Gents a fishing report from the Middle East - UAE
As planned we unloaded our kayaks on the beach at 04:30am for a pre dawn start at Palm Jumeirah. Even at this time the temperatures were nudging 30'C so we knew we were in for a hot day!
Our plan was to do some inshore trolling hoping to pick up a Hammour (cod) on Red head rapalas, and then to make our way in to the deeper water to bottom fish as the temperatures increased.
The sea was flat as Ive ever seen it and 50 meters off the beach myself and Keith set the lures out and started our GPS so we could track our routes. No sooner had I started paddling I have a screaming run on the right rod, following a very deep and dogged fight I was rewarded with a nice Hammour (Very similar to our Cod) of approx 3kg. Ten minutes later both rods were set again and I headed off sticking the to route we had planned, this time my left rod screamed off, this fight was different, much faster and shallow fight, I had no idea what it could be and to my surprise I landed a small black tip reef shark what had took the lure perfectly (albeit the line twisted around its nut)!
I could not believe the start I had and thought this could not continue! Again both lures were set and continued out towards the deeper water, over the next 20mintues
I had three more runs what resulted in none hook ups! I stopped fishing for 15 minutes to enjoy the stunning sight of a lone dolphin breaking the calm along with numerous turtles and sea snakes - the sea in the UAE is a different place at this hour of day! We continued paddling out and hit our chosen mark about an hour later, no sooner had we arrived the water all around us exploded and the culprits: huge queen fish! We trolled through the main shoal (what must have been 0.5km radius around us) with heart pounding waiting for a the run ........ what never come!
I swapped lures for dead trolled sardines (approx 4-5 inch) and the only interest I got was from the numerous sea gulls what were following our progress.
After about an hour of constant paddling and a near cardiac fatigue heart rate I spotted a small dead sardine (about 2") on the surface.
So I again wound in the lines and swapped both rods over to silver rubber (single hook) soft shads and set them out approx 17 -20 metres behind the kayak,
within minutes I heard huge splash behind me and right on cue my right rod set off screaming, this time I could not stop the fish, it jumped clean out the water 4 or 5 times
and could not believe that I was actually attached to this fish! After a 25 minute tense struggle (I was using 18lb line) I managed to bring on board a beautiful queen fish approx 7-7.5kg, During this time Keith managed to land a very nice barracuda what we had seen lurking below the queen fish shoal (some huge ones among them)! We continued to fish for a couple of hours and we both had countless runs from the queen fish, with some lovely fish landed, lost and missed (including a double hook up when both rods went)!
We headed back in approx 9:15am as we were physically exhausted. On the way in we replaced the soft baits for the red head rapala's and again we were rewarded with barracuda! As what happened earlier that morning I had a screaming run just yards from the beach, following a very hard fight I managed land a stunning 4.5kg Hammour, unfortunately this fish completely swallowed the lure (and both treble hooks) therefore it had to be despatched otherwise it would have been returned as we already had couple of fish each for the table.
The GPS told us we had paddled for 10.8 miles however it was worth every painful stroke!
Overall a stunning day and an experience I will never forgot, next challenge is a large queen fish on the fly! more on this as and when it happens!
Tight lines all and I wish you all a safe prosperous summer season back home in the North East!
Kind regards
James
As planned we unloaded our kayaks on the beach at 04:30am for a pre dawn start at Palm Jumeirah. Even at this time the temperatures were nudging 30'C so we knew we were in for a hot day!
Our plan was to do some inshore trolling hoping to pick up a Hammour (cod) on Red head rapalas, and then to make our way in to the deeper water to bottom fish as the temperatures increased.
The sea was flat as Ive ever seen it and 50 meters off the beach myself and Keith set the lures out and started our GPS so we could track our routes. No sooner had I started paddling I have a screaming run on the right rod, following a very deep and dogged fight I was rewarded with a nice Hammour (Very similar to our Cod) of approx 3kg. Ten minutes later both rods were set again and I headed off sticking the to route we had planned, this time my left rod screamed off, this fight was different, much faster and shallow fight, I had no idea what it could be and to my surprise I landed a small black tip reef shark what had took the lure perfectly (albeit the line twisted around its nut)!
I could not believe the start I had and thought this could not continue! Again both lures were set and continued out towards the deeper water, over the next 20mintues
I had three more runs what resulted in none hook ups! I stopped fishing for 15 minutes to enjoy the stunning sight of a lone dolphin breaking the calm along with numerous turtles and sea snakes - the sea in the UAE is a different place at this hour of day! We continued paddling out and hit our chosen mark about an hour later, no sooner had we arrived the water all around us exploded and the culprits: huge queen fish! We trolled through the main shoal (what must have been 0.5km radius around us) with heart pounding waiting for a the run ........ what never come!
I swapped lures for dead trolled sardines (approx 4-5 inch) and the only interest I got was from the numerous sea gulls what were following our progress.
After about an hour of constant paddling and a near cardiac fatigue heart rate I spotted a small dead sardine (about 2") on the surface.
So I again wound in the lines and swapped both rods over to silver rubber (single hook) soft shads and set them out approx 17 -20 metres behind the kayak,
within minutes I heard huge splash behind me and right on cue my right rod set off screaming, this time I could not stop the fish, it jumped clean out the water 4 or 5 times
and could not believe that I was actually attached to this fish! After a 25 minute tense struggle (I was using 18lb line) I managed to bring on board a beautiful queen fish approx 7-7.5kg, During this time Keith managed to land a very nice barracuda what we had seen lurking below the queen fish shoal (some huge ones among them)! We continued to fish for a couple of hours and we both had countless runs from the queen fish, with some lovely fish landed, lost and missed (including a double hook up when both rods went)!
We headed back in approx 9:15am as we were physically exhausted. On the way in we replaced the soft baits for the red head rapala's and again we were rewarded with barracuda! As what happened earlier that morning I had a screaming run just yards from the beach, following a very hard fight I managed land a stunning 4.5kg Hammour, unfortunately this fish completely swallowed the lure (and both treble hooks) therefore it had to be despatched otherwise it would have been returned as we already had couple of fish each for the table.
The GPS told us we had paddled for 10.8 miles however it was worth every painful stroke!
Overall a stunning day and an experience I will never forgot, next challenge is a large queen fish on the fly! more on this as and when it happens!
Tight lines all and I wish you all a safe prosperous summer season back home in the North East!
Kind regards
James
