It has been a long season with a lot of fishing and a lot of fish caught a lot of fish lost! We have had some amazing experiences and met some amazing people. We have had highs and have had lows but with anything in life we have carried on enjoying ourselves to the max and this has paid off on many fronts.
Musandam has been producing some amazing fishing and the season has run longer than normal and will still run for another 3-4 weeks, but we hatched the idea to go back to how we originally ran our early GT trips in Oman and that was running a live aboard up in the Musandam. This was how we originally did our longer trip in Oman many years ago and still one of the most enjoyable trips you can ever hope to do. A traditional luxury dhow many miles from civilization with no mobile or internet, pure bliss! Then add a good dose of fishing and some great company and food I don;t think you could wish for anything else.
We wanted to end off the season on a high especially with Southern Oman ending prematurely and our fishing cut short with weather. So the idea was hatched to do a live aboard with 2 of our center consoles. We put the word out and the trip was booked and confirmed! A bit of planning and finally the day arrived we all met at the Fishing Port in Dibba to board the live aboard and head up into the Musandam.
The dhows moored up in the Dibba Fishing Port
The team consisted of Trevor, Gary, William, Alex and Mark. From the Ocean Active side it was myself, Jon, Damon, Anura, Cam, Khalil and Mohammed, so a proper diverse group! After a few intros everything was set and we headed up into the sunset sitting on the upper deck enjoying the evening breeze with a few splashes of happiness! The banter carried on late into the night with dinner and then a few good stories. Finally with a pending day of hectic fishing everyone started fading to get some rest but a few straggles kept the midnight fires buying!
Trev and Jon inspecting the rod!
Al Sayyad 2 being tied up behind the dhow for the journey
Al Sayyad 1 following the dhow!
Sundowners on the upper deck
Awesome dinner underway.
Next morning early the game was on and after a quick breakfast everyone was on the boats and heading out into the Musandam. Jon, Alex and Mark on Al Sayyad 2 and Trev, William, Gary and myself on Al Sayyad 1. As always a bit of friendly competition and banter! We were going to fish lower down the Musandam with the other boat fishing the top and around the far side. We started off in a couple of places with not to much luck. We came to one of the points and there was a good current and on the first drift I was winding in my Gamma 200 the last few yards to the boat and the water exploded under the lure and fish on!! William followed quickly behind with another hit and unfortunately the line parted. I was using the Carpenter Prototype and with a lot of power under the hood the fish came to the boat quickly! Good to be on the board and after a few pictures the fish was released.
Jon, Alex and Mark with Flaming Damon trying to get into the action in the background!
Red Reaper in action
A nice feisty Musandam GT on a Gamma 200 Flyfish
We did a few more drifts and finally headed out to some of the islands and again not to much except a few barracuda aka smelly bobcats! With the sun high up we headed back for a few of our favorite haunts! With a strong pulling tide William put in a cast with his light set up and had a shoal of fish chasing the lure and hooked up! After a great fight on the lighter tackle William landed a good fish. Next Gary was up and this as his first GT trip and he was learning the ropes! Gary hooked a fish in the middle of the current and it gave him an excellent introduction to GT fishing, it bashed him into the gunnel then the current banged him into the gunnel then again the fish! Was like a heavy weight fight, the punches kept on flowing, but Gary never gave up and finally got a badly hooked fish to the boat for his first GT! A great achievement in tough conditions! A few pictures and the fish was released.
Taxed by a barracuda on light gear!
William hooked up on the Terez
Great fish on the lighter gear in strong current
Gary putting up the fight of his life!
Not the biggest but well earned!
After a few more drifts the current started to die so we decided to head for some light tackle fishing and headed back towards the dhow! We came to one of the small islands and started throwing a few small sticks and swim baits and the fishing went wild! The boyz were into fish every drift with hits and hook ups followed by screams of joy and disappointment! A great way to end the morning session! After our fill of fish and with the heat starting to head up over 40 degreesC we decided to head back to the dhow for a swim and lunch.
Hooked up on the Aerocast
Small feet coming to the boat
Trev and Gary with a double up on 30lbs gear
Gary and William on a double up on queens
William with a nice queen on light tackle
Gary with a queen
Trev in on the Aerocast
Trev happy with his queen!
We got back to the dhow for lunch and Jon and the boyz arrived back and had an equally great morning session with a few more bigger GTs and also a heap of fish on lighter tackle!
Mark in action trying to fight a GT, I think the fish must have just come off or hit the lure, love the facial expressions!
Mark getting the hang of things!!
Mark one tired dude after an epic fight! Nice to catch a fish on the new OA sticks from Heru, black was the business!
Alex in the mix with Mark repaying the helping hand!
A nice Oman GT
Light tackle action!
Queen
After a swim, good lunch and a quick sleep everyone had rested the already weary muscles and were ready for the afternoon session. With summer coming the days are nice and long so the plan was to fish until late around 19.30pm. With everyone loaded on the boats we headed out to our chosen fishing spots. We headed a bit further afield to try a few areas we thought might hold some bigger fish. We came to one of the points and set up our drift. I was casting off the stern of the boat and the other guys were upfront, we had seen a big shoal of fusiliers (GT Candy!!) but they started getting nervous and as luck would have it they were off the stern, I put in a good cast with a Gamma160H (favorite lure!) and worked the lure back into deeper water, the glass water shattered and a big fish hit the lure. I set the hook several times and the fight was on! The fish peeled off a good amount of line and it was a good up and down battle, I moved around to the bow and worked the fish up to the surface, a big number plate showed out of the gloom and a big Musandam GT came to the surface. We landed the fish took a few pictures and released her to fight anther day! Great to get a good fish on the board.
Al Sayyad 2 heading out after lunch!
Happy with a solid Musandam GT
We did a few more drifts and the fishing went a bit quite, we fished around a few more points then headed to one of the shallow reefs with a pushing current ripping over the shallow reef! Perfect water! I was on the stern again and had a good few hits and the hooks did not stick. I finally put a cast out along the shallow reef and was working the 160 back to the boat when the water opened like the parting of the seas and a monster climbed all over the lure!! I set the hook and the fish headed straight for the boat, I was using a prototype reel that I've been testing and the retrieve is fairly slow and I was trying to wind the line and get tension on the fish, finally as I got tension on the fish next to the boat, the fish turned straight under the boat around midships and flew up current! I was bent over the gunnel trying to clear the line from the bottom of the hull not to cut off the fish, but the fish was peeling line at an alarming rate. I was not able to palm the reel as I was half over the side and then the line went slack!! The fish had reefed me! Then the laughing started! It was quite a comical moment and goes to show no matter how long or often you fish for GTs you are always going to be taught a lesson somewhere along the line!! One of the reasons we love it so much!!
After the initial comments and laughter died down we got back to fishing. Trev was starting to get a bit vocal that he thought we had put something on his lure as he was not getting any follows when on both sides we were getting follows! But true to form, Trev being the ever patient and persistent angler put in a point perfect cast into a small cove and as the Gamma 120 came out in to the open water and current a fish hit the lure!! Trev set the hook and the fish obviously had no respect for its elders as the fish took off like a scolded cat! We had seen it was a GT but with the amount of line and speed the fish was taking we thought it had morphed into an angry GT. Trev was putting the Endless Passion 85/36 to the full test! Finally Trev got the fish under control and worked the fish back towards the boat! A really great fight on the EP and in strong current. Trev carried on pouring the pressure and finally a nice GT came up next to the boat to be landed! A good few high 5s and a few pictures and the fish was released.
Trev putting the heat on the EP85/36
I think the fish might have been putting the heat of Trev here!! EP85/36 still one of the most amazing rods!
Big Musandam GT, well deserved!
After a bit of a rest and lot of banter we headed back into position and on the next drift William hooked into a fish! Again the fish peeled a good amount of line and William put the Race Point 200 through its paces and a smallish badly hooked GT came up to the surface! A good fish but this one fought way above its weight class!
William bending on the RP200
Not the big one we were looking for but a GT is a GT!
Finally as the sun started to head towards the horizon we headed back to the dhow enjoying the cliffs and harsh scenery of the Musandam, this place is one of the starkest but most beautiful places in the world, hardly touched by civilization due to no roads, mobile signal and development. We arrived back to be greeted by our live aboard waiting with cold refreshments and food to charge the batteries.
Heading back to the dhow
Sunset in the Musandam
Our floating home in a quite secluded bay!
Jon and the guys arrived back on Al Sayyad 2 with laughs and stories of fish. They had another good session. The best of the fish Mark caught and he was truly introduced to GT fishing. Mark and Alex are jockeys in Dubai and are very fit well built guys. But I learnt a long time ago that strength and fitness levels don;t count to much in GT fishing! Maybe slightly but not like most other sports! Mark hooked into a good fish but this fish was a demon fish and worked Mark to the last gram of his being!! At stages Alex was telling me it looked like Mark was riding a horse as he was bent over and had his legs bent and his arms out front of him trying to hold onto the fish, then he was on the ground and then Damon had him by the shoulders with his knee in his back trying to straighten him up, then finally when he had no more gas in the tank and wanting to hand over the rod Alex told him he could see the fish and only a few more pumps!! Obviously a small white lie!! But Mark powered through and finally landed a great fish which is his biggest to date!! The awesome part was how happy Mark was and the pure adrenaline lasted for many hours!! Absolute joy!! The best comment was that he said that theGT was a harder fight than riding a 500kg horse!!
Mark bracing himself!
A very hard earned GT!!
Alex was also in the action!
A good way to end the day!
The start to the trip had been fantastic and some good fishing. The second day to follow with a true monster on a small stick!
Cheers,
Nick
