The Maldives, December 2010

Our 2007 and 2009 Maldives holidays were to our complete satisfaction; the weather was fine for most of the time and the sea conditions perfect for fishing. The fishing results far exceeded my expectations as well. Why should things be any different on our return to the Maldives holiday paradise in 2010?

On 1st December it was time to set off at last. We had booked our flights with Emirates and two weeks accommodation at Hotel Kanuhura on the Lhaviyani Atoll. What Martina and I then experienced is what some describe as “It had to happen sometime or other”, others as “Wrong or risky dates”. I would simply say: „Shit happened this time unfortunately“. The weather played a dirty trick on us on our way to Frankfort and at the airport itself with snow causing chaos. For a while it was not clear whether we would be able to take off but after ages of waiting and stress we finally set off for the Maldives. Then came the captain’s announcement on weather conditions on arrival: „ Unfortunately troughs of low pressure generated by a tropical storm will mean windy and rainy conditions. “ To us this sounded like “Our snow has been replaced by rain and wind”, to long-suffering romantics something like “Paradise Lost” and to me on top of all this like “a huge angler’s depression rapidly approaching”.

When we finally landed we were greeted by gusting winds and one tropical rain shower after the other – in fact a lot worse than we had imagined on the plane. It came as no surprise that my first day fishing had to be cancelled.

2nd Day Fishing: Not a single doni to be seen far and wide. What now? On this hotel island you can do some saltwater fly fishing: Italian fishing guide Mario Tagliante offers trips on his boats to the flats and the reef. Due to the poor weather conditions, however, I was only able to walk with him along the shoreline of an uninhabited island armed with a fly rod, but even here the water was very murky, added to which visibility was poor and the downpours never stopped. Nevertheless, I did manage to hook a blackfin shark of about 150 cm in length but unfortunately it chewed through the leader after a short fight. After that I caught a small jack but that was it.

3rd Day Fishing: The weather got increasingly worse which put a stop to any thoughts of steaming out to the reef on a doni. Furthermore, even higher winds and heavier rain were forecast. The only alternative available to me was fly fishing in the wind and waves of the inner atoll. To achieve this meant first slamming through the sea of the inner atoll in Mario’s speed boat for an hour and a half. Then having found an ideal fishing spot we failed to catch a single fish, but at least I saw three large but regrettably cautious specimen bonefish of between 10 and 15 pounds.

On the way back we made three short stops in the lee of an island for some jigging, resulting in one barracuda and one small snapper. As evening approached the water was still very milky and the sea extremely rough. After a quick shower in the hotel I set off for the outer reef at low tide armed with my fly rod where I spent a good hour fishing until darkness fell. I had three GT strikes: the first snapped the leader, the second threw the hook but I caught the third one which weighed about 12 pounds. Quite an experience to fight such a beautiful fish on a 9WT fly rod! Unfortunately I had failed to take my camera with me because of the heavy rain. But in the evening my doni skipper reported “Fishing possible tomorrow!”

4th Day Fishing: According to the weather forecast the tropical storm had separated into two vortices and was said to be moving slowly south – the Maldives were right in the middle so great prospects! We set off in the morning nevertheless but had to give up after four hours. The sea was too rough but we still managed to catch a wahoo on the short journey out and had a short contact with a sailfish. Just short of the outer reef I tried my luck with a popper for half an hour and actually had two fish shadow the lure, one of which was a big GT that failed to strike.

My 5th Day Fishing fell through yet again. The weather had deteriorated catastrophically and the water was now cloudy due to all the sand in it. The weather forecast gave us a little hope: “Things will improve over the next three or four days.”

In the afternoon I nevertheless spent three hours fly fishing with Mario in the flats. With nil visibility and fierce winds I was casting “blind” towards potential bonefish spots and even got a bite, but after a short fight the leader parted – must have been a barracuda!?

We continued fishing blind with popper streamers along the reef; suddenly a monster of a GT (70 lbs. plus) appeared in the knee-deep and murky water no more than 10 meters away from me. It attacked the lure twice but unfortunately failed to swallow it. Then it saw me and was off like a shot through the coral banks in water no deeper than half a metre, never to be seen again. Three casts later at the same spot a two-metre lemon shark appeared from nowhere and grabbed my lure. The backing line screamed off my reel for what seemed ages then the shark spat out the hook. Mario then lost a bluefin trevally estimated to be about 20 lbs in the coral banks – that was bad luck all along the line.

Nevertheless, saltwater fly-fishing is appealing to me more and more from one holiday to the next; plenty of action and movement with no engine noise and the stink of diesel fumes! Watching and casting demands your full attention and the whole thing is extremely exciting! An angler with no knowledge of the flats will find it hard to believe how many species swim around in these areas and suddenly appear on the surface.

On my 6th day fishing I took a third blow below the belt early on in the day. In spite of all the precautions I had taken, water had got into my camera and it stopped working – which is hardly surprising considering the amount of rain and the high humidity. I then tried my luck in the lee of the island and caught seven small groupers, a small snapper and four out of 6 medium-sized Bluefin trevallies, followed by two good GT bites, neither of which developed into hook-ups. All these fish bites were extremely cautious. I finished by getting a bite from a blacktip shark of about 130 cm in length on my streamer and, no surprise, the hook didn’t set either.

7th Day Fishing: Fishing from a doni in front of the reef was still impossible so I set off alone with my fly-fishing gear. I tried fishing in several lagoons first; after high tide I tried my luck on the outer reef. High waves were breaking over it and I immediately saw a large Bluefin trevally hunting. A precise cast and the fight was on; after about ten minutes I lost contact with the fish on its last run – merde. What had happened? The knot on the streamer had failed… a spot of advice here for fishermen who like angling with fluorocarbon lines – check all your knots and connections assiduously. This material is not as easy to use as normal monofilament and you pay a high price for carelessness!

Then I saw some movement on the surface but wasn’t quite sure whether it was a fish or not. I fired out a popper streamer and after three short retrieves with my left hand a gigantic GT attacked my miniature popper but immediately spat it out. The bite was as sudden and violent as that of a marlin strike – absolute madness considering the lure was no longer than a finger! Then along came a garfish and the hook held this time – but that was it for the day. It least it hadn’t rained all day but the wind was still very high and the sea remained deeply coloured and turbulent.

8th Day Fishing: Early morning and some decent fishing conditions for a change. Towards lunchtime we were able to get out to sea in the doni for a six-hour trip. Trolling only raised a small yellowfin tuna but the popper fishing was excellent: eight GTs, of which four were small, three medium-sized and one whopper. Nevertheless, the fish were still biting very cautiously.

The whopper’s strike was sensational: it attacked the lure twice in a row with a great splash and then shot over the reef, through the coral banks into the lagoon on the other side. I never thought I was going to catch it with all these obstacles in the way – but fortune favours the bold as they say! On this outing we only saw one sailfish bit it didn’t appear to be hungry. Out at sea we met up with Kai Jendrusch and his fishing mates; we brought our doni alongside theirs and spent some time swapping experiences. These lads had had a rough time over the past few days as well, but had at least caught some nice sailfish down south at the start of their trip. We bade them farewell, wished them all the best and they set off in the direction of the neighbouring atoll in search of better currents and fishing marks.

9th Day Fishing: The weather had settled a bit but the sea was still coloured as a result of the storms. Two sailfish immediately showed some interest in my lures but still did not appear to be really hungry. Then a large GT swam past but turned its nose down at my popper as well. However, we still managed to catch two wahoos and a barracuda.

10th Day Fishing: We had another three sailfish behind the boat but they failed to bite. When popper fishing (I estimate 300 long casts!) I at long last had two vicious GT strikes – one of them taking the hook. It was a superb fish and a terrific fight. This fish also made a dash over the reef into the lagoon and came back out again – I was dead lucky again! When it struck it almost pulled me overboard – these GTs are some creatures!

11th Day Fishing: Fly fishing with Mario was on the cards today. With the conditions being ideal I set myself up in hip-deep water between two small promontories with the tide running out; although plenty of fish, including some big ones, swam by none of them seemed to want to bite. Then in the afternoon after I had lost a bonefish in the corals, great exhilaration when I caught my first Maldives bonefish!

12th Day Fishing: This was to be my last outing on the doni. In the morning we chugged around in the water which was unfortunately still murky and were unable to find any blue water. Suddenly we had a sailfish behind the boat and after a lot of to and fro I was able to hook it; a long run ensued then no contact at all. What had happened? A wahoo had actually attacked the bright swivel and bitten through the leader. While popper fishing I only had one decent bite from a fine GT.

Towards 3 p.m. we at long last found some blue water directly off the shore of our holiday island and immediately had four sailfish follow the boat. Strike! We caught the first one and circled back again – and caught a second one. At the end of our holiday better weather and sea conditions had returned – as had my fisherman’s luck!

Martina was waiting for me on the pontoon but I simply couldn’t resist going after some bonefish with my fly-fishing rod for half an hour and was finally rewarded with two fine fish. Martina even managed to film me fighting them!

Summary:

We were extremely unlucky with the weather on this trip: Winds too high, rain downpours and murky water – not the best of conditions. When the weather settled the wind swung from west to east and – to add insult to injury – this brought back the currents of coloured water which meant a double whammy for me. Some of the Maldives fishermen told me that December is widely regarded as a “critical” month because this is the time of year when the prevailing winds swing from west to east for the summer season. Approximately two weeks after this weather phenomenon the wind, currents and waves push the fish to the eastern side of the atoll and this usually means prime fishing conditions.

Mario Tagliante charters out a beautiful, professionally equipped Bertram for offshore angling and recently added a centre-console Boston Whaler for fly and popper fishing. He is a passionate fly fisherman and enthusiastic deep-sea fisherman with a big heart and good soul! Contact him on: mario@thetags-sportfishing.com and/or www.thetags-sportfishing.com

That’s all for now!

Stephan Kreupl, December 2010