It's been a long time coming, at last after months of anticipation the crew was on a plane to Male. We spent a week aboard exploring various reefs and atolls. It was the first time for most and they were hooked by the end of it. Many pics to tell the story....
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Our home for the week
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Breakfast to greet us every mornin'
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Trolling on the way between atolls and a lure was hit
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Good way to start! This wahoo was turned into superb porridge for lunch
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Meals were never short of excellent
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Chillin' while we travel
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Jinxed!
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1st drop, 1st fish - a warm welcome
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A common pest in the Maldives
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Enjoying the scenes
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First of many deep-dwelling groupers to come
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They were plentiful
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1st cast with a popper and a hook-up ensued. Easy...
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But the frenzy was shortlived, the next few days would be tough popping
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We still managed a few good hook-ups though
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New FCL Ebipop 120 doing its job
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All hands on deck
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Longing for home
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We persisted with the poppers, often till we couldn't pop anymore
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Jigging still produced the goods
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Everyone got into it, the new Shout! Shab Shab was a star performer
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We hooked plenty which we couldn't stop, even with stout gear
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They just went and went
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Nice Coral Trout on an Orion Bigfoot
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No chance of stopping some fish
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Hit a school of Yellowfins, this one on an Evergreen Caprice
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Everyone was delighted
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Another nice schoolie
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Stubborn fish ran round the boat too many times so the guys got into the tender
Check out the conditions
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Sailfish on jig, in the boat
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Happy angler! Sail on IMA Ro jig
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Revived and released
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Kudos to the crew
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That's a custom fit!
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Poseidon rod were easy tools to lift fish from the depths
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A first - cute lil' Tresher Shark
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Once in awhile we were greeted by some GTs - no monsters yet
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Evenings guaranteed a hit or two
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Conditions throughout the week was magical
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Tired anglers taking in the sunset
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Typical Maldivian GT, not big
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Smaller lures worked great on reefies - FCL Squidpen shone
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GTs kept coming
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New FCL rod worked to good effect, pulling Trout bent on reefing you
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Lil' Bluefin Trevally
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Teenage GT on Shakure
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Squidpen continued to pull in fish - GTs were no fun on light tackle
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Big take on a jig on the outer reef
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Big Reef Shark after a long fight
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Tired but happy angler!
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Confused wrap up. Makes you wonder what the fish was up to
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Stickbaits worked well in the calm conditions
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Everyday we hit unstoppables on jigs. Stella 10k and PE-6 outfit almost spooled
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Many fish were raped upon capture - doggies & sharks were the culprits
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Jigging deep some ooglies were pulled up, adding to the species list
This one a Bullseye
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This greedy Green Job paid the price
More to come in part2