Author Topic: Magical Maldives (Read 11542 times)

Ocean Active · « **on:** June 04, 2011, 06:43:07 AM »

We did a trip to Maldives earlier this year, but I have not been able to post the report and images up until now. So here goes!

When you mention Maldives you instantly think of a paradise with white beaches, cocktails with little umbrellas and endless islands and atolls. It is most probably one of the most beautiful places that I have seen in my life. It is picture perfect and on top of all this, there are some amazing fish swimming in those tropical waters!

Arranging a trip to the Maldives is always exciting and daunting at the same time. Exciting because you are going to paradise but daunting because there is so much water to fish and islands to explore. Obviously we have a short time to find the fish, right lures, colours, structure etc. but this is all part of the fun arranging a trip. The charts come out on the table, and the game plan is put together. I think fisherman have a reason or an excuse for everything, so you always know you are going to have a very comprehensive game plan. If it is going to work is a whole other story, but if it does not work there will definitely be an excuse!!

The reason for this trip to the Maldives was that a very good friend AJ aka Uncle Uncle was having his 40th birthday and what better way to do this than a weeks fishing trip to the Maldives. We put in all the groundwork looking at charts, tides, dates of birthday to make sure we had the best chance possible at catching good fish. We made all the booking for boats, flights, hotels etc. This is by no means a small task. Once we stood back to admire all of the great work we had done we got asked one very simple question by one of our beautiful wives, ARE YOU LEAVING ON VALENTINES DAY?? And the answer was uuuuuuuhhhhhh yes!! How can you explain to 8 angry wives and girlfriends that this was an honest mistake and that it was not planned? The answer you cannot! After many long hours of begging, pleading, buying expensive gifts we got all of the required permissions and the trip was on!

We left on Valentines day and we were all very proud that we had achieved the impossible. We all met up at the airport in Male using various airlines. The team was 8 strong and included FC Lubbe, Cam Munroe, Gavin Heyes, AJ Pretorius, Wayne De Jager (Gandolf), Alex Moulart and Gregg Bird.

We boarded a domestic flight and headed up north. We flew low over atolls and islands that almost blew the mind. So much water so little time! FC had a severe case of flat nose when we finally arrived at our destination, he had his nose pressed against the plane window for the whole trip, with only brief breaks to say “Guys guys, did you see that!!”

Our dhoni for the next week waited at the marina about 100m from the airport. We all got on and immediately started setting up rods. There was no choosing rooms, checking out the boat etc Fishing was the only thing on everyone’s minds. We sailed out of the marina with some of the team, no names mentioned casting as soon as the first rod was set up. Bang fish on! First I got a small bohar snapper on the light tackle and then the next cast a nice bluefin trevally! What a start, while the pandemonium erupted on the boat with rods being put together, lures raining from the sky, I snuck back to my bag and finished putting my tackle together! What a start and it was only the beginning!

We fished the first island near the airport and managed to land bohar snapper and a few small GTs. We stopped off the point of the island to have lunch on the bow of the boat overlooking indigo water and as we ate and had a cold beer a pod of dolphins started jumping and corkscrewing out the water next to the boat, followed by a free jumping sailfish a few minutes later!! Money could not buy this!!! Simply put what a place!
After lunch we pulled anchor and headed off for our chosen fishing areas around some of the distant atolls. For the next week we cruised around the islands and atolls fishing to our hearts content. Every morning the boyz would wake up, stretch out the muscles maybe take a Voltaren or two have a cup of coffee and start fishing. We fished, swam, explored islands, fished off edges of atolls. Time and the modern world slowly melted away and we worked to the tides, sun and moon. We caught some amazing fish mainly using light 50lbs tackle and saw one of the biggest GT blitzs that I have been lucky enough to experience.

We caught some amazing fish including a 30kg+ GT on a Custom 9ft rod, Stella 5000 and 40lbs braid, 30kg Coral Trout on a Smith KGS70MH, quadruple GT hook up and plenty more. But we did get smoked by some really big fish that we had no chance of stopping due to light tackle. We found that mainly using 40-90gr stickbaits worked the best and that bright colours worked in the morning and darker colours later in the day.
Maldives does not have the biggest GTs but it certainly has a good number of GTs and a good variety of fish both jigging and popping. There are some big fish if you fish for them, but you will catch a lot of small ones first. It is a good trip to go with a group of good friends and enjoy paradise! We will be back for a few more trips this coming season, I’m already looking forward to sitting on the little desert island we found with a beer in one hand watching the sun drop into the sea at the end of another good day!

Sorry not sure if I have put to many pictures, we caught a lot of fish and took a lot of pictures! Below is the tackle that I used on the trip:
Rods: Smith KGS 70MH, Fisherman Big Game 82, Carpenter WV80 (Spare rod not used to much!), Shimano Aerocast 240XH
Reels: Shimano Stella 20000, Accurate SR30, Accurate SR12, Shimano Stella 5000
Line: Tufline XP 130, 100, 50 and Jigman 30lbs
Lures: Fisherman Long Pen, Orion Mister Joes, Orion Big Foot 45gr, Ocean Active Ulua 40gr, 60gr, 90gr, 120gr, 150gr, 200gr and Hammerhead Candy, CID Bullet Spoons, CID S-bend spoons, Needlenose Plugs

Cheers,
Nick

Ocean Active · « **Reply #1 on:** June 04, 2011, 06:44:12 AM »

Bwana · « **Reply #2 on:** June 04, 2011, 08:56:39 AM »

Bud that is an awesome report and the pics are fantastic!

Well done and hope the swelling on your Valentines day black-eyes from the chicks went down quickly....!!

Cam Mundy · « **Reply #3 on:** June 04, 2011, 09:02:31 AM »

I love it when a plan comes together! looks like an awesome trip and the boat and fishing looks top notch

Ocean Active · « **Reply #4 on:** June 04, 2011, 09:07:43 AM »

The problem is the credit card is still hurting!!

Tommo · « **Reply #5 on:** June 04, 2011, 10:07:19 AM »

Nick, a fantastic report and truly awesome photographs well done! It looks like you guys had a blast!

Ocean Active · « **Reply #6 on:** June 04, 2011, 11:50:43 AM »

Thanks Tommo, was a really good trip, hopefully will get back there a couple more times this coming season!

MIKE PIKE · « **Reply #7 on:** June 04, 2011, 08:12:21 PM »

Awesome report and some stunning pics and excellent catches, the stuff dreams are made of

well done guys and :shre: .

J-Rock · « **Reply #8 on:** June 04, 2011, 08:28:07 PM »

:shre:. Nice report... Awesome catches!

tackle whore · « **Reply #9 on:** June 04, 2011, 09:40:47 PM »

Please give us an idea of costs .

Ocean Active · « **Reply #10 on:** June 07, 2011, 07:41:18 AM »

Many thanks for the comments!
We generally fish the north and catch a domestic flight from Male and then send up the liveaboard Dhoni three days prior to arriving so they meet us on location. The cost is USD3,000 which includes 7 days liveaboard, fuel, all meals, water, Ocean Active host/guide, 4-5 crew, tender, domestic flight up north and an additional 6 days for the liveaboard to get onto location. The trip requires 6 anglers and the cost does not include international flights, alcohol, tips etc.
If anyone is keen please send me a PM with email address and I can send through the info pack and equipment list. We also made a bit of a DVD last year which I can send to have a look, mainly pulling fish and some scenery, not much in the way of informative acting!!
Cheers,
Nick

Kumz · « **Reply #11 on:** June 07, 2011, 07:52:11 AM »

Superb Report .... :shre:

REEFMAN · « **Reply #12 on:** June 07, 2011, 07:53:51 AM »

Yoh Nick... awesome report and picks as usual!

Was this fish hooked before and broken off? Has 2 trebles in it's mouth?

super_daav · « **Reply #13 on:** June 07, 2011, 07:55:43 AM »

Awesome report!! Looks like a fantastic destination!! And the quality of the photos... Great examples on how to take proper "fish" photos!

TUNAMAN · « **Reply #14 on:** June 07, 2011, 08:48:37 AM »

WOW Gobsmacked. Living the life and words can't do it justice.

Well done its just fantastic.

WalkersKiller · « **Reply #15 on:** June 07, 2011, 08:51:31 AM »

WOW! what an awesome report and amazing pictures those are some size fish

Ocean Active · « **Reply #16 on:** June 07, 2011, 09:40:37 AM »

Hi Reefman, Eish I had forgotten about the two trebles! I hooked the fish right at the end of my cast, I think what happened the fish took the lure and got both trebels in the mouth, the rod I was using was my heavy Fisherman with 130lbs braid, so with the pressure by the time the fish got to the boat the split ring had started to open and when the fish got to the boat and did a final dive I locked the spool and the split ring popped open. It was a 220lbs Owner. I think it was just angle of the hooks and the leverage pulling on the rod, I have used the same split rings with a lot more pressure to land good fish.

Thanks for the comments! Pictures for us is one of the most important parts of a trip. There is a bit of cheating with positioning the fish and camera, but all in the name of increasing the fishermans story..........

Poenie · « **Reply #17 on:** August 18, 2015, 01:26:42 PM »

Digging up this post from years back as I'm looking at info. We're doing Maldives in May next year, and MIGHT have a spot, maybe 2 open.
6-14 May 2016. Fly out 6 May, board 80ft live-aboard with dhoni on 7May, hook up with a 31ft Sportfisher to fish 8-13 May, depart 14 May. We'll focus mainly on Baa Atoll, but we'll be mobile. Estimated R35k ex Jhb or Cpt, excl Alcohol and tips.
If anyone is interested, contact me ASAP.
Christo 0741007three4three

colin · « **Reply #18 on:** August 18, 2015, 05:27:29 PM »

great read guys,

Ocean Active · « **Reply #19 on:** August 19, 2015, 05:14:54 AM »

Poenie, it is a great trip and sure will have awesome fun. Sounds like you with Eric and the boyz! We heading down in March/April with Sportfishing Mag which should be good fun.

Cheers,
Nick

Author Topic: Magical Maldives (Read 11542 times)

J-Rock

TUNAMAN