Sharks and Sharks ! Fishing trips with unanswered question

 

I was back from a short trip to India. I got the chance for a Dubai fishing trip. It is an expensive trip but i wanted to try this charter as i ahve always seen them post big Cobia sand  king fish.

From my previous trips experience in Dubai at 25 meter i setup jigs from 30 to 60 grams. All small short profiles. When we got the boat there were few experienced anglers. I saw one of them pull out 120 gms jigs long profile and other slow fall. I thought it is way too high for 20 to 35 meters jigging depth. 80 grams small profile and a medium profile was the biggest i was carrying. I cursed myself for leaving all my other jigs at home.

we were told that they have information that there was king fish activity at the location we were heading. when reached there we could see two commercial fisherman trolling. we started jigging. and slowly we started noticing top water activity here and there. no big schools but one or two fishes here and there. we were casting and sometimes jigging. The master angler got the strike and it was kking fish. he used a long profile. i was using a 40 grams and slow jigging. I had two strikes and lost the jigs. By this time two anglers got king fish. one of them advise me to start fast jigging. I never do fast jigging. it is not that i did not get strike but lost two jigs. I continued to change jigs and but no luck.

After several changes i picked the jig with orange stripes slow fall. on the drop i got a Barracuda. Account was opened but was disappointing to have a small barracuda. when i dropped again  i got a strike. This time reel was making the pleasant sound. I had set two kilos drag as the depth was low. I didn't want line to snap due sudden impacts.  when reeled found it was a Golden Trevally. This was my first one ever. Glad. and again on the next drop it was little more scream of the reel. got a slightly larger Golden trevally. now understood this jig was working, I started getting fish.

Later when I was jigging the fight was good and the fish was moving horizontally. I thought it was a Cobia. But when I reeled it closer it was a Shark. As usual the sharks fight very well. I got total five sharks. Deep inside i wanted to hook a king fish as others but I was getting Sharks. 

I got some queen fish, some sprangled emperor, a small red Grouper. Although the day was full of fish I was unable to get the King. The lesson was big kings and Cobia like longer profile jig. I have ordered few long and light weight jigs. will book a trip once they reach and try both slow pitch and fast jigging. 

It was a great trip but I still need to find some answers !!!

Fishing trip Khorfakkan 06 Aug 2023

 

This was a planned trip with Capt. Ali. We were six guys. Two days before the trip Captain advised the weather Is ok but may be with larger waves. On the day of trip when I checked it was showing 0.6-meter wave. We met at 0430am and left the port at 0515 am. The ride was slow due to the waves. Water was splashing all over us. We reached our first spot in about one and half hours.

Our first spot was 170 meter deep. We were barely able to stand as the boat was rocking. Capt. asked us use 300-350 grams jigs. I started with a 350 grams jig. As dropped the boat was drifting a lot and the jig was moving far. No way to maintain vertical fall. Keeping the jig vertical is the most important factor for slow pitch jigging. When I hit the bottom and started jigging, I could feel the action was not so great. I quickly retrieved the jig and the captain said we drift again. I changed to 450-gram sea floor control arc. As was jigging with heavy I was able to remain vertical for some time. But I felt the jig was falling too fast. I am still not sure if that fast fall is good to give a chance for the fish to strike.

Later we moved to the second spot. It was 180 meters to 200 meters. I still continued to use the 450 grams. I felt that that jig continued to fall fast. I was using the Poseidon high pitch jerker paired with Ocea jigger 4000HG spooled with sunline 2 PE. I changed to 400 grams. Still felt falling fast. When I changed to 350 fall was ok, but verticality was not maintained. I am assuming that the current in the waters was less. But the boat was drifting faster. I was continuously changing jigs and different weights. I kept changing between Slow pitch jerker and the high pitch jerker too. There was no luck. 

Other angler got a small barracuda, a very small grouper and one guy hit a decent long tail tuna. I did not get any luck. Until 12 Pm. The captain suggested we do some bottom fishing for red snapper (Pinjalo Snapper). So, we started moving towards the red snapper spot. It was 140 meters. We used squid as bait. On the first drop onwards, we continued to get red snappers. We also got few Koffer fish. We got about 20 pieces of red snapper. 

We had continuously action until we left around 1615. It was great fun. Thanks to the sea.

Amazing slow pitch jigging deep sea fishing trip to Fujairah 30th July 2023

Weather during July has been windy. The waves in Gulf seas have been large. Most trips have been cancelled. Our 23rd July trip was cancelled and postponed to 30th July. Four days before the trip Captain said that we would cancel the trip, we were disappointed as summer is the only time, we could get some red snapper (Pinjalo Snapper) in Fujairah. However, two days before the trip date weather improved and the trip was reinstated. little did not realize that this was going to be one of the best fishing trips of the year. you can watch above video to see highlights of the catches.

We started off at 5 am. Reached our first spot. I was slow pitch jigging with Evergreen Poseidon slow pitch jerker 603-6 paired with an Ocea jigger 4000HG. The PE braid was Sunline 1.5 PE ULT and leader Seagaur no 12. The captain suggested to used 200 grams jig. I dropped a Deepliner spy 200 grams zebra pattern jig. We removed the bottom as the captain suggested due to heavy snagging in the area. I know we could have lost some fish if they had taken the jig on the drop. With cost of jigs so high we need to save the jigs and loose fish if required. However, after three drifts and no action we moved to our second location. 

I was dropping seafloor control rector, Deepliner spy of different weights and at the next spots. We were unlucky. There was not a single strike until 930 am. 

We reached another jigging area and found three other boats already jigging. We heard some happy voices from one of the boats landing a long tail tuna. My hope to get fish came back. I was jigging with a seafloor control arc. Suddenly I felt my line was loose. I reel in fast and set the hook. I was reeling and when the fish reached almost the boat it shook its head and I felt it unhooked. I enjoyed the reeling though. 

I dropped the same jig again. I could feel somebody took the jig. I set the hook and the reel was screaming. The fish was taking line and I knew it was an Amberjack. Wow what a feeling when a large fish takes line. I was thumbing to increase the drag and turn the fish head. Slow started reeling the fish. was so happy to have the amberjack on boat. The first fish of the trip on the boat. After few drips again I change a to a glow jig. To everyone’s surprise I had a strike. This time fish was coming up fast and all knew it was a long tail tuna. The tuna was small size but was fighting and refusing to come up when it saw the boat. After letting the fish run its circles few times, I slowly pulled the fish up. The second fish was on the boat.

Later the boat Capt. went to get a huge Amberjack and Trevally. Then we moved to new spot. When a fellow angler was reeling in line, he had strike on the fish. he was tired and asked me to retrieve the fish. I started retrieving and saw a splash of water. We understood a shark was trying to take the fish. as I was reeling, I felt there was no fish and thought the shark had eaten the whole fish. but we got half eaten Mahi Mahi fish.

We decided to go to red snapper spot and start some bottom fishing with squids. After the first 15 minutes all five anglers had continuous strikes of ren snapper (Pinjalo snappers). These snappers fight hard, and it is so much fun to land them. 

It was a great trip. Enjoyed every minute of it. Thanks to the ocean.

Dubai Deep sea fishing trip 29th july 2023

On Wednesday I got a call from Capt. that the weather for the weekend looks bad. There could be large waves. Jigging and anchoring for bottom fishing for Pinjalo Snapper (Red snapper) may not be possible. We cancelled the trip. Then I was looking for any Dubai trips as the weather on this coast was ok.

I booked on a sharing trip. We were six guys. The boat was forty-nine feet and was looking spacious.  I was carrying 20-100 grams jigs. The jigging depth was 20-30 meters only. I was with Grappler light jigging rod power two with an Ocea jigger F custom 1000 HG. It was spooled with sunline 1.5 PE ULT line. The line was from my jigging reel.

When we reached the first spot, I used a 40-gram jig. One fellow angler was using squid as bait. he started getting the sherries back-to-back. It was followed by another guy using the same bait. he was also getting strikes of Sherries. I was getting bit frustrated as jigging next to bait was not so effective. However, I got a strike with a small sherry. Happy to see something and then released the same to the waters. Catch and release is always fun.

As I was jigging felt 40 grams was falling too fast. Then I changed to twenty grams. Twenty grams was taking too much time to hit the bottom. But I continued to use it see how effective it was. I was getting one spot snappers. I got two small red groupers (Hammour). I released then safely to the waters. Later at a location we started getting small barracuda. the Barracudas were a little over feet long. They were damaging the leaders but not cutting them. I wanted to try metal leader and see if they changed my chances of getting fish. After the change in leader, I was not getting any fish. Metal leader does hinder with jig action???

Overall, the trip was continuous action filled with small fishes. Great entertainment. Enjoyed the trip.