
We worked very hard with consistency and got rewarded big time! It is going to take me awhile to forget that I landed 5 fish over 50kg in 3 days fishing and only get reefed once.
Day 1
While the skipper was stating to me that stickbait doesn’t work, I decided to go against the odds and landed the first Spangled emperor, then came in my first 50kg+ of the trip on the Shell Shaping twister. It was such a great fight, but I was not expecting the first GT of the trip to hit the mark of 50kg+.
Again I got greeted with another monster GT hitting the 50kg+ mark that hit a Deep liner prototype stickbait, could I ask for more!
Half a day passed and I felt my mission is accomplished as I came in with the purpose to test the new Race Point 200 series.
Both fish been landed on the prototype Race Point 200, the rod is meant to target tuna and GT by using a Stickbait lures, I push it to the extreme with locked drag and the rod performed beyond my expectation.
We finished the day by landing a total of 5 GT and a couple of other species.
Day 2
As we were pushing our way to the far island, the wind started to blow and Nick was talking to me with a concern about the condition, we might have to come back guys!
I looked at Matthew and he seemed to agree with me and I said lets push it and see what is going to happen. Luckily after 1 hour the wind died down and we made it.
The current and the water looked very promising; we landed a couple of descent size GT in the mid 20kg to the upper 20kg until I saw a big shadow that came in from nowhere and hit my deep liner stickbait. My lures were in 4 meters depth and the fish took it while approaching a ledge that actually got exposed to the crushing waves.
I get reefed and lost the fish knowing the risk that I took to put the lure where I wanted.
We hit a couple of spot and landed more fish but nothing really was as big as yesterday until Nick’s get hit by a train, after huffing and puffing he landed a nice 55kg GT on the Race Point 250, and lucky enough he landed the fish when the belly swivels gave up to the power of the GT. The fish measured 140cm X 110cm.
We finished the day with a total of 9 GT and many other species.
Day 3
By this point Matthew was struggling.
He has been getting good shot and manage to blow it away but not for too
long!
We saw the fusilier early in the morning and start casting but there was no GT under, I get a black spotted trevally.
We moved and start hitting the point and saw a big shadow trying to inhale the Shell Shaping stickbait, lazy enough I decided to run 5/0 hooks and the big fish missed it twice but got tied up with a smaller one. Not bad to start the day!
The current was pushing and Nick asked the skipper to put us in position.
First it was Mattew who got chased by 3 GT to the boat and missed his lures but Nick was quick enough to put the lures back on the strike zone and got rewarded big time, they doubled up!
Right after that we start casting a bit parallel to the current as we noticed that the fish are coming in pack of 2 and 3 and most of them are swimming in the same direction. We basically discovered the pattern.
Nick did it again: a nice 50kg+ hit the deck with so much excitement around followed by myself, another 50kg+ on the Shell Shaping lures.
I decided to switch to popper and get rewarded again by another 50kg+
We landed a couple of small GT before we hit the sandy beach for a quick break and to enjoy that amazing scenery that the area offers.
We were back to business when we found Nick on the floor at the bow trying to keep the fish on his line. Nick was literally on the bow with both feet in the air trying to stay on the boat that was a monster GT that he lost due to pulled hook. It didn’t take so long; Nick’s lure got a hit by monster GT 10 feet away from the boat that actually wetted all of us. Nick was so furious and lost another opportunity so did Mattew.
I changed the lure to the Orion Cono Cono and landed another 50kg+ that put the boys into working power.
We called the last drift to encounter the best moment of this trip!
Mattew lures get inhaled by monster GT 20 feet away from the boat, I yelled and screamed at Mattew as if I knew him from ages or we grew up together. I think Mattew still gets the echo in his ears with my voice asking him to set the hook.
It took 3 guys to hall Mattew’s fish to the boat, finally!!!
Mattew’s fish measured 144cm; an estimated 60kg hit the deck by all means.
It took consistency and determination, well done my friend and welcome to the club!
You earned it!
If it was somebody else I think he would gave up.
Took a quick shot and released the fish healthy to fight another day, Mathew’s fish has been landed on one of the Race Point 250 prototype.
We landed a total of 12 GT whish 4 of them over 50kg and one of them was close to the 60kg mark.
I want to thank our skipper Tom and Saud for their great service and special thank you to Ahraf and Sultan at the guest house, your hospitality was beyond what we expected.
Thank you guys!!!!
Our mission has been accomplished successfully to Southern Oman and tomorrow we will head north to have a taste of Musandam.
Day 4
We had a nice dinner at the villa at Ocean Active and in the morning we headed to loin jaws to see bait flying out of the water and being chased by long fin tuna. FC had the ultimate shot and put his lure in the strike zone; had a rush of adrenaline for 30 second before his line departed but still managed to land a very nice King Mackerel after his loss.
We saw a big shadow that missed Nick’s lures a nice 40kg that fail to commit again.
Did couple of drifts and we doubled up on GT up to 32kg till the current start to die down and I asked the guys to hit to lion jaws to jig. First drop and my line were tied.
I had a nice Indian mirror fish followed by 2 small GT’S on the jigs.
Started to head back to encounter bait as big as a football field getting crashed by Queen Fish and Big Eye Trevally, we spend 40 minutes chasing them till we decided to head home and take to the drive to Dubai.
Nick, I can’t thank you enough for what you have done to make this trip so memorable, I am sure we will share those great memories with our kids in the future.
Mattew, it was a great pleasure meeting you and fishing side by side with you, I will see you in another 2 weeks my friend.
Tackle used:
Race Point 250 and 200 (new model 8'2") under production
Smith Komodo Dragon
Reels: Shimano stella SW18000 & SW20000, Stella 10000FA with 20000 spool.
Lures: Deep Liner (Prototype),Shell Shaping twister, Orion, Craft Bait,Heru,
Line: Sunline, Varivas SMP, Jerry Brown, Tuff Line,
Tight lines
Sami
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