New Moon at Mangaf

Low tide. Nearly a full spring tide.
Weather:  High of 30^oC low of 19^oC, Sunny, Wind 8kph from SSW.  Sea calm.
New Moon (0%).  Oct 24 2014.
Sun rise 0554 Sunset 1709
Moon rise 0609 Moon set 1736
Fishing prediction from "Fishing Times Lite v1.2" app for iPhone was "Good".
Low tide 0540 (0.6m)  High tide 1210 (2.3m)  Low tide 1730 (1.1m)  High tide 2340 (2.7m).
MLWN 1.5m  MHWN 2.2m  MLWS 0.6m MHWS 2.7m.  Full Spring tide due 25th Oct.

Tidal data  for Mina Al Ahmadi : 29^o04.0'N 048^o10'E from "Tide Planner v4.3" app for iPhone.

Views at low tide after last week's rough seas.

1. Looking North

2. Underwater obstacles

3. Looking East to Fahaheel Sea Club marina entrance 

4. Rocky outcrops

5. Underwater obstacles

6. Rocky outcrops

7. Old Coast Guard vessel

From 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. the water was quite busy with needle fish and half beaks chasing the boobies, though not actually greeting the hook points attached on their bony mouths / "beaks". Switching to a white sparkly fly in this water of 1m depth, I then tempted this short-fin goatfish on to the line.

Short-Fin Goatfish (Upeneus oligospilus Lachner, 1954), 

with a 10g lead weight for comparison

Not having caught one of these before, I went to www.fishbase.us to find out what it was, from the Kuwait list of fish species. It turned out to be easy to ID with its bright yellow barbels.

Rough seas

North, Towards "Miral" Coffee Shop on Beach

(Caribou Coffee/Costa Coffee/ Red Bean etc.)

I was hoping to see a  high neap tide this morning but the wind did get up overnight, coming onshore from the northeast at 15-40 km/h. The sand was blowing around the buildings and off the beach with waves 1-2m ( moderate to rough).

Entry Point to Beach

Given that the beach was being over washed to the encroaching building edges and the small promontories/ piers were also being washed over, I decided to err on the side of caution and give the fishing a miss this morning. I don't need a storm surge making the water higher than last week's spring tide blocking access and compromising safety.

Towards Fishing Site

Shores of Mangaf - Kuwait

This is the first site I have looked at for fly fishing in Kuwait.  Access to the beach is via a alley cut through at N29 05.670 E48 08.254 near a lay-by for taxis/buses. The Sea Club is on the right of the picture (south end of the beach).  I took the picture at low tide to discover underwater obstacles that would disappear as the tide came in.  The picture was taken from a concrete platform in front of the building shown below.

The building has now been demolished and currently (Oct 2014) is the pile of twisted metal and rubble shown below.

The platform affords casting possibilities into the rising waters either side of the bollard above the word "Sea" in the first image, depending on the wind direction.  The sand on the beach itself south of the platform is quite steep above the water line, so casting directly out from the water's edge becomes problematic.
When I did try fishing from the platform the first cast  produced this Sind Half-Beak which was returned to the water.

This was caught on an orange floating fry with a flying treble.  Another Half-Beak was hooked later on in the afternoon as high tide was due at 5pm.  Sunset was to follow fairly closely and as I watched the beach from a nearby apartment as night fell, I noticed divers with tridents and lights entering the water to spear larger fish.  This may explain the paucity of the fishing during the day.  A couple of small Houndfish did launch attacks on the flies, so maybe there is hope yet of something larger.

Today (7-10-14) I caught this Sind halfbeak near the large hulk (Hamek) of an old ferry opposite the demolished building beside the Sea Club premises.

The fly was a red booby with its white polystyrene eyes. 

On Friday 3-10-14 off the beach between these points, I caught a small queen fish on a white streamer fly.