SPECIES
The fish names are in English - Français - Arabic - Latin
| Great Barracuda | King Mackerel | Grouper | Rainbow Runner | Queenfish |
| Shark | Catfish | Emperors | Sailfish | Tuna |
Probably the more common predator in the tropical waters, the
Great Barracuda can grow to a length of 2 meters (6 ft 6in.) and a weigth
of 48 kg (106 lb.).
The usual size we catch in the Emirates waters is around 1m-1,2m
for a weight of 10-15 lb.
The Great Barracuda can be easily caught by trolling a 18 cm.
(7 in.) light-blue or silver lure not too far from the boat.
After the bite, it gives a nice fight with some impressive leaps
from the water.
When gaffing it, beware the muscular jaws and be ready to stun
it quickly if you don't want the boat to quickly degenerate in a bloody
mess ...
From the same family than the tuna, the King Mackerel exists in
vast schools in all the tropical waters.
It's a beautiful fish which silver-shines in the water.
The King Mackerel always put a very honorable fight and it's
a delight to hook one with a light line. It's average size is around 1m.
for a weight of 8 to 10 lb., but individual of 100 lb. have been reported..
This fish is a migrator and can be found in the Emirates waters
from april to october.
To catch the King Mackerel, try a light colored lure of 14 to
18 cm.
A most appreciated fish for its tastier flesh, the Grouper is
not a great game fish.When caught, it will not fight and you will have
to reel it in like a big plastic bag.
The grouper is tremendously hard to kill : when whacked, stabbed
and gutted, it can still try to bite. When holding it, don't put bare hands
in its gills because those ones are sharply dented.
Groupers can be found in relatively still waters or reefs and
caught with a stripped-colored lure when trolling or natural bait when
drifting or at anchor.
It's size is usually around 10 lb., but individuals of 20 to
40 lb. are not so rare.
The Rainbow Runner lives in schools and bites the same kind of lures
than nearly all the blue water fish down here: blue or silver colored "swimming"
ones.
It gives a nice fight, but you'll have both to hurry to bring it to
the boat and not pull too hard on the line because its mouth is soft and not
bony
like the Barracuda or Kingfish: the hook can tear it pretty easily.
Like all the sea going fishes, it's a "bloody" one to clean and the boat usually
gets pretty messy when you whack and gut it...
This is a fish we had very few opportunity to catch and it's too bad
because it's a good fighter and its flesh is really tasty.
We discovered that the only problem when you're gutting it is the presence
of an enormous and strong bone on the forward part of the abdomen. And
there's no way to cut it!
It's a good swimmer which is a delight to catch on a 20 lb. line
Emperors
Catfish
Sailfish
Shark
...
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