Long cast big fish – never give up!

GT fishing in Southern Oman

Since my trip was plagued by bad weather last year I tried once again in March 2016. This year the weather was again ill-omened during the week I had booked. The south-westerly wind was blowing at speeds of up to 20 knots. On the first two days we fought our way 25 sea miles out against high waves to reach the notorious GT hotspots – the Hallaniyat Islands. After hundreds of long casts with huge poppers and stick-baits we unfortunately failed to make contact with any fish at all on these two days. On the third day we had to call the trip off in the morning due to the poor weather conditions and on the fourth day we were unable to get out at all – frustration reached peak levels. I started ringing up the airlines to see if I could fly back early but still wanted to give it another try in the morning of the fifth day.

On day 5 the wind again failed to drop but the waves were not quite so high so we decided to try our luck by steaming out to the GT hotspots 25 miles out to sea. After a good hour and a half we managed to reach our goal and found a spot in the lee of one of the islands. On the very first drift we had a take and boated a fine grouper. After that the bites came thick and fast. Whams on every drift, violent bites, pack-attacks by medium-sized GTs, double strikes – absolutely phenomenal.

By the end of the day we had caught a fat grouper, a heavyweight GT and two smaller ones. We had a further five hookups with some hefty fish and lost them by pulling the hooks. We lost one gigantic GT after a long fight right under boat when it spat the hook out – really bad luck. We had set off that morning with no high expectations, fought our way through heavy seas and yet by the end of the day fortune had smiled on us by providing plenty of action – what more can a fisherman’s heart yearn for?

According to the weather forecast, the winds were supposed to drop off on our sixth and last day … the exact opposite was the case. Nevertheless, we struggled out to the GT hotspots. After only five minutes we were soaked to the skin and didn’t dry off for the rest of the day. At this stage I must point out that there was no risk to life and limb whatsoever – it was quite simply incredibly unpleasant.

After reaching the first spot we caught our first small GT after only a couple of casts and had a vicious take from a medium sized one. Then things went dead for a while. We changed to another spot and had a superb bite on our stick-bait on the very first drift. This fish shot off towards us at full speed and swam under the boat – nobody can crank a reel handle that fast. After a couple of boat manoeuvers we got into the right position in spite of the wind and waves and the fight began. My thoughts were of a monster fish. I couldn’t move what was on the end of my line – it was just extremely heavy. My arms got longer and longer, back-ache set in and after some 20 minutes we managed to gaff it. It rapidly became clear what had happened. The 47 kg GT was hooked both in its flank and its mouth and was sideways on to the current the whole time. Every fisherman knows what that means but we were nevertheless delighted with our catch.

Summary:

The week got off to a poor start, followed by complete disillusionment and frustration, but ended with some superb fishing. What you need in Oman is some stamina and naturally a bit of luck with the weather and bite phases. The last two days saved the fishing. Rough seas are unpleasant both for anglers and guides – but the reef fishing is, however, mainly better in these conditions. The guides are fully motivated and give it their all – always ensuring absolute safety.

Stephan Kreupl, März 2016