Oman: Polly Want a Cracker?

On my recent trip to Oman, I discovered a new species that has become one of my favourites, and now I’m hooked and can only think about getting down there again to chase these colourful and curious creatures with a fly.

By: GORDON P. HENRIKSEN

There they are. Three of them. Easy to spot in their bright green, orange, and blue colours like little tanks covered in bright graffiti street art, lighting up this amazing, rocky Omani coastline and screaming at me to come catch them. They are certainly not hard to spot hovering above the tan coloured rocks and corals, but they are constantly moving around, and every so often a big wave crashes in, and I lose sight of them for a few seconds.

Getting a good cast in and presenting the fly to big fish that constantly change direction is a challenge. Sometimes, when I do get a decent cast, they are spooked by the “plop” and take off, or even more often there is simply no interest in my fly. Trust me, I have had my share of failures. And these three are no different. Extremely frustrating!

“ A FEW TWITCHES AND THE PARROT ACTUALLY TURNS TO FOLLOW“

The phrase: ”Polly, want a cracker?” keeps coming to my mind as I try to feed this fish a stupid hook with some feather, rubber, and plastic on it… I switch to a different fly: A crab with small bright-orange legs and walk another 500 meters down the shoreline in search for new bright targets through my polaroid lenses.

There he is! A lone cruiser close to the shore, feeding on some small crustaceans in the break. I get in a good position for the wind and take a cast almost diagonal with the beach so as to not spook him. Perfect!

A few twitches and the parrot actually turns to follow the crab for a couple of meters, and just as I am about to run out of space and pull the fly up on the shore he casually picks it up. I feel a small tug and go for the strip strike. I feel almost no resistance, and I am still far from setting the hook in the parrot’s hard beak of a mouth. The fish jets off in a scurry towards deeper water. Dammit!

Why aren’t there parrotfish on all the covers of the fly fishing magazines? Why is everyone talking about the challenge of catching permit and not these parrots? Why do the fly line manufacturers make GT-, permit-, and redfish lines – but no parrot lines? Why do fly shops sell selections of permit flies but no parrot flies?

It all baffles me! I, for one, have certainly found a new species that I can’t recommend enough to anyone who loves sight fishing in shallow and clear water. This fish has everything you can ask for if you are a fly fisherman up for a challenge – and a whole lot more.

It’s all about ”The Game” - about the chase. And the fact that parrot fishing is such a challenge is exactly what makes the feeling so sweet, when I finally sit there in the waves with my fly rod and pose with my first parrot on the fly.

There it is in its bright blue and pink colours. A heavy, bulky, and extremely funky fish – unlike anything I have ever caught before. As I release the fish, high-five our guide Henk, who has filmed it all, and hug my fishing buddy Jakob, a feeling overwhelms me. You know - that very special feeling that only we fishermen understand. That feeling when we catch a fish of our dreams, reach a goal, and when endorphins somehow just melt inside our brains to produce a sensation of joy unlike anything else.

Unexpectedly, a parrotfish was the perfect outlet for this high. The combination of an extremely visual hunt along with plenty of challenges and frustrations makes this success so incredible sweet, and I, simply, cannot recommend fly fishing for parrot enough!

I am definitely no expert on fly fishing for parrotfish. –I have caught more than one - but less than three... Nevertheless, I will try to give you a quick breakdown of the practicalities of fly fishing for parrotfish.

The challenge is definitely not to spot them! They light up on the rocks and reefs in their bright green, pink, and turquoise colours - crazy funky creatures! They are fish that have evolved with a mouth like a parrot’s beak – evidently perfected for eating algae, molluscs, limpets, and other crustaceans off the rocks, and sometimes even coral.

“ FLIES LIKE ALPHONSE CRAB OR FLEXO CRAB SEEM TO BE GOOD CHOICES “

Maybe you could tie up a fly that looked like a barnacle and pin it down on a rock and wait for a parrot to come by. But better yet – you actually have a shot at chasing them down and seeing if you can entice them with a shrimp or a crab – for who says ‘no’ to a tasty snack? Well, actually, a parrot does… They are not aggressive and not used to chasing their food, since they mainly live on algae and crustaceans, but they will take the occasional crab that swims by.

In terms of gear, a 9-weight is about right. Expect to be putting lots of pressure on the fish to steer them around rocky reef edges. They will not directly try to break you off on the reef, but they will take some good runs and make turns and generally make the fight a challenge, depending on the number of obstacles in the area… A floating fly line will do the trick in most circumstances, but an intermediate line can provide an advantage when casting in the swells to get a more direct contact through the waves.

Their mouth – or should I say ”beak” – is one hard sucker, so a thicker bite tippet and pliers to get the hook out are a must. Polarized sunglasses and a billed cap are, off course, a must for any type of sight fishing, but two other things you will want is a stripping basket and a pair of shoes that will work well when you jump around on the rocky reef chasing the fish down. I love my Crocs, which double as sandals when I am on dry land.

A stripping basket is a must, since you will be fishing in waves and swells, and there will be lots of rocky areas for your line to get tangled up in.

Danish angler, Kristian Thomassen, has developed a very sturdy self-draining stripping basket called ”Baskette” made for Scandinavian coastal fishing, and it does the job perfectly for parrots. With the above-mentioned gear, you are ready to jump into the waves and chase the parrots!

In terms of fly choice, I would lean against what works for permit. Crab flies like Alphonse Crab or Flexo Crab seem to be good choices. I caught one of my parrots on an ultra-realistic shrimp pattern called Kern Lund Shrimp, and I am sure there is room for experimenting with mollusc and snail patterns – however, crabs and shrimp do seem to be seen swimming more often…

In terms of presentation, the main goal is to get the fly right in front of the fish. Sometimes they are on the move, and often they have their heads down and frequently change direction. A few slow strips seem to get their attention, and we had many initially turn on the fly only to lose interest later. However, this is what makes the fishing so intriguing. Figuring out the best fly and the best presentation is what keeps me wanting to come back for more, again and again!

And when you finally do get a parrot to eat your fly, the hook-set will often be a miss. Their big beaks are hard and impossible to get the hook into, so you hope to get it set in one of the soft parts inside their mouth.

Once you are hooked up, your next hope is that it will decide to take a run out into deeper water and be ready to follow holding your rod as high as possible, so the fly line doesn’t get caught on rocks and reefs. We used the breaking waves to pull the fish in closer, and the moment your buddy throws his arms around your first parrot and secures it, is most definitely a moment to remember. Yeah, we are simple people that get excited over catching difficult fish in clear water – and the more times we fail the more excited we get when we finally succeed. Parrots are perfect for this kind of experience.

Going to Oman?

Oman is definitely a spectacular place to visit. It is rated among the top 5 safest countries to travel in in the world, and - more importantly - the landscape is absolutely breathtaking.

Fishing over sand, coral, and rocky reefs with huge cliffs as a background makes for unique and fascinating sceneries. On our trip to Oman we fished with ”No Boundaries Oman”. This is an awesome group of guys who primarily fish for monster GT on spinning tackle but have lots of knowledge of the area and are offering clients more and more in terms of light tackle and fly fishing.

The beaches and areas they can take you to are not only breathtakingly gorgeous, but have hardly seen any fishermen at all. No Boundaries have a nice little lodge set up in the tranquil town of Shumayiyah, a couple of hours drive north of Salalah, and from here they run three top-equipped fishing rigs that they can run up and down the coast or take out to the secluded Hallaniyat Islands.

While you are there you should not only focus on the indo-permit and parrots, but make sure also to toss some poppers around for the monster queenfish and bream that inhabit their waters.

www.noboundariesoman.com

FACT FILES//

Camel kebab

If you do go to Oman you will see camels all around for sure. They are all over, and in Salalah you must go to one of the joints that serve camel kebab. The meat is tasty and full of flavour, somewhat similar to lamb – perfect for a shawarma or kebab. Do it!

God save the queenie!

Oman has so much more to offer than just the parrots. We caught over twenty species on the fly the week we were there, and the variety of fishing there is insane. When tossing a popper, you have no idea whether a GT, spangled emperor, bream or queenfish will strike, and seeing a big queenie (or three) chasing you popper down and smacking it in a big turn and putting you into the backing seconds later is an insane feeling worth doing again and again – which we did!