I’ve been fishing in Oman three times already and next November it will be my forth. Oman is just an amazing place to go fishing. Last year in November 2013 we (my friends and I) went fishing in Salalah, Oman. In one day fishing we caught Mahi Mahi, Trevally and Yellowfin Tuna!! In this post I’ll take you through our trip.
In November of every year my friends and I go fishing in Oman. After fishing in Muscat, Hasik and Hadbeen (southern villages in Oman), we decided to try fishing in Salalah. Salalah is one of the most beautiful places in the Arabian gulf region, I saw landscapes that I thought only exists in Europe. Aside from that, Salalah is a great fishing destination. Salalah is open to the Indian Ocean, an ocean full of fish and marine life. You can find all type of fish down there such as Sailfish, Marlin, Yellowfin Tuna, Trevally and Dorado. If you are a big game fisherman, Salalah is a fishing heaven for you.
We took a direct flight with Oman Air from Dubai to Salalah, that was a 2hrs flight. We arrived at Salalah airport late at night, rented a car (for around US$35/day if I remember correctly) and bought our new sim cards (from OmanTel and costed around US$15). After getting the car set and the phone working we were ready to move.
We booked to stay at Juweira Boutique Marina. A beautiful new resort in Taqa, very close to Salalah. The drive from the airport to the resort took us around 40min after stopping for gas.
Check for more photos here in hotel website
The hotel is really nice and the breakfast was amazing. The rooms were big with a sea view. It’s great for couples, families and group of friends, it’s also reasonably priced! The best part of the hotel is that the boat taking us fishing is chartering from their own Marina. That was so convenient.
We booked our trip with the famous fisherman, captain Yousif. Yousif studied marine biology in Italy and been fishing in Salalah since he was a kid. He knows everything about fishing in Salalah and fish in general, plus he is a super hybrid with a sense of humor. Captain Yousif speaks perfect English in addition to Arabic and Italian.
Fishing in Salalah is good year round, however people don’t go fishing during summer due to monsoon season. November and October are considered the best fishing months, still April and May are also really good. Check the fishing season table:
Alright let’s now talk about the trip. We started our trip at 8am, we met the captain on the hotel marina just as expected, he was there on time waiting for us to finish our breakfast. Everyone was ready and onboard by 8am, we were ready to leave.
We spent around 15min to arrive at the first stop targeting the Trevally (not Giant Trevally thou). There were fishermen all around and we went to them to get some live bait.
Once we got the live bait we started fishing for the Trevally. It’s amazing, we can see them just beneath us, but it’s so difficult to get them bite. With some guidance from captain Yousif the reel went crazy, watch the video:
My cousin also got some action using handlines, that was fun to watch.
You can’t imagine how strong is this fish, it wasn’t that big, but so powerful! We stayed in this spot for around an hour and only my cousin and I got lucky. The rest of the team didn’t get the technique I guess.
Next we moved for our dream fish, the fish we’ve been chasing for a while now, but never had a luck to catch it yet. It’s the Sailfish, I’ve been fishing more than four times for the sailfish in three different countries (Muscat - Oman, Fujairah - UAE and Florida Keys - USA) with no luck! So I was so keen to get it this time. My cousin always jokes that he will cut my line while fighting it!!
OK so we spent 3-4hrs trolling for the Sailfish with no luck. We decided to shift to live-bait again, but this time for Mahi Mahi and Yellowfin Tuna.
Let tha party begins, Mahi Mahi (also called Dorado) where everywhere, jumping and biting every bait. We caught a lot, kept few for dinner and returned the rest to the water after giving them a good bye kiss :)
Soon after that my cousin got a stronger pull in his line (he was doing handline fishing), captain suspected it was a Yellowfin and sure enough it was. After a good fight he managed to bring it up. Check the fight below:
Another friend managed to get a bigger Yellowfin and the rest of us were enjoying the Dorado action. It was a 10hrs trip full of action. Really enjoyed it and we were so excited to go out again the second day. Unfortunately the weather was windy the next day and we ended up going fishing only one day, but what a day it was.
If you are planning to go fishing in Salalah, then please let me know. I’ll be more than happy to help and answer your questions. You can reach me at my email [email protected] or Whatsapp at +971-527988225. Of course you can always visit our website fishfishme.com to book your trip in Salalah or any place around the world.
This article was translated into Arabic at Batuta.com.
