It was our last day fishing in Southern Oman. And Sammy and I got to do it with yesterdays guides Nuan and Amhed but also Nick Bowles and Trevor Skinner. The boys of Ocean Active Fly arrived last night to join us today. Tomorrow they stay and fish with Yousef while Sammy and I will travel to Musandam and spend our last two days trying to get Sammy the giant trevally he came on this expedition for in the first place.
It was another lovely day on the Arabian Sea. There was hardly a wave as we made our way to the Africanus waters. Sure enough, when we arrived the Africanus were ripping their mussel breakfast from the rocks.
I’ve had a great week fishing so I, along with Nick who was running the boat, began as spectators. There were a ton of Africanus and Trevor and Sammy got more shots than we’ve had all week. But the tricky permit were persnickety and spooky.
No doubt it was the fact that it was so calm. Like any fish, when it’s calm they can see the angler better. However persistence often pays off. After about two hours of relentless casts, Sammy hooked up. Sam’s Africanus screamed off the rocks for the deep but his loose line tangled around the butt of his rod. SNAP went his leader and the fish was gone. Misfortune!
That would be the only hook up on the Africanus today. Eventually the sun got high as did the tide and gradually they disappeared. But in came various types of bream. Trevor caught this fantastic stumpnose bream (Rhabdosargus sarba) on his crab. This chunky mussel eating fish would have been a nice addition to my species list!
My list didn’t go unanswered today however. Soon after the stumpnose Sammy got another odd one. I need to check my blogs from last trip here but I may have caught this one. Either way I made sure that before we left this spot to catch one of my own and luckily I did. If anyone knows this one please contact me.
Thanks again Ed Truter – this is (Pomadasys puncutlatus)
We continued to have action. Nick finally took a shot from the bow why Nuan ran the boat. The old pro was up there a mere five minutes when he launched a swift and accurate cast at a cruising fish. He hooked up immediately.
It was a down and dirty fight but not quite that of Mr. Africanus. Soon we saw that it was my good friend the three spot pompano. Or as the South Africans call him, the wave garrick.
We caught some masked triggers and cast to a few more pompano. And we saw a school of floating Africanus. They wouldn’t respond to any flies so I’m guessing they were resting and using the sun to digest the morning’s breakfast. It was sure fun seeing them though.
The last fish I caught was definitely a new species for my list. He looks like a grunter of some sort and he confirmed this by grunting. Now I just need to hunt down which of the many grunter species he actually is. As always, any help here would be appreciated.
This grunt is the javelin (Pomodasys kaakan)
It’s been an amazing week down here in Southern Oman. A big thanks to Nick for piecing Sammy and I together a trip on emergency notice. It’s so amazing that this excursion led to knocking the most unusual of all permit species, the Africanus, off my list. It’s weird the way the fishing Gods work.
For now it’s the last night on the town. The four of us are heading back to the Island Bar and Restaurant. Tomorrow morning Sam and I fly back to Sharjah then drive three hours to Musandam. More details to come.
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