This trip started around 8 months ago when i was checking out some photos of huge GTs caught in southern Oman.
I was relatively new to the world of GTs on top water and couldn't get over the landscapes and of course the monster fish that I was looking at so I got in touch with Ed via Facebook and started talking about dates and over the next few months found myself preparing for a trip of a lifetime.
Ed put me onto a guy called Hesh (Knot big enough) who is located in Dubai. Hesh is a legend, without knowing me he offered to give me a bed once i had made it to Dubai from Australia and look after me for a few days while recovering from the horrid flights.
Two flights later and we meet our two there colleagues in Salalah James and Mark both from the UK. This was the first time we had all met each other in person. I know from personal experience that even with very good friends 5 days living in close quarters and fishing on a boat with no where to get your own space can be very demanding mentally so we could only wait and see how this played out and deal with these challenges as they arose.
The first night/day
We arrived at around 9PM and all the gear was unpacked, rods put together, Knots tested, split rings attached and the reality was starting to sink in. Do you think I could sleep that night ? NO WAY I was so jacked up on adrenaline that even after a full day travelling i didn't sleep for 5 minutes. I was awake to hear the alarm at 4:45 AM. Oh well lets see how this goes.
We made out to our first location and I looked at the sounder to see marks named GT ICE CREAM,PACK ATTACK and so on. I think everyone on board was as nervous as I was putting the first handful of casts in. It took a good half an hour to get settled and feel semi comfortable casting around people you have never fished with and the casting started to flow working together on the deck to make sure everyone was comfortable.
The water was relatively green and we saw no action for the first hour and a half when I noticed a school of fish 10 metres from the boat. I shouted back to Mohamed our skipper "are these GTs or what "? and cast into them hoping they were and as the leader entered my first guide BOOM !!!! a GT caught a glimpse of my stick bait and walloped it from the rod tip. The fish was no monster but we had seen a fish and we were on the board.
The rest of the day was quiet but probably a good thing for me because a mega headache had started brewing and I was in serious need of some good sleep. We made it back to the lodge that arvo all wondering if this was going to be the standard for the trip seeing just one or two fish a day ? The other group staying at the lodge were glowing they had smashed it at a different location and the plan was to swap spots tomorrow. I quickly smashed my dinner down and passed out.
I woke up finally feeling good and we headed out to see if we could find some serious action. Moh pulls the boat up and starts yelling at us to wake the GTs up ! and after 20 mins something was woken up. I was watching Mark retrieve his rooster popper 20 metres from the boat when this thing decided it was time for the rooster to die. It looked like the plug had been pulled from the sea floor a boil that looked half the size of the boat came from under his lure and missed it everyone was yelling at him to keep retrieving and sure enough it smashed it on the second pass, line started peeling from his reel and I'm not sure if it was the initial shock of what he had seen or the sheer power of the fish but within 5 seconds the rod was no longer in his hands. The whole crew watched his rod and reel tear off under water and Mark was now without a set up.
WOW ok there are monsters here. Shortly after that James hooked a good looking fish only to have the split ring fail at the boat and I followed suit hooking a fish that I didn't even gain line on, it paused for a moment I leant right back and went to wind in and was completely stuck it was like the fish stopped and said "you think you're ready for me ? I don't think so " and smoked me into the reef.
Hesh managed to show us how to put one on deck and opened his account with a beautiful GT in the high 40s.
After this Moh was casting with us and was smashed by a good fish I was about to crank my lure in to get it out of the way when I saw a big black shape moving towards the stick bait BOOM we are now doubled up when I hear Hesh yelling TRIPLE HOOK UP !!!
After some serious chaos we somehow managed to land all three fish and everyone was ecstatic, what a moment.
A few more casts and then lunch to take in what had just happened
Southern Oman was showing us just how ridiculous it can get.
After lunch we were back into it and again something rose to eat my stick bait ! I was hoping this fish wouldn't find the reef and after an intense battle the fish was boat side. It looked bigger than anything we had landed so we pulled the set of scales out and sling weighed the beast 55kgs came up and I could not believe what i was looking at. When I had the fish rested on my lap the sound of the grunting was incredible a true monster from the sea.
We made our way back to the lodge when we saw a group of fish on the surface feeding hard a big pack of GTs and the lures were deployed upon them. We had another triple hook up only for the fish Hesh hooked decided to open up the treble. Mark and James brought the day home with two nice GTs
What a day to remember.
The next day we decided to hit the inshore just for some rest and the other location we were destined for was fishing relatively slow.
It was great to explore the coastline with landscapes unlike anything I have ever seen before. Hesh, James and Mark all landed Omani Bream something that I really wanted to see on the trip.
Day 4
We were all feeling a little sore and the bites didn't come as regularly as the second day. We had a huge Dorado come up on a popper and Hesh dropped stick bait on him at the boat and was immediately ON and peeled GT drag from the stella only to lose the fish, it was easily the biggest Dorado anyone had seen and would have been awesome to have landed it. A Sail fish also followed a popper to the boat and then another later on in the day. James managed to Land a GT for us that day and a PB which we were all pumped for him !
The last day had us all hungry for one last chance. Hesh got hammered in the rough conditions only to lose the fish and lure to the reef. The boys had all sat down for a quick break so i grabbed my rod and was casting alone when a fish came up on my popper, after an intense fight which had me slipping at the bow of the boat we managed to land the 40kg model.
there were a few more hits for the day but no one stayed connected other than James who scored a stonker of a Queen Fish !!
For me it was really sad leaving the lodges We had all become great friends and shared some really special moments together.
Eds staff at No Boundaries were fantastic well above what I had expected. The food, laughs, friendships and fishing will stay with me forever. Truly the best fishing experience I have ever had.
I hope I didn't ramble on for too long, its hard to put the whole trip into words because so much of the trip was unreal.!!!
I would like to thank Ed and his team, Hesh, James and Mark for being great crew members, my family and friends for supporting me to go on this epic adventure solo and finally everyone in the GT community for sharing stories and pictures that have inspired me to focus on one of (if not) THE greatest sports fish in the world.
Jed
