“Go big, or go home” will be the theme – or the red thread – of this report, as I think the phrase captures the essence of what fishing for Giant Trevally (”GT”) in Southern Oman (”SO”) is all about. If you come to SO to catch many GTs, you are likely to return disappointed. On the other hand, if you come to SO to catch the GT of your life, then SO is your destination of choice. The chances of catching a +50kg GT are better in SO than most – if not all – other places on earth. Especially now when there is a civil war raging in Yemen, which means that Socotra is off limits. However, fishing for GTs in SO is very demanding – physically, mentally and tackle wise.
Physically because you will be casting +200g lures for six hours each day in a rocking boat, under a scorching sun and the farther you cast, the greater are the chances of catching fish. Mentally, because you may only get one or two GT strikes in one week(!), despite casting continuously. And tackle wise, because a +40kg GT will expose and mercilessly exploit any weaknesses in your fishing tackle. Only fishing tackle of the highest quality will stand up to the abuse that these GTs put it through. PE10 is the go to standard when fishing GT in SO. My strong advice is, do not use anything less, despite occasionally reading about people catching GTs on PE 8 or even PE6 in SO.
Henrik Sandahl, Christer Mellberg and I returned to SO once again to tangle with one of the most ferocious fish species a fisherman can target, the GT. This was Henrik’s and my fourth and Christer’s third trip to SO – even though we had to cut the most recent trip in October 2015 short due to cyclone Chapala. My nephew, Markus Fredén accompanied us to document the trip on film.
Once again, we had chosen to fish with No Boundaries Oman, whose fishing lodge is located in the small fishing village Shuwaymiyah, some 280 km north of Salalah. The drive takes roughly four hours, depending on whether or not you opt for the longer, but more scenic route along the coast line.
Getting to SO from Stockholm is not straightforward, unless you are going on a charter trip. You typically have to make two stops to get to Salalah. This time, we changed flights in London and Doha on the way down and when we landed in Salalah at 4:10am we quickly realized that our rod case was missing. Further investigation showed that it had been left in Doha. We therefore arrived at the camp just before 9am, without any fishing rods.
Luckily, Andrew Smith of Ebb Tide Adventures had booked the other two boats the same dates as we were fishing and he had brought with him some other fellow fishing maniacs from Australia – Sean Tieck, Michael and Hayley Bonnici, Mark and Matt West - who were carrying more fishing tackle than they could use. They and the No Boundaries crew hooked us up so a couple of hours later we were all rigged for the following day’s fishing. During the night, Qatar Airways managed to get the missing piece of luggage out to the fishing lodge and we managed to rig all but one of our rods.
I had set the alarm at 4:30am to prepare the last things and apply sunscreen lotion before breakfast. Around 5:30, Captain Mo, or “Mighty Mo” as we call him, came into our house shouting: “Let’s go”. Within a few minutes, we were all sitting in the car on our way to the launching ramp, a few kilometers from the camp.
The approx. 1 hour ride out to the Hallaniyat Islands went according to plan. Bean sacks makes the ride endurable, even under pretty windy conditions. The first day we fished around Monster Rock, Bagdad and No Fish – code names for fishing spots used by the No Boundaries captains. We were mentally prepared for the hard fishing and were not really expecting much as we set up our first drift. The first strike, already on the second or third drift, therefore came as a surprise to me. Nonetheless I reacted by instinct and set the hooks with a couple of distinct strikes. I was fishing with a Carpenter Endless Passion KLL 82/42, Stella SW18k 2013, SOM spool loaded with Varivas Avani GT Max PE10, Sunline 210lb leader, NT 2/0 swivel and a Carpenter 350lb split ring. The lure was one of my new stick baits that I had brought to SO to test; a MAK Sandz 270 in blue with silver spots, armed with two BKK GT Rex trebles – a 6/0 on the belly and a 5/0 on the tail. The fish had hit the lure after only a few meters of retrieve in 12 meters of water so I put maximum pressure on it straight away, while keeping my rod tip high. The GT put up a decent fight, but just as last year, the Glide rod belt helped a lot during the fight and the fish came to the boat in around five minutes. The fish was in very good condition and measured 116 cm, straight fork length. Not a giant, but a very nice start to our trip. The fish was returned unharmed and we continued fishing. The following drift, I had another strike on the MAK Sandz, but did not manage to set the hooks this time.
However, already one hour later, I had a new strike. This time on a Carpenter Seafrog Twinhook 120 in Pink. Unfortunately, the fish missed the lure. I put in another cast in the same direction and only had to pop once or twice before coming tight. The GT made a run to the side and once again, I had to put max pressure on the fish, while keeping the rod tip high. The water depth was 14 meters, so I was not taking any chances. The fish was brought to the boat in just over five minutes and Mo set the gaff like the pro he is. This GT was larger than the first one and measured 130 cm. The fish was caught on a borrowed Carpenter Monster Hunter 80H, a Stella SW18k 2008, SOM spool with Varivas Avani GT Max PE10, Sunline 210lb leader, NT 2/0 swivel and a Carpenter 350lb split ring. Hooks – an Owner ST76 4/0 on the belly and OMTD Strong Single 8/0 hook on the tail. We took a few photos of the fish before returning it safely to the sea.
A few drifts later Henrik suddenly got very excited when a big black shadow tracked his lure all the way to the boat. We first thought it was a massive black GT, but soon realized that it was “only” a big sailfish, accompanied by a slightly smaller one. Another memorable moment from the first day was when a big wahoo casually swam passed the stern just under the surface, completely ignoring our lures. The day did not produce any more fish. Christer came closest when he lost a grouper that hit his ASWB SS 130 Scad, a few meters down, just next to the boat.
The second day of fishing I drew blank. Not one single GT contact, while both Henrik and Christer had close combat GT experiences. Christer had decided to fish with a Saltiga 5500 and PE8 in shallow water, despite knowing better. It ended badly with him being reefed following a 30-40 meters run against a palmed spool and maxed out brake. Lesson learned: “do not bring a knife to a gun fight – or, go big or go home”! The GT took a ASWB SS130 Scad M series while it was virtually hanging still in some 6-8 meters of water, approximately 25 meters from the boat. I was looking at the pink/silver lure when it suddenly disappeared at the same time as Christer raised his rod to set the hooks.
Henrik, on the other hand, was using proper GT gear – a Carpenter Monster Hunter 79XH coupled with a Stella SW18k 2013, standard spool loaded with Sunline Castaway Monster Battle PE10. He was fishing with a sinking BFP Mafia One 140 in fusilier and had just made two casts after we arrived at a new spot when the brake on his Stella started singing. Unfortunately, the GT came off unexpectedly, following a short, but intense run.
Christer had a GT following his AWSB SS130 Scad M series Gold Band Fusilier, without connecting and that was it for the second day.
The third day, both Henrik and Christer had their chances. Henrik had three confirmed GT strikes – two on a Craftbait GT3 190, the same size and color (flyfish) he used when catching his 65.5kg monster last year and one on a sinking Hanta 180S in color two lined green fusilier. However, none of the fish got hooked. Christer lost one GT on, and had one following, his ASWB SS130 Scad, but it missed the strike. I managed to catch one more GT on the MAK Sandz 270. The fish tracked the lure basically from the time it landed in the water and made two attempts to swallow it before finally succeeding. The GT went deep as Mo backed up the boat and I pulled it off the reef we were fishing on. The fish was strong but the fight went well. The GT measured 129 cm and was caught on the Carpenter Endless Passion KLL 82/42.
The fourth day, we only had one GT contact during the whole day. Luckily Christer landed the fish, which swallowed his pink/white Glide 180 popper just as he had stopped popping and started to wind back the lure. The GT did not get one meter on the Daiwa Dogfight and came into the boat in less than three minutes. It was 126 cm long and well fed. Just before we had to head back to shore, we decided to put in a few light tackle casts; the first during the trip. Henrik had opted for a pink/silver Smith Saruna Dragon and in his second cast, toward a small structure, he came tight. The drag on his Saltiga 4k was screaming loud and we were all thinking that he had hooked a GT. However, a few minutes later, when the fish came closer to the boat we saw that it was a large emperor snapper or sharia that had engulfed his lure. The fish measured 68 cm (fork length) on the brag matt. Not bad, and a very nice end to a very tough day.
The fifth day we woke up to a hauling wind. In addition to having picked up in strength, the wind had shifted direction and was now blowing from shore. As a consequence, the captains quickly decided that it was not safe to go out to the islands. Luckily, the inshore fishing in SO is also world class so we were not too devastated having to spend the day inshore. We caught 37 fish, spread over eleven different species – despite fishing with only two rods half of the day due to a massive line tangle. Among the species we caught were: bream, grouper, emperor snapper, wolf fish, needlefish, spangled snapper, bonito, puffer fish and mullet. We had no luck with the highly sought after inshore species: diamond trevally, golden trevally and permit, this time, but we still had tons of fun.
The sixth and last day, we were able to fish the islands again. We had no GT contacts this day. And it was not for lack of trying. Mentally very tough! It was a good think that we decided to try the light tackle while fishing at No Fish after having seen queenfish chasing just below the surface. Henrik and I were both using Tiny Yambal GT Harriers (in pink and fuislier colors) when a few queenfish started tracking my lure, which I was reeling back fast, close to and sometimes on the surface. The fish tracked the lure all the way to boat without committing. The next cast, the same thing happened but this time, one of the fish connected. I set the hook hard but the line broke just above the leader knot and in the process, I got another massive line tangle and had to change to my back-up spool. Luckily, the lure surfaced a few seconds later and could be salvaged.
When all of this was playing out, Henrik came tight. Another queenfish had nailed his fusilier Tiny Yambal. Once again the drag on the Saltiga 4k gave tone. However, the fight was short, albeit intense and a few minutes later we could take a few pictures of Henrik’s first queenfish ever. The last fish of the day and the trip was a female Mahi Mahi that I caught on a MB Lures 95-35 fast sink in color Omani black flash. After a few jumps in the air it ended up in the boat for a quick photo session before being released.
When summarizing the trip, we had caught 40 fish, of which 4 GTs – 130 cm, 129 cm, 126 cm and 116 cm. We did not manage to catch any monsters this time. Admittedly, both Henrik and I had been somewhat spoilt our first two trips to SO, having caught one GT in excess of 50kg and two in excess of 60kg, but the fish were all in the +30-40 kg range, which is a respectable size and makes for worthy adversaries. As usual, the wild life experience had been amazing. We saw dolphins, hump back whales, mantas, eagles and lots of sea turtles during the week.
A few tips/lessons learned from our SO trips to date:
• Come prepared – physically, mentally and tackle wise; GTs will exploit every weakness and the chain is not stronger than its weakest chink.
• Go big, or go home! Only the best quality and the strongest fishing tackle is good enough. Bring proper tackle or rent or borrow one if you do not own one.
• You may only get one shot, so make it count – treat every cast as if it is your only one.
• Never give up – cast, cast, cast! You can go from zero to hero in one cast. Often when you least expect it, so be ready for it!
• It is almost strange how things seem to even out during a fishing trip. If you hang in there and do not give up, you will eventually be rewarded. Something to remember when nothing seems to be going your way.
Finally, I would like to extend a big thank you to the No Boundaries crew. It is always a pleasure staying and fishing with you. We will be back!
Below, I have inserted some pics. Hope you enjoy them.
Tackle used (Henrik and Jussi):
Rods: Carpenter Monster Hunter 80H (first day), 79XH and Extreme, Carpenter Endless Passion KLL EP 82/42, Carpenter The Blue Lagoon TBL 80/40, Carpenter Black Current 80MRF
Reels: Stella SW18k 2008 and 2013, with SOM (3x) and standard (1x) spools; Stella 6k 2008 and Saltiga 4k with SOM and standard spools
Lines: Varivas Avani GT Max PE10 (3x) and Sunline Castaway Monster Battle PE10 (1x), Sunline Castaway Monster Battle PE3&4, YGK Ultra Castman PE3
Leaders: Sunline Big Game 210lb mono, YGK Castman Absorber 200lb mono, Seaguar Pink 200lb fluoro, Ande 60lb fluoro, Seaguar 60lb fluoro and Sunline 60lb fluoro
Swivels and split rings: NT #2/0 and #1 swivels, Carpenter 350lb and Owner Hyperwire #11H, #11 and #8 split rings
Top producing lures: MAK Sandz 270, ASWB SS130, Carpenter Seafrog Twinhook 120, Glide 180 popper, Craftbait GT3 190, Smith Saruna Dragon, Yambal GT Harrier Tiny, MB Lures 95-35 fast sink
