MALDIVES 2011 - Part One

A favoured destination amongst friends and folks who share a same passion, for a week of non stop angling with artificials its hard to look past the Maldives. Anticipation reigned for months before we boarded the flight and headed West, crossing the Indian Ocean before touching down at Male. Luck would have it that political tensions leading up to the week meant the possibility of unrest in the capital. But once on the boat proper, all those fears were forgotten as the eagerness to wet a line took over...

Game face on, bananas for luck!

What a way to start! Doggie on popper!

Healthy Red Bass on FCL SPP, a lure that would prove itself over the week...

Another greedy Bass on an El Toro chugger...

GT on the SPP which was recovered after a huge fish took it and busted the line, only to thankfully have the popper float to the surface moments later...

First Bluefin Trev of the trip...

Red Bass on a bright El Gaviota...

Good hit which led to a pretty intense fight...

A good warm-up...

Another rare Doggie on popper, and a good one too!

GT in the mid-teens which mouthed a Shakure...

Green Jobfish on a Shibuki lure...

Lunch...

FCL CSP stickbait worked with the new FCL Labo 81EXT rod was awesome all week...

Teenage GT tough enough to worry an angler...

Classic 2 GTs on a stickbait! No shortage of fish...

Just under 20kgs, a good fish on the new Maggy Gara stickbait...

Sharks are not common in the Maldives, but we found one with a stickbait...

Nice Red Bass on Maggy Gara worked beautifully with the FCL EXT rod...

Another Red Bass, this one on an El Nadador stickie...

Small GT to keep everyone busy on board...

Maggy Gara continues to produce...

Another nicer fish still...

Orion Bigfoot lucky to escape the jaws of this monster...

22kg Barracuda - bad to the bone!

Tasty Emperor on a Hooker jig...

Small Green Jobfish on an IMA Ro jig...

More GTs from jigging as well...

Not to forget the omnipresent Rosy Jobfish, this one on an Evergreen Caprice...

Bottom dwellers were a welcomed sight...

Funny species from the deep on the new Y-2 jig...

Another Jobbie...

A loner Yellowfin Tuna, we were hoping for more...

Cods from the deep...

Some were pretty decent sized, like this Nassau on the Bassday Quicker jig...

GT on Fisherman Andaman...

Deep water Cod on the Geecrack Long Gun jig...

Back to the CSP, and another GT...

Greedy GT on a huge chugger...

Decent Bluefin Trev on the CSP...

Amberjack on Shout! Stay jig - nice...

Meat from the deep!

Hard fighting GT on the Long Gun jig...

Poseidon High Pitch Jerker cranked up to the max by a stubborn adversary...

Easily a 40kg Shark which was foul hooked at the pectoral fins...

More topwater action with another GT...

FCL Labo Squidpen which was subsequently lost to a bigger fish after landing this GT...

Maggy Gara stickbait accounts for another...

More small GT, this on the Squidpencil...

Coral Trout on Shout! Shab Shab jig...

Bluefin Trevally on the weird looking FCL Labo Nata jig...

Another small GT from within the atolls...

Night bottom fishing for bruiser Red Bass...

And a surprise Batfish too...

Small GT on Fisherman S-Pop...

FCL Squidpencil does it again...

GT for everyone on board...

Another on the SPP after many missed hook ups, including a real bruiser which pulled the hooks after a short run...

More juveniles from the shallow reefs...

Greedy Bluefin which bit off more than it could chew...

Lighter outfits meant maximum fun...

23kg GT on an El Nadador stickbait, a valiant effort...

Much drama ensued when this mother of a Coral Trout tried to take the Dorado Slider stickbait home! A fantastic capture for a lucky angler, easily the fish of the trip!

More to follow...