INDIANANGLER

We had heard a lot of tall tales of big fish being caught in this remote area in my corner of the world. After driving on terra firma for about 1 ½ hours we reached the edge of the desert. There was not much talk as people knew what we were getting into, the open desert which can claim lives, but I doubt anything can stop crazy fishermen. After reducing the air from the tires for more traction on the soft sand we drove into the desert. We had driven for an hour (It would take 20 mins on normal road) and had to take that beer break . After that the path seemed easier , till the Land Cruiser got stuck (Another beer break of 45 mins) and we eventually dug it out . In the next 15 mins we were there. We fished for a while but no takes; we used mackerel, prawns, squid, atta, lures...... nothing seemed to woo the fish .
The only thing happening was the beer breaks and so we decided to try some fly fishing. All the fish were caught on fly after that. I have put up the snap of fish caught by moi. The other guys are still too shy to show their catch or to sign up at Indian Angler .
The drive back was as exciting as the drive in .
PICTURES ATTACHED IN LOWER POST.

Looks like you had a blast of trip. The location looks thrilling and you are a brave man to drive there. Good fishes on fly rod.

congratulations and keep it up..

Regards,

Ali.

Thanks Ali, it was a blast, it was thrilling, and about bravery..... it was plain crazy with no control on the vehicle in the sand, and I would have sha* myself if I could at the time.
Nothing is gonna stop us and we are doing it again in a couple of weeks, cos we are out of beer now .

Did anyone have a problem with downloading/viewing the attached photos? Should I just put the reduced ones directly here?

Too slow to load, I gave up pretty quickly.

looks like you had a great time in both activities, no difficulties in opening the pictures
regards

could not open the pictures.......
too slow and had to give up....

Adolph

I see a nice mixed bag of Barracuda, garfish and Yellow Trevally(?)

I know the craziness to fish in the Gulf states. For one it is bloooddy hot and yes, the fish don't bite that well. I have spent many an hour in scorching heat trying to hook up a decent fish. Guess the local fishermen pull out all the Hamour, Sultan Ibrahim, Sheri/Qourqofan and the groupers in their nets....

Looks like you had the right vehicles for the trip - Pajero, Patrol and a L'Cruiser. Your 45 mins beer breaks got me worried as i heard from friends when I was in Muscat (85-88 ) that the Qatari 'Shurta/Bolize" were bloody strict with drink and drive compared to the easy going Omani's... maybe things have chaged in the last 20 years.

Qatar Law states that drunken behaviour in public or driving under the influence of alcohol is an offence punished by imprisonment, a fine or both (www.qatarlaw.com). As Sharia law is practised for Muslims, the punishment for Muslims may include lashing... I would guess the lashing part would not be applicable to your group

BTW the photos took forever to download inspite of the fact that i have 2mbps broadband at home in Delhi...

Sorry guys,

I will post the snaps on this page.

Kapil,
The only lashing we got was from the garfish. I lost 6 flies (appx. $3 each), got bitten once, whacked twice . The laws are strict, but this was far in the desert and there are no proper borders, for all that we know we must have been in the no-mans-land. Also..... the ones who were sober were driving. If you dont make a scene, no one will usually bother you. Its not like Goa where you open a can and go glug glug glug...

Here they are....

now these are die hard anglers...

WOW, I can't wait to join u guys on next adventure+fishing trip.

Those are some real nice Fish you caught there, although they were small.

Hey Luqman,

"A fish is a fish". We are going on Friday 30th, and I will take you along, we shall see what you catch.