UAE Bait fish?

[Sam Morrison]

Question for those that have fished/fish this part of the world,

What are the local bait fish? and those that are favoured by the GT in particular? Names, Images, photo's...

Currently looking at matching the hatch with a couple of lure patterns.

Thanks in advance 

[Mark Harris]

Are there many GTs in the UAE?  My guess would be no.

Do you mean Oman Sam?

[Barry Kurten]

UAE , Northern Oman ... Same thing Mark  or as the locals say ... Same Same but different !

Plenty GT's mate ! And some monsters at the moment !

Id say Fusiliers are probably the most common bait fish found up that side of the world !
(Just dropped you a PM Sam) 

[Mark Harris]

Barry, purely out of interest, do any of the guys over there actually fish spots in the UAE for GTs (Fujairah perhaps I would guess?), or are the spots all inside Omani territory?

And inside the Gulf off Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, RAK etc, are there any GTs?

Been meaning to ask someone that question for a while now .

[Sam Morrison]

Are there many GTs in the UAE?  My guess would be no.

Do you mean Oman Sam?

Let me re-phrase, how about the Gulf of Oman or the Arabian Sea.

Mark, is there no GT population in the waters off of Dubai, Abu Dhabi etc...?

The tip of land between Ras Al-Khaimah and Bandar-e-Abbas looks like an adventure playground, but not knowing the land nor the sea or commercial pressure in this area I can't say its full of fish 

[Mark Harris]

Bit of "snap" there Sam in our questions . Would be interesting to know about fish actually in the Gulf off Abu Dhabi etc.

The locally-based guys will know best, but in Southern Oman, I believe fusiliers are a key baitfish (they are certainly very common). The GTs must go after Long Toms as well as they always love them and there are Long Toms everywhere, mostly the green and silver species (T. crocodilus) rather than the darker blue ones we see lots of of in South-east Asia.

[Barry Kurten]

Im sure there should be an odd GT inside the Gulf. Ive seen a picture of a guy who spearfished a really good size GT off one of the oil rigs somewhere in the Gulf , so im sure there must be an odd shoal doing the rounds. Although i do think the Persian Gulf is a bit shallow to hold large numbers of GT's. I could be completely wrong though !

Again im also sure there should be an odd GT off Fujeriah side, probably on one of the wrecks or on odd occasions under a tanker holding plenty bait fish. The bottom is very flat on Fujeriah side though , so im sure the GT's kinda just pass it by on the way to the feeding grounds 

If you have been up to the Musandam, you will completely understand why the GT's tend to congregate there though ... It truly is an incredible place, SUPER strong currents .. Plenty Rocks and PLENTY bait fish, 3 of the GT's favourites 

[Daniel Wong]

is Oman the only place available for charters?

what's the safety scenario like in Oman?

[Chris Dennis]

Sam - the 'in' lure of the moment is a pink siren stickbait. I've lived in the region a long time and I've never come across a shoal of baitfish looking anything like that 

Daniel - Oman is the only place to go if you want to fish for GT's
Oceanactive run 2 boats out of Dibba to fish up towards the top of Mussandan in the north.
OA and No Boundaries fish the Halinayat Islands in the south (monster GT heaven)

Both places are quite remote, especially the islands in the south but I guess you're asking about the safety in Oman generally ? There was a little bit of unrest in Oman during the Arab Spring of last year but this is long forgotten.

There are charters operating out of Dubai (with the exception of Soolymans these seem to be more geared up to drag Rapalas around catching barracuda to please the tourists), Abu Dhabi and Fujairah. Fujairah is very good at times with dorado, tuna, sails and amberjack together with a few other species. There are reports of an occasional marlin but there are few people about with the time, money and patience to pursue these !
                                               

[Mark Harris]

Very good background there Chris.

On matching the hatch, I have always thought that is a concept which anglers can have some fun with, but it is probably not very important at all to the fish . Pink Siren is a good example as are the legion of other successful stickbaits out there which bear no resemblance to the colour of any baitfish.  Getting the things swimming properly is hugely more important in my view.

[Brandon Khoo]

It think it is less important for GTs in comparison to other species. Mind you,one of the things we dread most in NC and the Coral Sea is when we see huge schools of tiny baitfish which are one to two inches long as we know itis going to be hard work on the GTs. When they're feeding on fusiliers, they seem less fussy.

Tuna are even worse - if you don't match the hatch, you often won't even get a look-in.

[Mark Harris]

Whoops, should have made clear that I was referring to GTs with those comments.

As Brandon says some species are notably fussy but GTs tend not to be.

[Luke Wyrsta]

It think it is less important for GTs in comparison to other species. Mind you,one of the things we dread most in NC and the Coral Sea is when we see huge schools of tiny baitfish which are one to two inches long as we know itis going to be hard work on the GTs. When they're feeding on fusiliers, they seem less fussy.

Tuna are even worse - if you don't match the hatch, you often won't even get a look-in.

TUNA = FML (particularly the Aussie SBT!)

[Luke Wyrsta]

is Oman the only place available for charters?

what's the safety scenario like in Oman?

100% safe Daniel. Had to go there myself to sus that one out

[Sam Morrison]

I fully understand your comments on Tuna being notoriously fussy on bait/size etc...

Barry sent through some great info, and a few patterns to try. I like the Variable-Striped Fusilier image he sent through... It had great lure potential. First attempt was a failure, didn't quite get my paint right and it ended up looking like watermelon skin  I will get my paint sorted and try again.

Ended up painting a Raspberry Mackerel to finish the order given "pink" being a colour of choice at the moment. Wasn't that long ago pink was the in colour on YTK locally.

Re: Matching the hatch... I think it installs angler confidence, and sometimes we need more convincing than the fish 

Will try another Fusilier in the coming days.