Nick nudged me in the ribs with a huge smile on his face, he gestured to FC who had his nose pressed right up against the window, head moving from side to side with eyes peering down at the ocean below. Like all great fishing guides he was searching the waters below for any signs of big fish. The Dash 8 engines changed its tune as the pilot closed the throttle commencing or descend in to Hanimadhoo Island, Northern Maldives our destination for the next eight days.
The water below was a dark grey with light grey patches that slowly changed color as we descended lower. Suddenly it looked as if lights below the water were switched on. Sunlight entered the water and reflected all sorts of blue and green colors upward. The thousands’ of little islands and atoll’s became more and more defined and visible the further down we went.
FC turned from the window and looked almost bewildered. He turned back and pointed out the window then looked back at Nick and I. A broad smile spread across his face“Hey Bru?” was the best he could come up with and turned back to look at paradise unfolding below him.
Nick and I smiled knowingly……
You never forget your first view of God’s Back Garden.
The agony and months of waiting and planning was finally over, “Touch Down!”The excitement was boiling over and I looked at my companions for the next 8 days (or should I call them Party Guests? It was my 40th Birthday party cruise after all) everyone was peering out the aircraft windows studying the little Island in Paradise we have just landed on.
Hanimadoo Island has the most Northern Runway in the Maldives and is around 50 minutes flying time from Male, the capital of the Maldives. It is a great little island surrounded by crystal clear water, palm trees, coral reefs and white sand beaches. I think Mr. Robinson Crusoe and his Man Friday would have been very happy here, especially if they were armed with a few Surface stick baits and had an appetite for catching game fish. (More on that later!)
Nick Bowles from Ocean Active and I started planning this trip a few months ago …well more like a year ago actually, and the “invite list” went out a few months ago. “Join me celebrating my 40th Birthday in the Maldives” it read. To add a bit of spice we included a few photos of our previous trip. We initially thought we would only try to fill a six-man trip; however the photos did the trick,and suddenly we had a lot more yes’ and very few no’s with a few “have to talk to the Mrs.” on the side.Nick had to step up the game and made the necessary arrangements with Hammeed from Tropical Excursion.The result – AN AWESOME TRIP!
After the formalities of security and customs we set off. The final eight members / guests gathered up their belongings; bags, lure boxes, rod tubes and camera bags and set off for the dock.
Our home for the next eight days would be aboarda 76ft Maldivian Dhoni, moored up about 400m from the runway(Mr. Hemingway would have approved! Maybe not the local moonshines in the Dark Bottles but the rest definitely).
Our two Maldivian captains, our Sri Lankan chef and two deckhands welcomed us aboard.I watched our Motley Crew board and could not help but wonder if the poor crew had any idea what was waiting for them.
Our party boarded; in no particular order of mischief; Wayne “Gandalf” de Jager, Gregg “Sparkie” Birdd, Gavin “Aquaboy” Heyes, Cam “CAMBO” Rambo’s Brother Munro, Alex “Frenchie” Moulart, FC “Windpomp” aka “MTu”Lubbe, Nick “Boss” Bowles and myself.
We quickly dealt with the formalities of washing down the welcome cocktails and selecting our cabins and bunks and dropping of the spare clothes for the week. After all of five minutes everyone wasback on deck with rodbags, reel bagsand lure bags opening up like presents on Christmas morning. All of us busied ourselves getting ready for the first fishing session of the trip and already Jet-lag was a thing of the past!
We had around five hours of sunlight left and decided on our first attack plan. FISH! OK but where? We arrived in paradise where we had the choice of hundreds of spots to fish but only eight days. Where do you start?
We hastily called an “on-board” meeting and decided to fish for two hours around the Hanimadoo Island and then set sail west to find a spot close to some islands we plotted on Google to anchor for the night.
Nick shared our plans with the captain and we were off!
After all his hard work arranging this trip, the stress of opening a new fishing shop, starting a new career, and raising his first son, it was fitting that Nick caught the first fish barely 500m from Hanimadoo.
This immediately got the rest of the group working up a sweat fixing reels to rods and stringing the line through the guides, tying knots,dropping pliers cursing, missing guides, “where is my this….” , more cursing and so on and so on! When Nick hooked the second fish two casts later he suddenly had competition up front as “Frenchie” and “Aquaboy” joined in the action. “Sparkie”, “CAMBO” “Windpomp”and I quickly followed suite and “Gandalf” quietly snuck up on the roof at the stern and set himself up there for the rest of the week!
Stick baits, poppers, drop shots, buck tail jigs and spoons all went flying in different directions! Soon “Frenchie” landed the first small GT (CaranxIgnobilish) of the trip and this upped the tempo even more.
When we finally sat down after our first two-hour session, we had landed a few small GT’s a few very sizeable Bluefin Trevallies and a few snappers for supper. What a start!
We set off for the western islands and had our first of many wonderful meals. It was “Tiger Time” and we all raised a glass on a great trip ahead!
When we arrived at our Night Stop spot we had about an hour of daylight left. Nick had a word with the Captain and he set us up for a drift along a very fish-able drop off!
Once again Nick was onto a fish first! However, this time he had a lot more competition and FC soon opened his account on that drift as well. We all got into the action and the music tunes by Mr. Bob Marley on the I-pod radio really set up a great island vibe.
The crystal clear water was truly amazing and with very little wind there was absolutely no chop on the surface. We could clearly see down to the bottom even 14 to 18 meters below. Occasionally huge manta rays would pass under the Dhoni and it was like being at an Aquarium. Dolphins and a few flying fish also came and greeted these strange men from Arabia.
The sun started dipping lower and lower and we were rounding the tip of the reef heading to our anchoring spot for the first night. Gavin was fishing on the bow with his modified 11ft Rod and Stella 8000, sending long casts out into the shallows, trying to get the last fish of the day. He was doing the “one-last-cast” routine!
Some of us had already decided that it was time for a sun-downer, so when Gavin’s rod suddenly curved into a C-shape and line stared peeling of the Stella, he had a great support group! This was the first real big fish of the trip and cameras and video cameras were turning and flashing.
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The captain immediately to port away from the reef, and took us into deeper water. Gav managed to turn the fish after a few minutes and now had the fish in even deeper water. Everyone was crowding around him and Nick and FC were at hand to give advice. When a guy as fit as Gav start panting you know it is not a small fish and the Stella was doing its fare share of winding. After another 15min we saw colour and recognized the unmistakable shape of a nice “BUS” GT.
The Deckhands with the help of Nick and FC quickly sorted out grabbing the leader and used the lip gaff to land the Fish!
It was high fives all around and a beautiful 40-50 pound GT was lifted on board. The crew was very quick to have a bucket of water ready to pour over the fish and keep oxygen flowing through the gills. We removed the lure and barb-less hooks and after a few photos the fish went back over board to fight another day!
More high fives followed as well as shouts of “Tiger Time!!!!” This great fish ended our first day on a high!
What a day and this was only the first five hours of an eight-day trip in paradise. What a place to celebrate your 40th Birthday!
AJ “Uncle-Uncle” Pretorius
Published in May 2011
