It has a been long wait. The highly anticipated trip took a year to book and plan and 11 eager anglers were gunning to go. The Maldives has long been a favourite destination for anglers looking for some great sports fishing and GTs were the highlights. There were seasoned and newbie anglers on board looking to pop their popping cherry. (big pun there) Unfortunately, the week's weather was cruel almost till the end. But, alas, that is fishing.
Rod tubes packed to the max and arrived early at the airport.
The flight doesn't arrive nearly fast enough. Shout and Geecrack Bakkan tackle bag useful for long haul trips.
The customary group picture before heading off from the ferry to our boat.
Prep time bright and early the next day.
Main weapons of choice for raising the GTs were of mainly from the FCL Labo stable.
Pictured here are the CSP200 & 175, SPP Slim and the SPP Tuna. Not enough can be said about it's effectiveness and ease of use.
First blood. A midling size GT on the CSP175SP.
Fishes were far and few in between. After a few changes in lures, this lucky red bass came on to the Hammerhead Shakure Jr. Red FCL Labo EXT81MH rod made short work of it.
After hours of fruitless popping, including plenty of missed and shy hookups, we decided to try out the jigging condition. Angler not too happy to his start as this little trevally took on the Shout Shab Shab.
Not bad...The second drop resulted in a better bent on the rod.
Nice Long nose Emperor on the Shout Shab Shab.
Next up was this baby doggie on the Andaman.
Dinner on the Shout Shab Shab again.
Jigging the shallow reefs does not require that heavy a tackle. The light Giant Killing PE1-3 rod does a fantastic job of hauling up fishes.
Cute little Tomato Cod on the Ima Ro jig.
Another cod on the pink Andaman.
Evening cometh. As the sun was about to set on the day, shouts of "baitfish, baitfish!" resulted in anglers scambling for their popping set again. This lucky angler got his lucky shot at his first GT as he hooked up to nice fish. His Evergreen "No Limits" shirt says it all...
Nothing big, but angler happy with it.
Night jigging with ultralight gears for some nasty cudas...
Unfortunate incident involving a squid resulting in a dirty face and even dirtier jokes.
Early morning workout with a Green Jobfish on Ima Gunpeki, which really tested the ultralight gears.
Fortunately the Megabass Orochi X4 spin rod is up to task.
The beautiful juvenile Yellowfin Grouper on Ima Gunpeki 12g is always a welcomed catch.
Start the day with a GT and you can't go wrong. Not big but fights well. Battle scarred CSP175 doing it again.
The first bluefin trevally on a lightly worked chugger.
CSP175 keeps scoring with teen GTs. FCL Labo EXT81M rod made light work of it.
Back to jigging and a nice size coral trout latched on to an Andaman.
Common in the Maldives is the black jack. On Shab Shab.
Good size jobbie on the Seven Seas Hooker jig.
A juvenile Bluefin Trevally on a pink Ima Ro jig, which put a good bend on the Golden Mean Earthshaker medium weight rod.
Back into the shallows for some light fun, and your're not in Maldives if you do not hookup a triggerfish like this one here on a Bassday Nin Cas.
Of course Ima Gunpekis are still the go to weapon for shallow water cods.
Another species of trigger. The shallows is plagued with them.
Of course there were other varieties like this baby red bass on a DUO Ebikko.
Another baby rockcod on the ever effective DUO Ikkako.
Soft plastics worker over the reefs can yield some nice results like this Red Throat Grouper on the Jackall Bros I-Shad Tail. Unfortunately it also meant a lot bust offs and snagged rigs.
The wind was blowing up a storm preventing us from fishing the outer atolls. So it was back into the inner reefs for night fun like this red bass on bait.
All smiles the next morning and a hearty breakfast to kick start the day. Weather was still bad so we were confined into the reefs again.
The highly prized Coronation Trout taken just as were about to move off. A pretty good size too which took a while to bring up on the lighter Majorcraft Crostage long cast rod.
Lure of choice was the Jackson Pintail 35gm. Another first in its books.
Casting stickbaits the whole day with little or no bites was tiring work but we soon hookup to a good size fish.
This Giant Barracuda which was estimated to be well over the 20s, gave quite a a bit of fight on heavy gear but it was soon brought up to the elation of the angler. New FCL TG190 slashbait hanging out of its mouth.
Well worth another look at this prize.
More casting, and this good size trout came up on to the El Nadador stickbait. Another first for the angler.
The FCL TG190 proving its effectiveness with a Red Bass.
Finally this GT showed up with a CSP in its mouth. Rigging with a treble in front and a single Decoy VS1 hook at the back, drastically minimized the chances of foul hooking this flat sided fish.
Popping was getting futile as the boat was being rocked to no ends by the buffeting wind so, again, back to the shallows for a break. Few jigs and a Green Jobfish was soon hooked on an Andaman. Evergreen Poseidon Spin Jerker made short of bringing it up.
Bluefin trev on the Shab Shab again.
Majorcraft Crostage Light Jig + Shab Shab = Bluefin Trevally
A baby Doggie on what else, the Shab Shab again.
Moving around, we managed to snagged some smaller GTs on the Jackson Pintail Tune.
Another good bend on the Giant Killing Jig rod...
And another GT on light jig...
Evergreen Caprice Kid was the jig.
More Pintailing fun as the Majorcraft Crostage long cast rod is put to use for the first time for this angler...
And what came up was worth it as this big Long Nose Emperor was dragged out of the shallows. Jackson Pintail Tune did it again with a prized catch.
Night time jigging brought up this GT which managed to dislodge a Shout Shab Shab on the way up.
Early morning Pintailing for this little spotted trevally.
Light fun with a red grouper on the Orochi and Ima Gunpeki 12g.
Coral trout on Shab Shab.
Getting tired of staying in a rocking boat, we decided to head down to a nearby island for some ultralight fun. It was a moment we all enjoyed, casting in to gin clear waters, looking for signs of fishes hanging around the flats...
Trekking through the trail to get into the inner lagoons.
The flats here were famous for bonefish but unfortunately again, the wind made casting difficult and sight fishing was definitely out of the question.
Hooked up to a big stingray which luckily was able to escape after being dragged to the sands. Not easy on only the 6lb Tufline.
The cute little dartfish are plentiful in the outer edges of the flats.
So are little trevallies like this on an Ikkako.
Some Spot Tail Emperors can't resist the Ikkakos being reeled back through the shallow corals.
Even this beautiful wrasse can't resist the fluttering action of the Ikkako.
The Picasso Trigger. Always a joy to catch and look at.
Rock Cod.
Megabass Orochi X4 spin rod. A joy to use for hard fighting fish.
DUO rules.
More Spot Tails.
Baby Red Throat Grouper.
The Big Eye Jacks were so plentiful, which causes other fishes to not have a chance at the Ikkako.
Back out and soon it was more popping. Red Bass on the El Nadador sinking stickbait.
Green Jobfish on the El Nadador again.
Fighting a fish from the top deck of a rocking boat is no fun.
But it was worth the trouble as this GT was hooked on the FCL Squid Pen.
The FCL TG190 rigged with two single Decoy hooks is a beauty to work, as it pretty much swims with little or no effort.
TG190 scores again with a red bass. This is fast becoming a favourite and a must have in our popping arsenals.
Another must have is the FCL SPP Tuna.
Last day. We were finally greeted with good weather. Everything was perfect. Sun was out, wind was blowing at a good rate, and current was spot on.
Everyone had a hookup at this stage.
Double and even triple hookups were soon happening!
Nice GT on the FCL CSP175...
On a Carpenter Stickbait...
Another on the SPP Tuna...
And this one on a FCL CSP 200s.
Fishes are getting bigger and bigger by the hour with this one just under the 20s, CSP200 sticking out of its mouth.
This GT over 20kg took a while to bring up and it's a victory of sorts for the angler who didn't catch a single GT for the whole trip until this very last day. Taken on a CSP200s. Big lures, big fish!
Casting out into the channel of the atoll resulted in this hookup which tested the FCL Labo EXT81M rod to its max. .
Took a while as the fish stayed deep and was trouble trying to get it to come up.
When the fish came up, we could see it was a good size and the CSP200s lure was swallowed deep.
A personal best GT of over 30kg was brought up onto the lap for that all important snap. What a way to cap off the trip...
As the sun sets over the Maldivian skies, we realise the bad weather and the frustratingly lack of good fishes would never stop us from coming back here again. Truly a magical place to be in.
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