Abu Dhabi Beckons All Ye Fly Fishers!!

Its true! There are fish in the desert! Well.... at the edge of it anyway.

This time I'm in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates for a couple of days and the weather at this time of year is very pleasant, about 25-26 C in the day and below 20 C at night. I have fished here before use conventional tackle and fly gear. The locals like to use long (15-18 ft) poles to catch garfish and rabbitfish using bread, some will use bait, and even fewer use lures. There are also many Filipinos fishing here. These guys are usually fishing for fun and also to supplement their freezer.

So when they see a crazy chinaman waving a stick with line whizzing over their heads, they get very curious. The locals especially, like to stand in close and to the rear! But they're nice folks and very friendly.

The location of this fishing escapade takes place on a bridge that links the new Marina Mall and the city. The water below is coming through from the sea into a very large lagoon that stretches pretty much the length of the city skyline. The water is very clean and clear except after a dust/sand storm blows through. The current is quite strong, so is the wind. The best time to fish is just before dawn till about 10 am. That's when the fish are most active and feeding, also, the winds are not strong. In the summer months, it's also the coolest time to fish.

Yesterday morning, I went with my colleague, DP, to the bridge for a fishing session (lesson). DP had never fished before and was actually coming along to watch me for want of a better thing to do (but as you see in the photo above, he's not longer a virgin to spinning lures or fly fishing). After I set up my little spin stick and reel spooled with 12 lb Fireline, I tied on a Yozuri minnow. On my second cast, I saw a school of trevallys showing up and giving chase. Next cast...Hook Up! The little trevo was no match for the tackle and came up in a jiffy. The other guys fishing there were also surprised that we hooked up so quickly. The next fish came in 5 minutes later, about the same size as the first. There were bigger ones below, but the small eager beavers always appeared out of nowhere to grab the lure. DP was very excited and could believe that fishing could be so easy! I cast out the lure again and handed him the rod, after a couple of cranks he got a hit but the fish didn't connect. Out went the minnow again and this time he got a hook up and reeled in the fish, he was ecstatic and was really getting into this fishing business! So we took turns spinning and eventually he learnt to cast the lure. It also helped that the current was flowing away from the bridge as we could feed line out instead out casting far.

So while DP was entertaining himself with the spinning rod, I got out my 6 wt rod. I used a shooting head as I learnt from the previous trip that floating line doesn't work. Because of our height above water, a long cast didn't always mean the fly could be stripped over a long distance, so the sinking line helps keep the fly in the strike zone longer. Searching into my fly box, I picked an epoxy fly that resembled a 2 inch anchovy (something I tie for our Peacocks). I stripped out the shooting head and started to cast. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the usual stares, sniggers and utter disbelief from the onlookers. But after the second cast when I hooked up, the stares became eye bulgers as these guys couldn't believe that I could actually catch something.

The fish were all about palm size and some up to just under a kilo. We gave away all the fish we caught to the various guys fishing with us on the bridge.

After a couple of fish, DP was also very curious of how the fly could cast out so far without any lead weight. I gave him a quick rundown of the mechanics of the cast and how the stripping imparted action to the fly. I then made a quick cast out and handed him the rod to let him strip in the fly. At first he did it a little slowly and there were follows but no hits. As the stripping became faster, the hits followed and finally he had a hook up! However, because there was a lot of slack in the line, the fish came off. A few casts later, DP was lining in his first fly caught fish. Not bad for a first time fisherman! Of course the fish were very cooperative and willing to please.


This morning, Day 2, DP was having a little jet lag and slept in while I went out on my own. When I arrived, I looked down at the water and saw that it was much clearer than yesterday. There was a different set of Filipinos at the spot and were busy catching garfish and also bottom fishing. I wasted no time rigging up and out went to the trusty epoxy fly. Second cast later saw a repeat of yesterday. Up came a trevally.

Six identical twins later, I changed to a larger white streamer fly and hooked up and landed their older sibling.

I was using a 16 lb Fluorocarbon tippet with a braided leader. It was heavy enough to avoid any bust offs, but was used mainly for lifting the fish up the bridge. I also tried using a chartreuse over white clouser which was equally effective.


When I finally hit fish no. 12 or 13, I decided to try the other side of the bridge. So, after crossing 8 lanes (4 on each side) and a road divider I reached the other side of the bridge. The water was deeper on this side and at first glance, it looked quite dead. But I know that there were fish here because on my last visit in 2006, I had seen a BIG school of maybe 100 barracudas hanging in the current. As usual, the epoxy fly went over for the first probing cast. Quiet. Second cast, still nothing. Casting nearer to the breakwater, the epoxy fly was nearing the end of its run when from deep down, three trevally came up to give chase. By the time I saw them, my arm was already raised up for another cast and the fly lifted out of the water. But I saw that they were much bigger than their brethren from the other side. Over the next few casts, I managed to hook up and land several kilo sized specimens that fought pretty hard.


The fourth trevally I caught here was a heavier fish. As the previous fish were all hauled up using the rod, I felt that the weight of this one might just be too much for the rod. Thankfully, I had a helpful and most willing 'deckhand' to handline the fish up. Of course, all the fish I had previously caught were flapping away in his cooler box! So it was like this for the rest of the morning, I caught the fish and my friend unhooked them. My heart skipped a couple of beats on a few occasions when a large bluefin trevally (about 5kg) barged in on the fun of the other smaller fish. There was also a small school of very large jacks of similar size to the bluefin that swam by a few times.

Towards the end, I switched to spin tackle again because the line burn on my finger was getting sore. My 'deckhand' asked how he could get hold of 'this type' of (fly)fishing rod. I explained that he didn't have to get a fly rod to be able to catch trevallys. So I tied up a spinfly rig and showed him how to fish it. As for flies, I recommended white chicken feathers or raffia with some flash.

All in all, it had been a fun filled day and one of my better saltwater fly fishing days ever!

..............And there's still tomorrow!


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Photos of Past New Zealand Forays

Part III of New Zealand Fishing

This is the final installment of my New Zealand adventures. More like photo journal actually. I'm no photographer so hopefully the scenery will compensate for the crummy compositions!

October 2005 -- Some shots of rivers and lakes somewhere over the mountain range on the descent into Christchurch. This is I think the 13th of October, so its just around the start of the fishing season. Still quite cold.

On this trip I rented a car to fish the Hurunui River. Because I arrived in NZ around noon, and got the car only at 3pm, I only had the late afternoon to fish somewhere near Christchurch before the big day out the following day. At the suggestion of Mike, the fly shop 'man to ask', I found my way to Hart's Creek. This place is south of the city and it's a small stretch of stream that ends up in a large bay exiting into the Pacific. It has mainly Brown trout and the fish are very easily spooked probably because of the fishing pressure.

As you can see, the stream is not very wide, but it is quite deep in some of the pools. The browns tend to hide tight against the banks - sometimes even under the undercuts. Most of the time you have to fish from the top of the bank as there is almost no shallow water to step into. The banks drop right off -like our longkang (drain).

Then there are also the ever curious locals that you have to be careful in order to avoid hooking up on your backcasts!

Being still a green trout fisherman, it was inevitable that I spooked most of the fish. But it was a nice evening and a really scenic, cosy stream to fish in.

The next day, I left Christchurch early in the morning and drove almost 3 hours up to the Hurunui River. This is (supposed to be)one of the good dependable rivers with good trout density. As usual, there were locals on the drive up that one just had to stop to give the right of way to.

The drive up on sealed road was easy going, after about 2 hours the road became shingled, ie - loose gravel. One can only travel about 40-50 km/h, plus there are lots of twists and turns(see the following pictures).

But, the views are fantastic and breathtaking. These shots are on the way in along the river.

..........And more photos of the Hurunui.. I tried nymphing at the pool (right) but no fish. The water at the base of the rock face was 8 -10 meters deep!

I finally reached the end of my ride near the fork in the river and had to take a short hike up to the south branch of the river. Crossing the Sisters Swing Bridge to fish the opposite I saw a mother of a trout below! It looked like a meter long barracuda swimming slowly in the head of a deep pool. I scrambled down and tried my darnest to catch that leviathan -nymphs, Wolly Buggers, Matukas, even Clousers. Giving up, I crossed over the bridge and slowly worked my way up river. (Mike told me later that it might have been a salmon).

After a couple of hours in the cold water and thinking of the long trek back downriver, plus the walk back to the car, I gave up fishing just about the spot in the photo on the right.

When I finally got back to the car around 3pm, I weighed my options - go back to Christchurch or fish the waters that I drove past on the way in. If I continued to fish the Hurunui, I'd have to drive back around sunset and that means driving into night. I decided to leave the river for another assault some other time and fish the Waimakariri River on the way into Christchurch.

If you had read this post thinking you'd see many pictures of trout, well, sorry to disappoint you. But since you persevered thus far, I'm happy to show you the result of my earlier decision to fish the Waimakariri - My First NZ trout! A small rainbow caught while downstream nymphing.

So ends my NZ chronicles, until the next trip of course!! Thanks for your time and next time I'll bring your Desert Fly Fishing!

Cheers!

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