Hallaniyat Islands Oman with OA and the South African Crew

[Nick Bowles]

It has been a busy few months for us since August when we started the season up in Musandam Northern Oman, had Robson Green fishing with us, then started the season in Hallaniyat Islands Southern Oman and an exploratory trip to Socotra Yemen thrown in the mix. But there is no time to rest when there is awesome fishing to be had!

After a few days in Dubai and catching up in our shop and seeing the family the next trip arrived to Hallaniyat Islands with a good friend Brad Arthur with a group he put together from South Africa. The group consisted of 8 extremely excited guys Brad Arthur, his father Leon Arthur, Brian Pearce and his son Nick Pearce, Wayne Atkinson and his brother Wayne Atkinson and Ranjay Bugwandeen and Marius Coetzee. A really diverse group of great guys!

For the last month one of our captains and guides Capt Damon Beattie has been running all of the Southern Oman trips with Capt Saud. The guys have had some amazing fishing from the island with big GTs and AJs. But a month on the island is a long time and Damon was swopping for the month with another one of our captains and guides Capt Cameron Mundy. Damon was heading back to Musandam and Cameron was coming down with me to Southern Oman to start his month in paradise!! It is fantastic to be able to swop the guys out and rotate all the captains to ensure the guys are fresh and also build up their experience in various destinations and conditions.

Cameron and myself packed the truck in Dubai and started the 10 hour drive to Shuwaymiyah. It is always a great drive and the excitement always builds through the trip. I was on the mobile with Brad getting updates as the guys were flying down to Salalah and then we would arrange transport from Salalah to Shuwaymiyah were we would meet up with them! But there was a problem and Brian and his Son Nick rods had been lost on their trips from Cape Town to Dubai! So a bit of organizing and speaking to Ashraf in Salalah and we had to try and find the rods and get them delivered. But after a few hours we located the rods and Emirates promised to have the rods in Salalah the next day and Ashraf with all his contacts in Southern Oman had the rods on the islands by lunch on day one! It is awesome to have such a great team to work with makes things a lot easier!


A bit of wildlife on the drive!

Awesome sight of the sea and final pass as you come into Shuwaymiyah

Our 2 x 37ft boats waiting for us in the "maribna"

Sometimes the marina gets so shallow that we cannot bring in the boats, got to make sure of timings for picking up guests, otherwise it is a wet process.......all good fun!

We met up with the guys in the marina in Shuwaymiyah and there was a lot of excitement and the guys were really keen to get out to the island. We had brought in both the boats and we loaded a ton of gear and headed out to stay at our villa on the Hallaniyat Islands for the next 5 days! I could see straight from the start that there was going to be a lot of laughs and the guys were full of jokes and fun!


Brad and Nick at Salalah Airport

The guys waiting for their baggage

Bus trip to Shuwaymiyah

Packing the boats in the marina before we head out to stay on the islands for 5 days.

We got out to the island as the sun was setting which is always an awesome sight and moored up in our marina. The whole island team was there to greet us and get all the gear onto the trucks and to the lodge. Ashraf and his son Kareem were there with their ever hospitable service and after some coffee, dates etc the guys were straight into setting up tackle.


Heading out to the islands with Capt Saud at the helm

Most of the guys had fished to some extent for GTs but they had bought a lot of equipment from our shop in Dubai and the gear was on the island waiting for them. So we helped set up the gear went through all the tackle required, how we fish off the boats, what happens when we hook fish, debarbing the hooks, testing drags etc. Eventually by dinner everything was set up and ready for the next day! We had a great dinner out on the terrace overlooking the marina and sea with a full moon shining. After a long trip and ay everyone got an early night.

Day 1

The next morning we woke up well before dawn to perfect weather. The weather forecast had not been to good but we had near perfect weather for the whole trip, almost to good!! After a quick breakfast we were on the boats and headed out a couple of Kms and started fishing before sunrise! On the third cast the other boat that Cameron and Saud were skippering let out a huge shout and Wayne was into his first fish of the trip! After a good fight Wayne got a 132cm GT out. The guys were on the board and things were looking good! On our boat Brad had a big fish come up on a Hammerhead G Cup and smash the lure swirled and hit the leader with his tail and cut off the popper!! Amazing to see and did not believe it! Luckily the popper floated back to the surface and we managed to retrieve the lure much to Brads delight!


The guys fighting the first fish of the trip on the second boat

Wayne bending into the first fish at sunrise, awesome to be on location so early.

Nice 132cm GT to start the trip

Brad bending on light tackle!

Blue Rise MH with a Sustain 8000 and 50lbs braid and a 2oz squiddy jig!

Awesome Aj of around 35kgs.

At lunch time we all met up at the lodge and compared notes. The second boat had a bit more luck and landed another couple of GTs! Marias is a man mountain and strong as a bull. He caught a GT that he fought bare handed as he does not wear gloves to cast braid or fight fish, he palmed a good sized fish with bare hands and a locked drag and landed the fish in about 2 minutes!! Apparently quite something to see!!


Lunch on the upper terrace overlooking the marina and sea.

Marias with his bullied GT!

So it was a good start to the trip with a few decent fish on the board. After a relaxed lunch and a rest we headed back out for the afternoon session, we headed to were the second boat had got the fish and on the first drift Brad had a fish hit his popper behind a swell and he did not see the fish and the hit was small. We had been catching a few large Big eyes so he assumed the fish was the same. I was busy taking off a big eye for Brian and did not bother to get the boat into position as we thought it was a small fish. Brad moved to the back of the boat and the fish swam straight to the boat and passed the stern, only then did I see his Race Point 200 bend over double and line start peeling off! The fish had morphed into a monster! The fight was on, I got onto the controls and we started trying to get the fish to the boat. An epic up and down battle ensued between Brad and the fish, after a tough fight a big fish came up to the surface and we landed our first GT of the trip on our boat. A good 132cm GT. A few pictures and we released the fish! For the rest of the day we did not manage to land anymore GTs but we had a good number of big eyes to keep us busy. The second boat went out to try some jigging and managed to catch a few smaller AJs.


Brad bending on the RP200

Brad with a very healthy 132cm GT, he had an awesome first day!

Nick bending on a big eye

Big Eye

Leon with a big eye

Wayne with a smaller Aj jigging on the second boat.

On the way back to Hallaniyat Island we decided to stop at one last spot to have a ew casts. The guys were casting in various directions and I was waching Nicks popper when he had a big hit! I thought it was a GT and got into position and after a while realised it was a small fish but amazingly a cobia came to the boat. The fish had hit a OA Cubera 180gr popper on the surface! Really great way to finish of a good first day!


Nick with a cobia caught on an OA Cubera 180gr popper!

At sunset we headed back to our marina and arrived as it was getting dark. Really awesome to be out on the islands and get the extra time on the water. Everyone had a good first day and after an early dinner and some tackle repairs it was straight to bed for a good rest of some already tired bodies!!


Coming into the marina on the islands at sunset, after pushing some long hours on the water.

Day 2 and the rest to follow!

Cheers,
Nick

[Peter Olesen]

Sounds great so far, Nick!

I hope you saved the cobia for Mr. Saud - I know he likes it. By the way, I am really really pleased to see that he's there this season as well.

Waiting for the rest of the days

Peter

[Jon Viney]

Well done guys glad to see all of you caught some really great fish and guys beating their PB is always a great sign.

[Nick Bowles]

Hi Peter! Mr Saud is still with us and making us laugh way to much and giving us grey hairs..........will try get the rest of the report up the next few days. Busy getting ready for another trip which is always exciting!

Hi Jon, was great to see the guys all by the end beat their PBs. Brad is going to be contacting you quite a bit in the next couple of weeks......!

Cheers,
Nick

[Nick Bowles]

Day 2

The guys were up early ready for action, we had a good breakfast while Cameron and the guys loaded all the boats and gear in the marina. We had decided to not come back for lunch so we could fish the outside islands both popping and jigging and then have a packed lunch for the day.


The boyz ready for action!

Saud always playing the jokster!

The guys had settled well and after some good action on the first day were ready for the second day. We headed out in various directions to try a few spots and to see if we could find fish. Brians and Nicks rods had been delivered the day before so they had their rods and were ready. Brian fishes old school South African style with a 9.5ft graphite surf rod and a DC Trinidad conventional reel with 40lbs mono and 60lbs leader!!! Yes you read right! Brian is a very experienced angler and fished all over the World but his main fishing is fishing off the rocks in Cape Town South Africa for yellowtail (Kings). He uses a chisel nose plug and casts the thing a mile! Sometimes the casts were so long I thought he was fishing close to Socotra!!

But to be honest I thought he had no chance with this gear on big fish but he was convinced he could and wanted to try. He had bought a Race Point 200 with a Stella 18K with PE8 braid as a back up! But on the first drift Brian was standing on the bow and launched another sky racker. I was watching the plug come back towards the boat when from under the plug the sea erupted and a monster jumped onto the plug! Brian hit it several times and the fight was on, we were in very shallow water so I started pulling the fish out with the boat, I was asking constantly is the fish taking line?? As I could not hear the reel, eventually after asking about the 5th time Brian looked over his shoulder with a look of distain and held up his reel with a fast diminishing spool! I suddenly realized that this was not the right action and we had not thought this out to well and by now it was to late and the fish reefed Brian! Mistake and a very big fish had got away! So we sat and had a chat and came up with a game plan if Brian hooked another fish!


Brian hooked into the first big GT which reefed him!

After the initial excitement things went a bit quite and we moved around to a few spots and finally Nick had a good fish hit his OA Cubera Popper on his new RP200 rig. He hit the fish and fought it well and got a decent fish to the boat and much to his relief had his first Oman GT. A few pictures and we released the fish.


Nick bending on hid first Oman GT

Nick with a decent first GT

We were coming towards lunch so we decided to head into the shallows and try to catch some emperors for dinner and sashimi. Brad is an expert light tackle guy and he caught a few nice emperors but Brain was carrying on trying with his plug I heard him shouting from the stern of the boat fish fish! I turned around and saw a massive black shape after his plug and followed by a spectacular take close to the boat! Only problem we were in 2ms of water!!! If there was any fish that was supposed to reef Brain is was this fish, but we had our game plan and we followed it! I worked the boat towards the fish and Brian used the length of the rod to clear the rocks. He poured on the pressure and we managed to keep the fish close under the boat, but we were backing up current in very shallow terrain, we could see each bommie and every time we came close to one the fish tried to duck into the bommie, but Brian held the fish as much as possible and we finally worked the fish into 3ms, 4ms, 5ms, 6ms and then 7ms. Finally after an epic battle Brian got the fishes head up and to the surface, now next problem was we had a big fish on mono with 60lbs leader, so I had to very carefully leader the fish and slipped in the lip gaff and Brian had achieved a truly amazing feat and one I did not think really possible! He had caught a Hallaniyat GT on 40lbs mono with a conventional reel and surf rod! After a few high 5s and much shaking of the head we took a few fish and released her to fight another day. The fish measured 122cm, so a very respectable fish! And Brian definitely now also had my respect!


Brad bending on light tackle

A nice size emperor for dinner!

Brian hooked up in shallow water! Check the bend on the rod!

Brian trying to put as much pressure as possible!!

Very happy that we were still connected!

Awesome GT on mono and a conventional reel. Check the plug on the rod!

After a good lunch in the shallows with a swim and some dolphins swimming around us we headed back out for the afternoon session! We met up with the other boat and Marias had landed another decent GT in a short time! Serious power. The second boat had decided to head out and do a bit of jigging and the guys got into some nice AJs, Tropical AJs, Kob, and various snapper species. The guys had some really good fun.


Second boat launching a popper

Marias in action!

A good sized GT

Some AJs, the guys got a lot of doubles, triple and quadruple hook ups.

We headed out to chase the GTs. We got to the first spot and The guys were working the lures all round the boat. I was standing on the gunnel watching and was watching Nicks lure when a monster fish came half out the water from the side and smoked Nicks OA Popper! Nick got pulled clean off his feet into the side of the boat but managed to hang on and get back to his feet. A big fish, I started shouting to strike the fish and Nick hit it several times, the fish took off like a rocket and must have stripped about 100m of line off the reel. Amazing it did not reef Nick and he started to work the fish back towards the boat. A really tough fight ensued and Nick won a bit of line then lost a bit of line, finally the fish was under the boat and I could see that it was going to roll out under the boat and kept warning Nick to be ready but when it did roll it went under the bow of the boat and Nick almost got pulled off his feet again but being a young and agile guy he managed to jump up onto the anchor hatch and take the fish around the bow.


Nick putting on the pressure, but the fish still far out! The Race Point 200 taking the pressure!

The fish then sat stubbornly under the boat and it was a total battle of wills, and Nick was putting all his strength and power onto the Race Point, finally the fish came to the surface and no one could believe the size of the fish, a truly big monster of the deep! I landed the fish and Nick sat on the anchor hatch totally buggered! I slipped the barbless hook out which was just in the top lip, very lucky to have landed the fish!! We got a few pictures of the 147cm giant and put her back in the water and she swam away strongly back to the depths!! We sat for a long time talking and reliving the fish and fight! Really great to see a young guy catch a fish of a life time and to see a very proud father!!


Nick trying to pull the fish from under the boat! Check the pain on the face!

Absolutely finished after the fight!

Followed by shear joy! A monster 147cm GT

Very happy team!

The fish being released, check at the girth and shear size of the fish!

After a while we got back in position and the fishing was a bit quite and we moved to a couple of new spots. Leon had been casting flat out for 2 days solid and had raised one or two smaller fish but had not had any luck with the GTs. But he stuck to his guns and put in cast after cast, have not seen many guys work so hard and be so hungry to catch a GT. Finally the cast came that Leon raised a nice fish and the fish hit his OA popper! He struck the fish several times and the fish was on and again the fish took off and took about 80-100m again and did not reef Leon. So definitely a case of we had luck on our side for the day! Leon worked the fish back but it was a epic fight and he was getting a lot of encouragement from his son Brad and everyone else on the boat, Leon put in a huge effort and got the fish to the boat and landed. A great fish at 124cm. Not the biggest but a very well earned fish and much to my relief everyone on the boat had landed a good GT! We got a few pictures and released the fish.


Leon hooked up on a custom rod Marias built.

A very well deserved Oman GT!

We fished a few more spots into the late afternoon but did not have anymore luck and we finally called it a day and headed for the marina. A really good day with some nice fish and everyone very happy and tired! We all met up at the lodge and many stories were told of fish caught and the ones that got away! A good dinner and another early night to rest the now weary bodies!

Day 3 to follow!

[Nathan Cefai]

One word "Insane" 

The girth of that last fish is nuts Nick

[Nick Bowles]

Hi Nathan, it always amazes me how big the girth is on the big GTs and no matter what is said about how pictures are taken it never captures the girth and bulk of the big GTs. But this give s a bit of an idea. Was a great fish for a young guy just getting into popping. Basically said he could now put down his rod and focus on other fish as it is going to be hard to beat that one!!

Cheers,
Nick

[Nick Bowles]

Day 3

Everyone woke up nice and early and was ready for another great day fishing around Hallaniyat Islands. Amazing how fresh and keen everyone is when there is no alcohol involved!

We had decided on our boat that we were going to go and look for AJs jigging. We had caught some decent AJs but still no monsters on a regular basis so I had decided to try a new area and everyone was keen as everyone on our boat had a big GT under the belt. Cameron and the second boat had decided that they were going to go after the GTs and try get everyone on the boat a decent fish!

We headed off our separate ways and the weather and sea conditions were amazing, not a breath of wind or a ripple on the sea. Makes life very easy! But also when it is this still sometimes the fishing can get hard.

We arrived at our points we had preplanned and after a bit of sounding we could not find to many fish, we did a drift and had a few hits. I then moved around of our normal points and we found the mother load! The fish were holding off the back of the reefs and in huge concentrations. The guys put the jigs down and when we were on the marks we would go tight almost drop for drop! It was fantastic fishing and the fish were not massive but good size and fun on lighter tackle! Brian was back up to his old tricks using his 9.5ft surf rod with 40lbs mono and trinidad DC reel. He was casting out a traditional South African lead and tin spoon and hooked a nice AJ and landed it, was great to watch again and was most probably the biggest Aj of the morning. Everyone caught a lot of AJs, Tropical AJs, Sea Bream (Soldiers) and Brad even managed to catch in South Africa what we call a spotted grunter, one of the finest eating fish in the sea and usually very finicky eater and he got it on the jig! Only in Hallaniyat! We jigged most of the morning and then decided to head back towards the lodge and try for some GTs in the afternoon.


The finder full of fish, bait, AJs, sea bream, grunter etc!

Nick bending

Sea bream (soldier) awesome eating fish

Leon bending

Nick with a nice AJ

LEon with an AJ

Brian bending on his 9.5ft Surf Rod!

Nice sized AJ the traditional way!

Brad bending

Spotted grunter that ended up as dinner!

Double trouble

Brad bending on my MC Works 546

Nick with another AJ

On the way back I spotted a lot of floating weed in the area we normally catch dorado and stopped off to see if anyone was home. The guys cast out a couple of needle noses and straight away the sea erupted and hundreds of small dorado came out from under the weed beds! There were fish everywhere, mainly small dorado and the guys had excellent fun catching dorries on light tackle. We drifted away from the weed and all of a sudden a huge 20kg+ bull dorado came up to the boat with a smaller female, both the fish turned onto Brads needlenose plug and it was absolute chaos as these 2 fish chased and tried to engulf the plug, Brad kept winding and in a big splash and mass of white water one of the fish had taken the plug! For a moment we were not sure which fish and could only hope it was the big bull, but after a few seconds we saw the bull swim of to the side and the female jump out the water!! So close!

Brad fought the female to the boat and all the time the big bull was with her and we tried in vain to tempt him to take a lure but after a while we saw there was not going to be any joy and landed the female and released her back to swim away with the big bull that got away!


Brad fighting the female dorrie on light gear!

Nice dorrie caught on Riptide Plastics

We tried a few more spots along the way for GTs but the water was green and we had no luck. We passed another one of our jigging spots and stopped off to try and again the fish were thick and almost every drop we hooked up to smaller tropical AJs, good fun! After a while catching fish after fish qwe decided to head and try a late afternoon session for the GTs. But unfortunately we did not have any luck and after trying a few spots and the sun heading below the horizon we headed back to the marina tired and very happy. The guys had not landed any big fish but they must have caught about 60+ fish!


Brad with a good sized tropical AJ, awesome little fish and fights like hell!

Nick with another AJ in a different spot. They ae full up at the moment.

We got back to the marina the same time as the second boat and they had also had a great day with the GTs! Everyone on the boat had landed a big GT, the guys had hooked 5 GTs and all the fish were above 131cm, so solid 40kg+ GTs. A great day and everyone had bettered their personal bests. Marius had landed the biggest at 139cm. So a lot of high fives and congratulations and finally everyone on the trip had a big GTs and felt the power of our Oman GTs and a good few fish that got away!


Ant into his first big GT and did an awesome job of landing the fish! Cameron making sure he stays in the boat.

Very happy brother!

Awesome colour and fish

Monster GT and man! Marias with a 139cm GT, check the bottom lip of the GT, it was a bit deformed so we teased Marias he pulled the fish so hard he gave it a Rapala lip!

No strain picking up a 50kg+ GT!

Ranjay fighting his first big GT!

Another very happy client with a big GT in Oman!

Another end to a great day and we all had a shower and relaxed on the terrace with a lot of stories from the first 3 days fishing. I also gave out the local head dress (Quadra) to all the guys as they had now earned it with decent GTs.

[Andy Rowe]

Great stuff Nick, call that GT Bubba.

[Corey Howell]

hey Nick - thanks for the reports mate, and keep it up - v v cool being able to catch up with what the GTs are doing on the other side of the world!
and love those pimped out longboats. only in Oman

Corey
Solomon Islands

[Nick Bowles]

Hi Andy, LOL classic, there was a few comments thrown but defiantly a bubba GT! Fried popper, steamed popper, popper gumbo...........

Hi Corey, Many thanks, we have had some great fishing in this region and thought putting up blow by blow reports would focus on the experience and not just the fish!!

Cheers,
Nick

[Nick Bowles]

Day 4 and 5

The last couple of days the sea went really flat and although the conditions were excellent calm water is not always the best for fishing and current but none the less way more easier than 8 ft swell! Everyone was very happy by this stage and the group was relaxed after loosing track of time and again the trip turned to living by the sunrise and sunset.

The fourth day we all headed out together and planned to target GTs. We got to our chosen fishing area and on the first drift Leon went tight with a good sized GT which put up and epic battle and by this time Leon had found his GT legs and technique so he was up to the task. He put on the pressure and got a good GT to the boat for a few pictures and released. Around mid morning we heard shouts from the second boat and could see Ranjay with his red cap was in business and fighting a good fish on the RP200! The guys took some time and finally another decent fish came to the boat and a few pictures and the fish was released. This is when our luck started to turn a bit and the guys had a good few more hits but after a few of the fish were fought to the boat the hooks pulled and a good few more fish missed the lures. But the guys had a good hook up rate for most of the trip and as I said to the guys it is all a law of averages and you cannot hook and land every fish even if some where absolute monsters! But it was another great day in Southern Oman and swimming with dolphins around the islands was a big highlight!


Seahawk 1 in full flight

Seahawk 2 following close behind, a bit of a race to the points.......

One of our most popular monster catches!

The guys in action.

Ranjay with another nice Southern Oman GT

Leon in action

Black mama

Finally the last day arrived and as with any trip all good things have to come to an end. But the guys had already all confirmed their dates for the same time next year so for me it is always a stamp of approval that the guys want to come back! We had decided that some of the team wanted to have a last go at the GTs and some of the group wanted to target AJs. I was convinced that we could find the big AJs and we took the gamble and it finally paid off which was awesome.

We headed for the deeper water as the second boat headed for the shallows. But we had to have a few casts at one of the close GT spots about 1km from the lodge just in case there was something lurking but after a few casts no one was home so we headed for the jigging spots.


Sunrise off the front of our lodge

Brian letting rip with his surf rod and plug!

We arrived on the deep reef and the finder was full again but with a slightly different showings, so we dropped down and straight away into fish, but they were mainly sea bream, grunter and smaller tropical AJs, so back to the finder and started sounding around and moving to various locations, finally we found a decent showing which turned out to be AJs. We followed this shoal for a good few hours and we were rewarded by some fantastic AJs up to the 35kg mark and had a few more monsters that got away!


A nice AJ on the MC Works 546 and Shout Slide Actor 240gr jig

Ruby Snapper on a Shab Shab Blue 300gr jig

Longtail tuna

Blacktip trevally on a squiddy jig

Another good Aj on the MC Works and orange Slide Actor 240gr jig

Nick caught some decent Ajs but again Brad with his Blue Rose MH and Sustain 8000 with PE3 stole the show! We were siting talking away and jigging, when he hooked up to a good fish and hit is a couple of times, then the fish just sat for a while taking no line and then started swimming up towards the surface, definitely not a traditional AJ fight, so again we were all speculating what the fish was and then after another 30 minute fight an awesome 35kg AJ came to the surface!! The Squidy Jig had done the trick again! After a few good pictures we released the fish.


Brad in action with another good AJ

Bus Aj on light tackle and a squiddy jig

This was the start of some excellent AJs, next Nick hooked and landed a decent AJ, then it was my turn on my light MC Works 546 and got a fish around the 30kg mark then Brian with his surf rod and conventional rod with 40lbs mono went tight! The rod bent over double and peeled off line, the fish walked Brian up and down the boat but he kept the pressure and finally an awesome 30kg AJ came to the surface. A very hard earned fish and what Brian had been hoping for on this trip!


My big Aj on MC Works and a Slide Actor Jig

Brian with a solid 30kg AJ on the surf rod and mono, incredible fish he caught on this gear!

It was a great day out and we must have caught another 60 fish on jig which tired the guys out and they could leave Southern Oman with tired arms but happy souls!

The second boat had headed out for GTs and managed to land a few good fish and rounded of the trip well for the whole group! Unfortunately I did not download the final days pictures from Cameron but will include them in my early season round up.

In all it was another fantastic trip to Southern Oman and the place just seems to get better and better! Look forward to heading down again in a couple of days to catch up with Cameron with Groups from Sami and Capt Fukui-san.


Team shot before leaving the island

Saying goodbye to good friends.

Heading back to the mainland.

Cheers,
Nick

[Sami Ghandour]

Awesome report Nick,
It really doesn't get any better then that!
see you next week 

[Nick Bowles]

Howzit Sami! Was a good trip and got a good spread of fish! Waiting for your trip big guy!! Think you need to bring the big gun, there a few fish that we have seen that out tears in my eyes!

Cheers,
Nick

[Thomas Maxted]

Awesome fishing
love the picture with the 147cm beast being released makes all that fishing and traveling worth it.
 It makes most of the poppers/stickbaits you use for them seem small!
 What rod was that fish caught on?
 You must lose plenty of fish the same size to land one.