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Nick Bowles

  • Dogtooth Tuna
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Nick Bowles

  • Dogtooth Tuna
  • ****
  • 639
  • Liked:
  • Likes Given: 0
Day 2

Day 2 we woke up feeling a lot more rested with a good early nights sleep! Although there were a few sore muscles and a few GT Viagra (Voltaren) handed out! A good breakfast on the upper deck as it was getting light follwed by a mad rush to get on the boats and head out. Great thing with the live aboard we can get onto location before the sun up! We stayed on the same boards as yesterday with a bit of competition building for the trip!!

We had decided to head around the top to were we had see the big fish the day before! On the first drift I had a good fish hit the Gamma 200 but the fish didn't stick, I recon fishing is a big case of the Law of Averages and I had a good run on the last few trips so I was lined up to drop a few, but still frustrating! A couple more drifts and we started to fish the shallow reefs and I had a smallish fish come up and hook up, after a short fight I had the fish to the boat and very happy to land a fish. I then landed a nice queen and the fishing was really starting to heat up!


Getting ready to go on Al Sayyad 1

First fish on the day to get us on the board.

Then William casting off the bow had a big fish come up right next to the boat and smoked his fusilier lure which would turn out to be the lure of the day! He hit the fish a couple of times and the Race Point 250 bent double and the fish took off for the shallow reef. William put on the pressure and a strenuous fight followed! William worked the fish back towards the boat but the fish was not going to give up to easily and fought right to the end, but finally William got the fish to the boat and Cameron leadered and landed a very nice GT. This was Williams biggest GT and after a good few pictures the fish was released.


William bending

Epic battle

Love this picture, everyone crowding to see the fish, the boat almost pulling off an eskimo roll!

Awesome Oman GT in big current, not easy!!

Friendly shower and cool down!!

After some high fives and excited chat about the fish and the fight we were back in position and did another drift. At the back end of the drift in about 50m of water a big kingfish came flying out the water again in Williams lure, luckily the lure hooked the fish on the side of the mouth and took off again down the current. William got the fish under control and he fought the king to the boat with a lot of excited banter about dinner! Cameron landed a very nice king and was another PB for William! He was on fire!


Bending on a king.

Great fish on stick bait and mono leader!

After a few more drifts the current started to slow down and we headed out for a bit of jigging to wait for the current to turn but the smelly bobcats came onto the scene and after loosing a couple of lures we decided to start heading back towards the dhow and fish some closer spots. We arrived to do the first drift and the current was pulling nicely. On the first drift we did have any action till William again had a take close to the boat and the fight was on. I saw the fish and it had a huge tail and looked like a queen but just much bigger! Even on the GT gear in the current the fish gave a great fight and a monster queen came to the bought! One of the biggest queens I have seen. It must have been 15kg+ and had a head the size of a big GT! A few pictures and the fish was released! Another PB for William!


William bringing the monster queen to the boat

Fantastic fish!

We set up another drift and Trev called that as we were at Popper Rock he was going to put on a popper and was going to catch a big fish! As always a lot of ribbing came along with the decision but true to form Trev put on the Hammer Head Popper and let rip. A couple of pops and the sea opened up with a couple of angry GTs hunting down the popper and hitting it several times! Trev got the hit and set the hook on his trusty Monster Hunter 80H! The boat was drifting towards a 3m reef and the fish was tearing off line, some nifty boat work by Cameron got the boat turned aroun in a 6knot current and we managed to get the fish out into deeper water, but the fish had not stopped peeling line and even in 60ms of water it was still heading for the bottom. The strong current making it very difficult for Trev but he stuck to his guns and carried on putting the pressure with a few encouraging worlds from the team. Finally after a long tough fight Trev brought a great fish to the boat and Cameron landed the fish! Awesome fish and fight. A few pictures and she was released to swim another day!!


Trev letting fly!

Deep burn!

Happy not to be getting a dose of the deep burn!

Big Black Musandam GT! Awesome fight and fish!

Things were starting to get a bit hot so we headed back to the Dhow for a swim and lunch. A really great morning. We got back to the boat and Jon and the guys followed us in with a lot of shouting and whooping. When the boat came into range of the dhow we could see Alex holding up a monster kingfish!! Absolute beast!! The guys came up alongside and we could see the size of the king! Alex had been fishing up against the cliffs with an Ocean Active 80gr stick bait and the king had hit the lure in about 2ms of water and Alex thought he was into the biggest GT ever after seeing the shine, but as it got close to the boat Damon saw it was a king and landed the fish very swiftly!! Great fish and amazing to catch it on a 80gr stick and mono leader! Really great day for kings! The guys had caught a couple of kings and some GTs with Mark and Alex loosing a couple of very big GTs!


Alex lying with his king!

Alex and Damon

Big fish!

80gr working for Alex again!

Damon, Jon and the guys arriving back at the dhow.

Lunch and a bit of a prize giving. Trev winning biggest GT and a Hammer Head I-Cup! Look forward to seeing Trev throwing it!!

Team picture!

After a good lunch and a few fishing stories told around the table we packed up and started fishing and heading back towards Dibba. We caught a few more queens on light tackle but no more GTs. Then on the way back t the marina I looked over at the other boat and there Alex and MArk were sitting on the gunnel of the boat riding the boat like it was a horse. Both the guys are jockeys and this is definitely one of the funniest things I have seen in a long time and lucky I was skippering a boat if it was a car I think I would have hit the barrier!! Finally we got back into the marina and our trip had come to an end! Many thanks to all the guys on the trip for making it a great trip! It was an awesome way to finish off our season, although we are still fishing another few weeks this was our last official trip and now it is all starting to plan for next season with a lot of new things happening and we look forward to making a few more memories!


Alex and Martk riding the boat home!! I think Alex won by a length!!

Enough rods to fish for a year!!

Next season we are going to be running live aboard trips every month starting in Sept and ending in May. These trips are how we first started the longer trips in Oman and it was great to do one again and we look forward to the next trip in Sept which is already almost fully booked. If anyone is interested in one of the live aboards give us a shout or check out our FB www.facebook.com/oceanactive

Cheers,
Nick

Trevor Skinner

  • Bluefin Tuna
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Big guy,

What a great couple of days and the liveaboard bought a whole new dimension to an area I thought I knew relatively well. Fishing familiar places at unfamiliar times of the day brings a whole new dimension with it. That kingfish (spanish mackerel) Alex caught I christened the 'coutasaurus', and it just goes to show that when the Musandam turns it on it's not a one trick pony and can show a clean pair of heels to most fisheries in the world.

William (H4L Lures) illustrated this to great effect and showed us all great fishing skills in posting his PB GT, Spaniyard and Queenie all in a morning and here's a guy who has fished extensively in other 'renowned' fisheries. 

Many thanks to you and Jon, Cam and Flamin' for putting it all together, ably supported by Khalil and Mohammed.


Trev

PS Hate to tell you this but about 2/3 of those rods and reels are yours
Last Edit: June 09, 2013, 03:58:37 AM by Trevor Skinner

Nick Bowles

  • Dogtooth Tuna
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Hi Trev, Musandam is a very special place and is where it all started for us and finding GTs in Oman. It is always like coming home when I fish the place and it is only 1.5 hours from Dubai and in our backyard. The place is always unpredictable and you never now whats going to happen, but it has a bit of everything from light tackle to big GTs to sailies to kings. The live aboards is something we going to get back up and running and will do at least one a month, so should be a good few more trips! Great way to fish and adds a whole different experience. Very relaxing and get to fish early and late while still have a good lunch and arvie sleep!

I think a good portion of the rods were yours..........Going to be a problem to fish together if we bring all the toyz in the future!

Cheers,
Nick