Queenie...

[EugeneC]

With the rather inclement weather in Salalah the last while and work being very hectic I started getting cabin fever and went out this morning, even though the forecast was not great. I reckoned it would be good to get some fresh air for a change and didn't expect much.

Turned up at my spot and found a few locals fishing, asked what's happening and I was told the conditions are poor, which I already knew. I was half hoping to get a shad for the braai at least, but after an hour of spinning I gave up on that as well.

I decided to make 5 more casts (my usual routine) and then head home and on the 2nd last cast WHAM! Fish on. It felt like a small greenspot trevally at first and then took off at a tremendous pace against heavy drag. The fish fought uncharacteristically deep and tried hard to snag me up, so I was expecting a big kingie and put a lot of pressure on the fish to keep it out of the bricks. After about a 20 minute fight I was surprised, but delighted, to see a nice queenie surface in front of me.

Rested her in the shallows for a couple of minutes, took some pics, measured her (98.5cm) and safely released her. By the time I got my lure back out there was a full on smash happening and I hooked up again on my next cast. This fish fought like the queens normally do - lots of aerobatics, head shaking, long fast runs near the surface. Unfortunately the hook pulled after about 10 minutes and I lost her. The smash was over as suddenly as it started, but super exhilarating fishing.

Going back tomorrow morning, watch this space

 

[RUSSELL EVERITT]

Great Queenfish , good job well done , looking forward to tomorrows report.

 

[EugeneC]

Thanks Russell, that's an awesome geet in your avatar, I'm hoping to get myself one of those bad boys over here in the coming months.

 

[RUSSELL EVERITT]

I wish you luck , yes those guys are not shy to give you a great fight , the tackle I was using was a bit light for a 20kg GT , so I had to play him carefully , took me around 30min to land , great experience.

 

[frank22]

Hi Eugene,great catch there bud, looks like you having fun. do you know what the roads are like from muscat to salalah, I know it's a 13 hour drive. Wanting to do a coastal recon from muscat to salalah , stopping an fishing along the way so it will take longer than 13 hours so might make a 3 - 4 day journey and see what happens.

Planning a trip in July hopefully as the Cuba trip fell through. So fingers crossed I will be wetting a lure in Oman soon.

 

[EugeneC]

Hi Frank, thanks mate. The queens are thick at the moment, so it's pretty good fishing right now.

The coastal road between Muscat and Salalah is in perfect nick, tarmac all the way and no potholes or any nonsense. Ideally you'd want a 4WD to access some of the fishing spots off the main road and the only possible challenge is that the road is very quiet, so go well prepared for breakdowns and emergencies. It would be an epic fishing trip mate, I suggest you take a week to do it if you can manage the time, there re many awesome spots to fish.

Let me know if I can help in any way, I'd be happy to assist.

 

[EugeneC]

So I went back this morning and managed to find the queens again...got this 102cm beauty on a chiselnose and lost two decent looking shad, both threw the hooks jumping.

Seems there aren't too many sealiners interested in queenfish lol, but hopefully someone will find the posts interesting.

Or maybe it's the photos that are so poor...gotta get a gopro ha ha!

Tight lines everyone.

 

[frank22]

Nice queenie bud, hahaha maybe they just jealous i know i am.

What gooks you got on your chisels. I changed all my chisels to owner single circle hooks and gave them a slight bend to just off set them from straight. Found this to work well with the more aerobatic fish we get, worked well on the big ladyfish i got in the Caribbean and on the tarpon, hook up rate was alot better.

Again nice fish bud

 

[frank22]

Oh and you cannot go wrong with a gopro, they are awesome cameras and no worrying about dropping it or getting it wet. Got the gopro hero 3+, great quality pics and video.no zoom on it thou but that no problem as the quality of the pics are great. Just makes you get up close and personal with the fish hahahaha.

 

[EugeneC]

Hey Frank,

I've got Mustad Big Guns on most of my lures, but I've been looking to change for the past month or so, mainly because I've dropped a few big shad. I've never given circles much thought to be honest, but perhaps I should give them a go.If you reckon the hookup rate on tarpon was better then I think it should be worth a try.

Nothing for you to be jealous about mate, your fishing cv is far more impressive than mine lol, but then I suppose perch in the canals of London doesn't quite help with the fever ha ha!

 

[frank22]

Haha yeah perch and Pike not really sporty fish. Mustad big gun hooks are good I have them on a few of my bigger stick baits and poppers, I use the owner super mutu circle hooks and ssw circle hooks , which I give a slight bend to them.

Lots of testing to get the right hook up rate

 

[thiyo]

congratulation man awesome catch

 

[Sprat]

Stunning Queeny - Well done!

 

[Enigma]

Awesome fish

Have you tried chiselnoses that are free running on a hookline ie there is a line (60cm)running trough the lure from a swivel to the hook

When the fish shakes his head while jumping it is shaking against the line and rod tip and not directly against the weight of the swivel.

We found that with this setup we suffer way less hook pulls with jumping, headshaking fish (especially with big shad)

 

[fishersteve1972]

Great fish, will be visiting that spot in March.

 

[willo]

Awesome fish and great report .
One of my favourite fish to target , good clean fighters , just something about how those silver flanks catch the sunlight . Unfortunately your photos don't do those fish any justice .
I regard those size fish as a trophy size , that magic meter mark , which I'm still to crack ..... Iv dropped a few over the years . For some reason those meter fish seem to be loaners up in exmouth and few and far between , lots of schooling fish from the 300 - 800mm which are awesome fun on the 4lb gear flicking plastics about .
Those trophy fish take time and lots of casts , iv hooked up to few over the last couple of trips , but they have always managed to evade me for various reasons , one can do everything right at times and still loose the fish - just keeps you going back for more .... Haha

How are your hooks attached to your chisel plugs ?
If they not already try using a split ring to swivel to split ring to hook Or just get rid of the fixed hook and run assists instead as said above the theory is to remove the leverage the fish has against the lure . This will land you more fish .

Tight lines