10 kings but still way to hot for my liking

Headed out for the fist time last week since summer  and caught nothing all day. It’s still extremely hot and humid and to be honest very unpleasant. I wanted to try my new toy though….a pair of outriggers i’d picked up off a friend who has since moved on from Abu Dhabi (Thanks Jan).

I said to myself on the way home last week that i wouldn’t come out again until the middle of october until it had cooled down a little. But i just couldn’t resist and this morning and headed out around 8am. It was very hazy and hot but the sea was flat calm and just the way i like it. Last week we fished close into the mainland and this week we decided to head out much further.

There was no visible bird activity so we set the 4 lines and just trolled on. After 30 minutes, we came across some rising and jumping fish and as we got closer to them, saw they were small kings chasing what i call the rain drop fish. Many times you see these small fish jumping only a few cm’s above the surface of the water in big schools and then back into the water again making small splashes and so hence my name for them, the rain drop fish,anyway……. the small kings were having a field day with these fish and chasing them out of the water. Kings remind me of my fly fishing days back home when you fish for salmon, the way they leap out of the water has a big resemblance in my opinion. We trolled right through their activity with no hook ups. I turned the boat around and trolled back through and this time we had a strike on one of the deep diving lures but we were to quick and the hook hadn’t set. At least we knew though that the deep diving lures were on the money for today…

We trolled back through again and again, the deep divers were hit and this time, a double strike and hooks set! A few minutes of playing the fish and we had 2 medium-sized Kings, both returned to fight another day and we were extremely pleased to see kings back in Abu Dhabi!! We pulled in the other 2 lines and changed them for deep diving lures and trolled on. It was quite visible now that there were at least 3 sets of kings spread around a 1/2 kilometer radius working the rain drop fish and so we just kept trolling round them and we hooked into a total of 10 kings for the day during 5 hours fishing. Would have been nice to have had the fly fishing gear on board as we could have sight casted a few, oh well, better remember next time…One king in total kept which was a good size for the table and enough to satisfy my father in law who is out from the UK and would be served for his dinner tonight.9 Kings returned.

On the way home, i said again its way to hot to be out and this time i mean it, no fishing for me until mid October now as it’s just unbearable with the humidity. The outriggers are great though and very happy with them as they make such a difference to your trolling keeping the lines spread nicely apart. I think we’ll have some good results this winter and looking forward to some cooler weather.

Tight lines all and here’s to a good winter season!

Fishing Abu Dhabi – Queenfish and Kingfish

Had a nice 3 hour run out on the water in my friends boat on the Friday morning. The water was a little wavey but nothing to uncomfortable.

We headed out around 6.30am and drove for around 15 km north until we sighted some bird activity. We set the 6 lines and started trolling.

Perhaps this video will say it better but all in all, a good day on the water.

 

Tight lines.

Fishing Abu Dhabi – Kings, Queens and Hammours and lots of bait fish!

There’s been a gap again in my updates, mainly due to bad weather ie wind falling on weekends and so hence a lack of fishing. I’ve also had some changes made to my boat which i’m really happy with and it’s allowed me to have more space to manoeuvre around.

So after a long wait, the weather was finally looking good and both myself and friend James headed out yesterday for a days fishing. We were out on the water by 10am and the sun was nicely guarded behind some cloud, gradually breaking through now and then. Once we got out into the channel, it wasn’t long before the bait fish were spotted and boy was there plenty. It wasn’t long before we spotted Kings jumping into the air and before we had our first hits on the lures. Sadly no hook ups but just chancers hitting the lures and i guess missing. We trolled on for another 30 minutes and then the left outrigger fishing rod bent back and the reel screamed off the line. James took the rod and began to play the fish. We bot had a few guesses on what it could be before he finally had it boat side and it was a nice king of around 7kg’s.  Lures set again and we trolled on and literally 2 minutes after setting off again, we were into another fish. This time i took the rod and it was the right hand side outrigger rod and again a nice run. James put the boat into idle and i began to reel. This one felt like a hammour. You do get a bit of a feel of what fish is on the end of the line by the way it runs or swims down to the sea bed and this felt like a hammour, 5 minutes later and you guessed it, it was a hammour of around 3kgs.

Now, believed we had hit the right area so James got out the fly rod and began casting, after several casts, he hooked into what we thought was a king (this is our personal target for the year, to get a king on the fly – apparently a difficult task…), after many runs and 20 minutes later, a nice queen of around 3-4 kgs was landed and released.  We spent the next hour between us casting flies and being stood on the bow of the boat, could look down onto the water and watch these queen and king fish chase the flies right up to the boat. The adrenalin thrill was great as you were urging the fish to take the fly and run…

All in all a great day and it was good to be back out again on the water and the new layout of the boat, i am very happy with.

HERE ON A BUSINESS TRIP OR HOLIDAY? FANCY A GUIDED FISHING TRIP WITH ME TARGETING SOME OF THE UAE’S FINEST FISH? ALL TACKLE, REFRESHMENTS ETC PROVIDED, CONTACT ME FOR MORE INFORMATION – MOBILE:  050 642 9211 OR E-MAIL: adamharvey14@hotmail.com

Hammour and 2 kings

Hey all, been a while since i posted as i’ve been in the process of selling on my boat to get a slightly larger one with 2 engines. Finally got her out on the water on the weekend after 2 months of no fishing… 

Even though the weather wasn’t great on Friday, 14 -16 knots with the wind heading off shore, we managed to get out into the channel and troll for a few hours.

We caught a hammour around 10-12lbs and 2 small kings which went back.

My camera skills need a little work but here is the video link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuaRjWvt … er&list=UL

Tight lines.

New Years Eve fishing in Abu Dhabi – Kings

So, headed out with a friend on his boat on NYE into the Abu Dhabi channel. We were trolling today and casting and we set up the rods along with out riggers which is a new way to troll for me. With the outriggers, however i can really see the benefit as it allows you to troll lure out wider and stops the tangles with the other lure you are trolling. Jan(my friend) trolls 5 lures on his boat at a time so you need to use this method to ensure you don’t get any tangles!!

We were soon alongside seagulls flying high and circling and then hitting the bait fish. Then the kings were hitting the bait fish and 1 or 2 were jumping. We trolled right by them and then all of a sudden, 3 rods bend over and we have a triple hook up! Jan passed a rod to me and i began to reel, Jan handed the other rod to his nephew who also started to reel in and Jan began reeling himself…NICE, 3 fish on at the same time. I had to move my rod over a few lines to get un tangled and in the process my fish got off. Jane being a gentleman passed his rod to me and i began reeling in however there was probably about 250 yds of line out and the fish swimming n the other direction to us, my arm soon became tired…thanks Jan i thought, i can see why you passed me that rod…hahahaha

So, with 2 kings on board, we circled around and then came across the school again and Jan cast a spinner into the bait fish and before long BAM, into another King!

 

Fished for 3 hours and we had a great time!

You can see the video here http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=janmon101#p/a/u/1/sFy2pvY0Id0

Dibba – Oman trip fishing trip – (Dad’s 60th birthday)

 

So, headed out Thursday morning on our road trip to Dibba along with my Dad who is out here as part of his 60th Birthday present. Decided not to risk driving to the border on route to RAs Mad and getting turned back with no NOC from the bank on my vehicle. I was allowed the NOC but didn’t have time to get there before the bank closed on Wednesday afternoon.

Anyway, we left around 8am from Abu Dhabi and headed down the Abu Dhabi – Dubai rd eventually crossing of onto the emirates road and then onto Dibba. Not much to see on route bar a few mountains, crazy truck drivers and some goats..

We arrived at the border check point and i had been on the phone a few times with a friend of mine for directions who regularly dives off Lima Rock. He mentioned to me, oh, just show them your passport and you’ll be ok, ok i said, i thought we were still going to be in the UAE and i wouldn’t need it so hadn’t brought it. Anyway, i did have my Emirates ID which when i flashed that and my dads uk passport, they welcomed and waived us on ( i knew that painful emirates id application process would be good for something eventually.. )

10 minutes driving further into Dibba, we eventually arrived at our camping spot which was right on the beach For all you kayakers out there, great location for launching with ease and within easy reach of the mountain structure. We set up camp and then ventured out to talk to some locals to try and get us sorted with a boat trip for the coming days. After heading down to the port, we managed to chat to a few locals and got set up for the next day and Saturday’s fishing. I got a little spinning in from the beach with a little lure across the top of the rocks and managed 2 small hammours.

It was getting dark now and we lit up the BBQ, got the gas cooker on and made dinner. The good thing about this location is there are loads of amenities around for those that are not hardcore campers ( a bit like me…) like LuLu hypermarket for example so you can pretty much just rock up with the tent and cooker etc and then get all your groceries daily within a 15 minute drive. So i sat back, ate, watched the stars, chatted with my Dad and forgot about the corporate world.

Next day up at 5am as agreed with the local boat owner to be at the port and out by 6am. Well, we were up at 4.30am, had breakfast and headed to the port, 5.30am,6am, 6.30am, 7am past and still no boat owner, 7.30am, 8am and then at 9am i decided enough was enough and tried to get us another boat. It is Friday don’t forget so it was difficult as Friday prayers are at 12.30pm but eventually i managed to meet a really nice local lad named Hamed and we agreed 3 hours today fishing and a full 6 hours the next day.

So gear loaded onto the boat, off we went, we set off trolling right past our camp spot along the rocks, after 15 minutes, my rod bent over and the line started coming out at a rate of knots. I already had 100 yds out with the famous green/yellow with black stripe lure on (i’ve been having a lot of luck with this this season), the fish to far away to identify was jumping and thrashing around and it looked like a good size, after 5 minutes of playing it, it was along boat side and it was a Barracuda of around 20-25lbs. Now came the best part, Hamed was telling me to reel it in between the engines so he could pull it out of the water with his hands by the line. So for some silly reason, i listened and let him grab the line, well, it was only 15lb line and yes, you knew it was coming, snap, line, fish and my bl**dy best lure gone into the turquoise blue water.This method is ok to do if you have a 60lb and line.No pic obviously of the run away fish…!

After and hour with no further bites, we set up for some bottom fishing and had a range of different fish, all around 500g – 4kgs  but beautiful colours. The depth around the rocks and outwards is 100 ft and deeper! My reel just kept on letting line out for an age or though it seemed(mental note: need a larger reel and thicker line)!

So for dinner that evening we had BBQ’s barracuda and what i guess are a member of the bream family but red colour. All were delicious with a bit of lemon juice,garlic salt and a can of the finest diet coke

Next day we packed up camp in preparation for the journey home as we were fishing from 12 noon to 5pm then heading back to Abu Dhabi.

On the way out we past many rock formations and went into some caves (you can see more pics on my blog as i don’t want to get into trouble off richie )

Then we set up for trolling, only to realise that after steaming out for more than an hour, we had left the lures in the car…  of course i blame it on my Dad as he’s 60 bless him and his memory isn’t as good as before….lol only joking pops. not to worry, the scenery soon made up for that and we headed out further for some bottom fishing. A great afternoon with around 30 fish caught of different species from white hammour, oragne hammour, red hammour, Jish, barracuda, red sea bream, shark and an octopus.

Great trip and definitely will be back form some more soon!

Lovely morning in Mina

Been a while since i posted but have been fishing lots. Lack of posts due to lack of service from Etisalat since i just moved houses…long story but i now have internet access Huraaaaah!

I have my Dad out at present from the UK for 2 weeks so headed out this morning on the boat into the mina channel and there was a little swell but nothing unpleasant and so we got past the coast guard, dropped in the lures and started trolling. After 10 minutes, both the outrigger rods started to bounce gentley but no serious reel spin so we though it was just the waves, anyway after watching this for a few mintues decided to reel the rods in and we had 2 juvenile hammours, no bigger than a pound and half each, both thrown back.

On we trolled for another half hour with nothing, the water clarity is defintely back almost to normal and we had reached around the 4th set of markers, well all hell broke loose and seagulls appeared from nowhere and there was some serious amount of bait fish around left, right, front and back of the boat. Just about to cast into it when up pop 50ft away from the boat around 8-10 dolphins. The boat engine was off and before no time, they were right up swimming alonside the boat. I’ve saved a nice video of it and will upload to you tube once i figure out how to compress it as it’s 124 MB!!

Usually they don’t come anywhere near the boat when i’ve been out but i think because the engine was off and we sat really still they came up to us and circled the boat at full speed a few times, such a pleasant sighting!

They soon had cleared off and we trolled on using the green/yellow and black striped rapalas on the outriggers and silver/yellow/red rapalas on the rear trollers, then bang, the line started to scream off, boat into neutral and i handed the rod to my dad, the rear troller rod, green/yellow rapala had hooked into a nice king of around 4-5lbs, decided to keep that one for the table this evening. On we trolled and 10 mins later, another bait eruption (not dolphins this time) and we were into another king, brought boat side tried for a picture but got off just as i was about to click!! It was around 7-8lbs, taken again on the green/yellow with black striped rapala. Looking back towards the main land, we could sea plenty of seagull action hitting bait fish all the way along the markers from marker 4 -1 and it wasn’t long again before we were into another king, this time on the red/yellow/silver rapala, this one was a jumpy and feisty little bu**er and he really danced around and then snap, about 15 ft from the boat the lure was gone along with fish.

Lovely mornings fishing and great for my old man to catch his first king. The kings are definately still there!

I am off for 10 days so plan to be out everyday. We are also heading over to Oman on Wednesday for 4 days camping and fishing so hope we have some luck over there and i can share some good stories and pictures.

Tight lines
Adam

The winter season begins

Howdy all!

Hope you’ve all been having a great summer and managed to relax with friends, family and a like.

I’ve really enjoyed taking the summer off myself and spending some quality time with the family.

Headed out yesterday morning around 6am with Harry, the sun was still just coming up and it was already pretty humid. I think another 3-4 weeks and the weather should be perfect again with the humidity almost gone. We dropped the 2 lures out the back of the boat and began trolling round the reem island breakwaters and got into conversation about summer, past fishing experiences and hopefully what we might cath today. It felt great, back out on the water again and hunting fish!

We trolled for about 35 minutes and all along the way, we kept spotting jelly fish, i mean the water was thick with them everywhere and there seemed be a lot of what looked like salt in the water or sediment. We also saw at least 3 fish floating dead in the water and one of them was a trevally, at least 4kgs and a fish i would have been proud to catch, could this be the jelly fish killing them???

We were soon into a shoal of queen fish and the seagulls above us but these guys were small and very quickly moved to another spot 30-40 feet away and out of casting range however we did try with the soft plastics but nothing seem to attract them. For a good hour we followed them up and down the channel but without any successful hook ups.

We decided to head out to the main ocean and into the mina channel, stopping by the coast guard along the way to check the boat id and then i asked, “weather ok today, no waves” the coast guard simply waved his hand towards the ocean as if to say no problem, off you go. So off we set, but after 5 minutes on full steam towards the deep blue, the whites of the tops of the waves we clearly visible and i turned us back.

On the way back there were at least 3 bait fish frenzies happening which looked like kings chasing them but this was all happening right alongside, yeah you guessed it the coast guard so we couldn’t get into them as you cannot fish this part of the channel…arrrrgggghh!!

By now, the sun had come up and it was getting a little unbearable even with the canopy up so we called it a day and headed back to the marina.

We did manage to do a little bottom fishing on the way back and hooked into this little guy, not sure of the name of the fish but i returned him to live another day.

Great to be back out again and this season i plan to explore the emirates and over to into Oman of some combined camping and fishing trips with my son Zain so watch this space….

Tight lines.

HERE ON A BUSINESS TRIP OR HOLIDAY? FANCY A GUIDED FISHING TRIP WITH ME TARGETING SOME OF THE UAE’S FINEST FISH? ALL TACKLE, REFRESHMENTS ETC PROVIDED, CONTACT ME FOR MORE INFORMATION – MOBILE:  050 642 9211 OR E-MAIL: adamharvey14@hotmail.com

Signing off for the summer

Dear readers

It’s that time of year again, summer time and sadly i will not be fishing again now until September.

I’ll watch the worldcup instead, kick back with the family and clean up all the tackle ready for the next fishing season.

Enjoy the summer and catch up with you all in September!

Tight lines.

Adam

Queen, Hammour, Barracuda and the monster that got away….

Headed out again nice and early today and was joined by another father and son combination, this time Graeme and his son Robert. We left the marina at around 6am and head from Mena to Marina Mall. It was actually not that long to steam over there with the boat and i was glad i listened to Graeme when he suggested we try there with the boat a few weeks ago. Before we reached Marina mall and towards the end of the Lu Lu Island breakwater, we came across a school of queen fish chasing bait. I kept the boat in line and Graeme casted to the rising bait fish. After a few casts, he hooked into a nice queenie. A good five minutes fight and it was aboard and kept for the ice box for the boys that look after my boat. We chased a few more around but the current was moving to fast and as fast as we reached a school of them, they had move 50 ft… So on we steamed to the break water close to the villas on Marina Mall and geared up the lures, after 5 minutes of trolling, bang, Graemes reel starts screaming line off, he grabs it and reels and reels and is into hammour we think then the line goes slack and the fish is lost! We set the lures again and troll on….. 20 minutes past and bang, Graemes reel goes again (yes i am still fishing but not having any luck…. ) and this time he brings boat side a hammour, just slighty below the legal size but a good 1.5kg and it’s released after a pic or 2. By now, we’ve trolled way past the intial location and we make our way over to the old public beach and i have changed my lure along the way for a squid lure and it pays off, bang, the line starts screaming off the reel and some rate, the fish was moving quickly and then the line went slack as i had just picked up the rod and start reeling…. so on we troll some more, now round the inside of the outer breakwater and Graemes reel screams into action again (hey Graeme, any channce i can have a fish today or what… ) and this time he’s into a very good fish which leaps high out of the water, we couldn’t make out what it was exactly as it was a fair distance away but it was double the size of the queen fish he had caught earlier…more line screams out, this fish is an express train….. more line and there must be 150 yards out now…then it heads for the bhouy and i start to move the boat towards the fish to help the situation. We reach the fish and Graeme played it for a few minutes trying to get it away from the bhouy but it’s no good, the fish had dived deep and next the line goes slack….fish lost Gutted, this was a big fish we think it was another queenie but a huge one. Troll on and i change lure again and a few minutes later i’m into a small barracuda which after a minute of being hooked gets free… guess today is not my day…. We stopped for a good hour and did some bottom fishing by the break water but it was quiet, no fish caught. Saw some dolphins and then we headed back into the marina, another great days fishing and boy is it getting hot…summmer is here…