Having committed our career paths to the boating industry of the UAE, one can’t help but question the motive of willingly putting our home waters of the KZN north-coast to rest in search of success and productive fishing over here.
It had never occurred to me that I’d call the presumably quiet waters of the Arabian Gulf my home…
As my good friend Lloyd van Ploster and I had taken up roles as fishing and spearing guides for our respective boat owners, we couldn’t help but feel envious of one company in particular. Not the sort of envy that makes you want to cut every 10 meters of someone’s line and spool it back on the reel…
That envy of “Damn I really wish I could get me a piece of that action!”
The location, none other than the Omani waters that the Ocean Active team calls their home. Having one day off per week leaves little or no time to plan any flamboyant trips, let alone finish a hot cup of Nescafe Gold before its back to work and prepping the vessels for the owners.
However, the drive from Dubai to Khasab, including border-crossing procedure takes a little over two hours. Upon crossing the Ras al Kaimah border, it becomes evident that you have just transcended a magical line into another realm of geographical contrast unlike any on earth. A truly overwhelming sense of benevolence for our coming 24 hours forces conversation down a path of uncontrollable verbal leakage.
Meandering through the geomorphology of rock and fjords that give Cape Town’s cliff side roads a “cute” rating. With a permanent view of the salty lake we would indulge in the following morning.
Unknowingly we had the opportunity of fishing a few days prior to a full moon, which in GT language, means strong currents on both the push and drain!
The arrangement of the points and bays encourages massive amounts of water to bypass typography that funnels bait and other fodder into a vortex of river-like motion where the GT’s slipstream submerged structure in wait of passers by.
Once the tidal movement slows, generally so does the GT bite, however, in a few hours the swing will undoubtedly offer another series of opportunities. Yet a setting such as this can support more than just ravenous GT’s. Species such as King Mackerel, Milk Fish, Barracuda, Longtail Tuna, Torpedo Scads and Sailfish use the dissipating current to feed on what’s passed through the gauntlets and regrouped, creating a secondary foundation the bridge the gap between tides targeting other species!
Some may say “bull”…
So did I, and honestly I don’t blame you. It truly is too good to be true, however, IT EXISTS!
With the expertise of Ocean Active providing the platform for you to be a part of a handful of people who will ever set a hook in this magical location.
While everyone would love that monster GT, the beauty is that your session could be your fish of a lifetime on your first cast, or second, or both! While the smaller fish could keep you screeching as a pack of 12-20 kg compete for that bait coming out of the shadow of a 200 meter high sheer cliff face!
All the fish in this article are from a single session, both on the heavy gear, and some buss longtail tuna on bass tackle. (20lb gear)
Visit us at www.oceanactive.com for more info.
