Finally all good things have to come to an end and this included our Oman Season. It is undoubtedly one of the hardest and best seasons we have had since we started running charters in Oman many years ago. It was the best as we caught and found some monster fish along with having amazing clients but the hardest due to logistics and setting up the new island lodge on Hallaniyat Islands along with bringing in new boats and resource into the operation while the season was in full swing. We did this to ensure that we could provide the highest level of service for the increasing demand in Oman.
This season was definitely a very successful season and put Oman squarely on the GT Map as a top destination both in Hallaniyat Islands Southern Oman and our operation in Musandam Northern Oman. But this was only possible for us by having amazing clients and great staff. The operation has now moved to a whole new level and what started out as a one man show many years ago has become a full on operation with about 15 staff running both of our operations from everything from transport to cooking to top International Popping and Jigging Guides. A very big Thank You to our Clients and OA Staff, you guys are legends! But one of the main reasons for the success was having a great Partner in Southern Oman Mr Ashraf El Weshahy. Ashraf worked tirelessly with his team to ensure that everything ran smoothly in a very harsh environment including logistics, infrastructure, arranging the new boats, captains, supplies and then being the most hospitable host when guests arrived. And of course Capt Saud who kept everyone entertained and always had a smile and a comment. Also he is one of the hardest working captains I have had the pleasure to work with. Then in our Musandam operation Capt Cameron, Capt Damon, Capt Hassan, Anura, Mangala working tirelessly in the lodge, boats and looking after guests and then of course Jon managing the shop and all of the bookings which becomes a full on job!
Monster GTs!Well it was about 7 years ago that we first discovered GTs in Oman and set up our GT operation as the first charter company in the Middle East and Oman to target GTs, We have learnt a lot and through experience, clients, better tackle and obviously our fair share of mistakes we have been able to come up with good systems, tackle and techniques to catch some amazing fish.
This season we have caught some true monsters and we have seen some even bigger fish that humbled us and gave us some good experiences and fuel for telling some big Fishermans tales around the fire! We were estimating a lot of the fishes sizes using forumlas and experience but finally after many discussions we just went back to measuring the fish and not mentioning weight if it was not weighed correctly as there were a lot of suspect weights being used and posted about fish in Southern Oman. After my trip to Tokara and seeing Capt Fukui-san using his weighing, tagging and reviving techniques for GTs we will hopefully be able to incorporate some of this to our operation to better weigh and look after fish.
We consider a monster GT to be over 140cm and a 150cm GT to be a once in a lifetime fish and we managed to catch our fair share.
158cm Monster
This monster GT George Arnaud a SWI client that was guided by Tomy. The fish was caught in middle of January. The fish was hooked up right at the boat and luckily turned out to sea and headed for deeper water. I think for these big fish there is more luck required than skill to land them. A truly amazing animal
152cm
This monster was caught by Allan Stanton one of my partners and very good friends. We have been fishing together for many years and Allan has caugth some big fish but this trip he out did himself and landed 2 monsters. This fish again took right at the boat on a Fisherman Popper.
150cm
The same trip Allan landed a second monster GT that came in at 150cm. Both these fish were caught on the last two days of this years season. Fishing in huge weather but luckily been out on the island allowed the guys to fish.
149cm
This monster was landed by Chris Teng the International Field Tester for Hots. This was on a trip with Minami-san the President of Hots. Chris was testing the new Hots BF73XXXH. This is a power rod that was designed mainly for big Bluefin Tuna but also obviously handles big GTs very well! Chris hooked this fish up and I kept telling him to put more drag or palm the reel but the drag was locked with PE12 and the fish still taking line like it was on free spool. Chris is one very powerful guy and managed to stop the fish and get this awesome fish to the boat!
148cm
This fish was caught by Jakob Lindberg believe it or not on a Carpenter Endless Passion 85/36 and a Hammerhead Toby 123. Small lure and rod but did the trick. We had been reefed by a couple of big fish in the previous days in the same spot and then Jakob hooked up this fish and fought the fish very well, when the fish came up at the boat I almost fell off the boat. Amazing fish!
Can get an idea of the size, I'm taking out the hook and weigh about 110kgs, and this fish seems to dwarf me!
143cm
This was one of the best GTs I've caught. I had been trying out the Carpenter Endless Passion 85/36 with a Stella 10000 with a SOM 16000 spool and PE6. I had been trying to catch a big fish on lighter gear for a while and had lost a few big fish, but this fish came up and smoked my Ocean Active Skipjack and I new I was in trouble, but all the gear held up and I managed to get this big girl to the boat relatively easily.
143cm
Barry Kurten another very good friend of ours and someone that helps out in the shop when he is there. Barry has been building up his GT gear and experience very quickly. He had an amazing trip with Luke and Matt and managed 3 monster fish. The first one was a 143cm bus! Barry is a not the biggest guy but has landed some excellent fish! But this fish did work him a bit after landing a few monsters.
Barry trying to hold onto this big girl!
141cm
Another big fish on the same day for Barry!
141cm Monster on Hots 711MH
This was one of my most memorable GTs. I had been talking to Minami-san and Chris about trying to catch a GT on the Hots 711MH, basically a medium rod for yellowtail in Japan. But obviously my bird brained ideas I thought it would be fun to try and land a big GT on the rod. So I asked Minami-san does he think it is possible and he said yes straight away. So with the confirmation the next morning I put on a 125gr Blue Ocean Active Popper and set up work. Next thing the beast of the east came out of the water and smoked the lure, a lot more GT than I was thinking about, but amazing how much pressure I could put on with such a light rig and PE6. I landed an awesome 141cm GT on the gear, and a big black mama!
141cm
Amazingly Peter Walker caught another 141cm GT also on a Hots 711MH. Peter broke his main popping rod on the first day of the trip on a good sized fish so he only had a brand new 711MH from our shop and used it for the rest of the trip and caught this big fish on the light rod. The 711MH is proving to be quite the monster slayer!
141cm
Luke Wyrsta joined us for back to back trips and caught a lot of big fish. Luke put in the hard casts and worked very hard throughout the trip and managed to catch this beauty on the second trip!
We caught a lot of GTs in the 130cm and 120cm range. I would say that our average size for the GTs was in the region of 125cm. Amazing when you think about GT fishing globally.
We also managed to catch a huge number of GTs for the season and had multiple days of double figures catches. The best trip we had was with Luke, Jakob and Peter. We managed to catch 41 GTs in 5 days! But almost every trip we had everyone on the trip catching their personal best GTs.
Memorable GTsAs with any trip or adventure there are always good memories and special fish or occasions that stand out and will live on in our memories and we certainly had a fair share of those. Below are a few fish that stand out in my memory:
Igor First GT
Igors GT was the first GT of the season in early October. This was also the first GT on the new 37ft Center Console Sea Hawk1. Sami and Saltywater Tackle had arranged the trip and we had worked day and night to get the new boat ready and in time for the trip. We caught this GT on the first drift at the first point we stopped at. It gave Igor a hell of a fight but was awesome and we were over the moon!
Raymond Big Mama
Raymond is a very good friend and someone that is always positive and laughing, keeps us smiling. We had been fishing on the same trip as above with Saltywater and Sami and the fishing was very tough on that day and we had fished the whole day with no GTs. The water was green with algae and there was a sense that we were going to skunk for once! But on one of the last drifts, Raymond put in a good cast towards one of the shallow rocks and this big mama came out and smoked the lure and Raymond saved the day and I believe is his biggest GT, or at least till March 13!
Nishigaki-san
We did a trip with Mogi-san from Pro Shop Mogi in Japan who is a good friend and client. We had a great trip and caught some good fish, but this GT that Nishigaki-san caught was his biggest but it is also one of the hardest fought battles that I have seen. The fish was hooked in Shallow water and Nishigaki-san put every once of his power and stamina into the fight, both fish and angler were finished by the end. But this was the first time I have seen an 8/0 Gamakatsu GT Recorder bent open! One of the hooks was bent open, a very big feat of strength both from fish and angler.
Capt Cameron Big GT
We are fortunate to have some very good skippers and guides. Cameron joined our team last season and has guided many clients to good fish, but the nature of the business does not always allow a good guide to fish when clients are on the boat. So it was awesome to do a trip with Cameron, Richard, Daryl and my Dad where we were all fishing and Cameron landed this awesome GT on his new Carpetner Monster Hunter 80H. The fish measured 138cm.
Minami-san President of Hots
Minami-san has become a good friend and we stock Hots in our shop, so it was great to have him come and fish with us in Southern Oman with Chris Teng. Minami-san on the first morning and the first spot hooked into a GT and landed his first Arabian GT! Not the biggest but a big relief for us to have Minami-san to land the first fish after all our stories we have told over the last couple of years of excellent GT fishing in Oman!
Bump Head GT!
This is one of the meaniest gnarliest looking GTs I have ever seen or caught. I was fishing with my Carpetner Endless Passion 85/36 with a Stella 10000 and PE6. A very light set up for Southern Oman when this big guy came in and smoked my OA 150gr Popper. The fish put up a colossal fight and finally after putting my gear to breaking point I managed to land this fish!!
Triple Trouble with Luke and the Danish Vikings
We had a fantastic trip with Luke, Peter and Jakob. But it was made even better by having a ripple strike, hook up and landing of all the fish. It was a lot of chaos on the boat but the guys handled the fighting very well and Capt Saud was a star on maneuvering the boat. Really special to hook and land all three.
Peter Olesen big Mama
Peter did a long trip to Southern Oman and had not managed to catch a big GT when he joined us on a trip, but after a few smaller fish and adjusting his fighting style he hooked a big fish in about 2m of water and poured on the power and landed an excellent fought fish in shallow water.
Christian Bergvist Big Mama
On one of the klast trips of the season we were fishing with Sami and Saltywater tackle guests Christian, Daniel and Daniel. The weather had been bad so the trip ended up being only 2 days, but an amazing 2 days. We had missed a lot of good fish for various reasons but finally Christian hooked up to a big fish on a custom Race Point 250. He fought the fish and was rewarded by a great fish in shallow water. As a guide was awesome to see how happy Christian was with this fish, makes the job worth it!
Sami Black Mama
I have been fishing with Sami for a long time, but the first trip I ever did with sami many years back was in the Musandam. On this trip Sami caught a big black GT and ever since then we have had a bit of an obsession with black GTs. So when Sami hooked up to an awesome fish and fought it like a demon he landed one of the biggest blackest GTs I have ever seen! An awesome big black mama!!
David big GT
David is one of my partners and good friends. As we call him Sakkie has been fishing for GTs and had a few close calls to land big GTs but had not seemed to have lady luck on his side, till the last trip of the season. In hectic 2-3m swells Sakkie hooked up to a big fish and managed to land this great GT!!
