U.A.Q. FISHING FESTIVAL ON THE FRIDAY, 17th APRIL 2009

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    The day has come and gone and a great result for the Leading Edge team. We won!!!

    We won the  heaviest catch, biggest Kingfish, biggest Trevally  &  second biggest

    Barracuda. Congrats to Phil Mallinson, Chris Chadwick & Ivan Kraemer.

RAK Surf Ski Paddling & Kayak Fishing Club

The RAK Surf Ski Paddling & Kayak Fishing Club has now started and is affiliated to the DSKC. Please contact us in order to get signed up onto the website and the members list. This will keep you up to date with all the events taking place across the region which may interest you. As we are only starting out there is much to be done and volunteering your skills will certainly be appreciated. Please contact us or the DSKC?

Inaugural Kayak Fishing Competition in Al Hamra (RAK) on Friday 11 December 2009

All kayak paddlers are welcome to join us in the first kayak fishing competition to be held in the Middle East. The location is the same place where the Americas Cup Yacht race was to be held. We have beach frontage where we can launch and camp over for those interested in making it a really fun evening after a hard days fishing. This location is well frequented by kayakers and is safely nestled between Majan & Dana Islands which offers lots of fishing spots, but also open sea straight ahead for the stronger paddler to get out into the depths. More details will follow so join the uae-kayak-fishing group in order learn more and to share your views as we move closer to the event date.                                                                    

The Official Sponsors for this event:

Stealth UAE Kayak Fishing Competition & Camp out on Friday 19 March 2010

Starting on Thursday afternoon 18th March kayakers/campers may start arrive for the 1st night and to ensure an early start on the morning of the 19th, others can arrive on the day. Fishing will start any time from 6h30am onwards and continues all day with any number of breaks for food & beverages. Catches can be weighed in at any time throughout the day but the last weigh in will stop at 5pm sharp.

The catch weight is based on a Max of 4 fish per species (please "catch & release" where ever possible). Undersized fish will mean points deducted so don't bring any little ones back to the beach. A full rules schedule will be sent out to the competitors. The prize giving ceremony will start at 6h30pm on the evening of the 19th and will be celebrated with some frosties and good cheer around the fire side.

Entrance to the private beach area is 50AED per person. Entrance for the Fishing competition is another 50AED. Camping over night is free of charge.

Paddlers who would like to only kayak or surf ski are welcome to join the fun as well. Renting or purchasing of kayaks, rods, reels, life vests and other fishing equipment will be available. To ensure availability of rental equipment please book with us ASAP. 

Results of the Inaugural Kayak Fishing Competition in Al Hamra (RAK) on Friday 11 December 2009

Firstly I would like to thank everyone who came and supported the event. We had a good turn out but the windy and rainy weather certainly scared off a few people. The real die hard fisherman turned up either the night before or very early on the morning. They paddled far out in all directions and tried catching all day. In fact due to a popular request we extended the weigh in for an extra hour while the guys paddled in the rain to try get onto the leader board. 
Friday evening's prize giving and party certainly was affected by the rain as it kept pouring down but that did not stop a few guys from still camping over again and enjoying what turned out to be a very pleasant evening sitting around the bon fire. Jacques Bezuidenhout was holding onto 3rd Place until Ang Teck Beng came in late with a nice Barracuda to knock him off the podium. 
Graeme Head went out again on Saturday morning and caught a big Cobia but it was unfortunately too late to count in the compo. 

It was great fun for all and as usual filled with some adventurous moments. There was good action on the water and some good game fish were caught. Most kayakers did catch but as usual there is only one winner with the biggest fish and heaviest catch of the day.

The results were as follows:

  1st Place with 13.27kg  Jacques Bezuidenhout

  2nd Place with 5.3kg     Craig Wright 

  3rd Place with 5.03kg    Graham Head

Well done guys!!!  There were also numerous fines for all sorts of adventurous behaviour and punishments metered out.

As always we look forward to this time of year and with the last Red Tide 2 seasons behind us we are expecting a good fishing season. We have started fishing in the Al Hamra lagoons and out at sea and have been catching which is good news already. We are busy planning a kayak racing & fishing event and want to include camping at the location. We are looking for a good location which offers both fishing and camping, so any feedback is welcome.

Just a word of warning you may not have heard of snake and spider bites in this region but were recently very happy to have been sleeping up in our roof tent as we ended up camping in an area where 3 Saw Scaled Vipers within meters of our camp site. These snakes are very poisonous and there are many other poisonous snakes and spiders in this region. They come out at night, which is when they are actively hunting. They don't hunt humans but stepping on on near them in the sand could provoke a bite so be careful and get medical help ASAP if bitten.