Island Hideaway

I had never seen James lose patience. He’s always been infuriatingly calm and collected. But as the dark shape of a ray passed us, a pair of large giant trevally hanging off its shoulder, a wave knocked him off his feet onto the sharp coral rubble. The string of expletives and rod-hurling would have done even me proud.

Fishing with Mat McHugh, we were perched somewhat precariously in the shallows of a small atoll in the Maldives. We were exploring the fly fishing potential around the luxurious Island Hideaway resort. The Maldives has been known for some time for high-quality tourism and diving, but not for its fishing. Based on our experiences, this may well be about to change.

BUCKET-LIST GT

On the first day of our trip, I had watched as James waded out to the edge of the atoll we’d been dropped on, to look for anything patrolling the fringing reef. Almost immediately, he started gesticulating wildly, simultaneously stripping line from his reel and battling his way forward through the waves frothing in over the broken coral underfoot. Three very large GTs had rounded up a school of parrotfish into the shallow water, periodically crashing in through the waves and sending the parrotfish scattering. Before he could get a proper cast, they ghosted back out into deeper water, no doubt sensing that something was amiss.

We staked out that rubble flat several times over the next few days and watched dozens of GTs track along the edge of the shallow water on the prowl for an easy meal. Before leaving for the Maldives, we had said that the challenge we were going to face was finding the fish, rather than catching them. In an area with little existing recreational fishing and limited commercial pressure, it came as something of a surprise when those patrolling GTs turned out to be surprisingly spooky.

We had rejections that ranged from outright spooks as soon as the line was overhead, to about-turns on seeing the fly, to long follows and rejections, sometimes as far as the rod tip. It was maddeningly frustrating and left us scratching our heads. Nothing we tried seemed to work.

Looking back, the only explanation is that we went in too heavy. With so much coral around and nowhere easy to bring the fish to hand, we were fishing ‘South African style’—a leader of 130 lb mono straight through to the fly. This seemed a logical decision. The fish had probably never seen a fly before and we needed to be able to really bully them and bring them to hand quickly. However, you can only bully a fish if you have it on the other end of the line.

The one fish that we did hook took the fly on the one day we tried going lighter, with a leader of 50 lb fluorocarbon. Almost immediately, it cut James off on a coral bommie. So we went back to the heavy stuff.

The situation was confused further on our final day when I dropped a fly in front of a nice GT patrolling the shore of our resort atoll. That fish exploded onto the fly (rigged on 130 lb leader) in the way GTs are supposed to, before leading me on a merry dance in the shallows on the end of a very tight drag and short leash. I was stoked, as a good GT has been on my bucket-list for years.

FAMILY FUN

The fact that I caught the big trevally so close to where we were staying was a bonus for several members of our party. Anyone who has travelled the world to fly-fish will know that the vast majority of fishing lodges and fishing resorts are set up for exactly that. There is generally very little to entertain non-fishing partners or children, and taking them with you is not normally considered as an option. The Maldives is different. Tourism is already well developed and there is entertainment aplenty. It was for this reason that Mat had taken the bold step of bringing his family, including two young boys, on the trip.

I’m grateful that he did. I had stupidly left my gloves in my room, and the first person to sprint down the beach to help me land the GT was Mat’s wife Georgie. James and Mat, less fleet of foot and perhaps more conditioned to ignore my frantic squawks, followed a minute or so behind. Once we had the fish under control and in gloved hands, we were able to share the moment with Mat’s boys, who stared agog at a fish bigger than either of them. It is difficult trying to explain to loved ones why you spend hours on end standing in a pair of waders in a cold stream, or broiling under a high sun on a tropical flat. It’s a lot easier to make the case when cradling 20 kilograms of silver GT on a white-sand beach.

Just a short stroll around the island from our villas, on the south-east tip, a small sand spit meets an outcrop of coral. This feature disrupts the flow of water around the island and is a magnet for fish. Blind-casting off the edge of the spit with small Clousers, we caught numerous species including barred and bluefin trevally, oceanic queenfish, and triggers.

However, nothing beats sight-casting, and it was this that stirred up the most excitement.

BONEFISH ENTERTAINMENT

We didn’t stumble upon the sand spit until a couple of days into our trip. Prior to this, we had watched and followed numerous pods of fish ghosting across the flats around other atolls. Mat even had a good follow from one, while fishing a small Gotcha. The fish hung behind the fly and came pretty much to his rod tip before spooking away at the last minute. This fish aside, virtually all of the pods turned out to be mullet once they came within range.

However, when a large pod ghosted up from the deeper water surrounding the sand spit and onto the sandy shallows, James put a small Clouser in front of the lead fish, on a hunch that they might not be mullet. As one, the entire school turned and followed the fly, before one peeled off and pounced.

With line tearing off the reel at breakneck speed and that distinct head-nodding at the end of the run, we all knew what it was. A few minutes later and James was holding a nice Maldivian bonefish of around 5 lb for the camera.

That school of bonefish entertained us for several days. From our position in the shallows of the sand spit, we would watch them start to move up from the deeper water onto the shallows with the pushing tide. At first, just the odd fish would skirt up onto the edge before ghosting back out into deeper water. Eventually, with enough water on the sand spit, the whole pod would suddenly appear from the drop-off and slide across the shallows, allowing us to cast flies in their path. Over the next few days we had several more fish each, up to a respectable 6 lb or so, with almost as many hooked and lost when they ran into the deeper water and around a coral bommie.

SO CLOSE

Despite our successes, we really only scratched the surface of the bonefishing in the week we were there. Everywhere we travelled, we saw huge expanses of flats, cut through with deeper channels and fringing reefs that just screamed bonefish. On our final day I went snorkelling on some of the deeper flats around our lodge and saw several small pods of bones, including some nice fish up to around 8 lb or so. Indeed, since our trip, a couple of anglers have been out to the lodge and had a great week, catching numerous bonefish around the lodge’s ‘home’ flats in spots we just didn’t have time to fish.

With all of these opportunities so close to our villas, we were able to head out for a fish before breakfast. Sometimes, when the boys were awake in time, we were able to share the experience with them. However, it isn’t easy to keep kids entertained for long with something like fly fishing. Once breakfast was over and we were chomping at the bit to head back to those big GTs on the reef edge, everyone was able to happily go their different ways for a few hours. With the resort already set up to cater for families, there was plenty for everyone to do. It is quite something to see how lightly a man steps when his guilt at going fishing is assuaged by a spa and kids’ club.

THE maldives

The Maldives is an archipelago of 26 large coral atolls, situated in the Indian Ocean, about 500 km south-west of the southern tip of India and just above the equator. Each of the large coral atolls is in turn comprised of dozens of smaller atolls, islands and flats.

We stayed at Island Hideaway resort on Dhonakulhi atoll, in the more remote north of the Maldives. The resort is in the process of establishing a fly-fishing program, targeting bonefish, blue trevally, giant trevally and numerous reef species found in the area. Prime time to fish is in the dry season, from December to March. Appropriate tackle to take would be a 7/8-weight for the bonefish and 12-weight for giant trevally. Take plenty of small Gotchas and other bonefish flies, and big baitfish patterns like Flashy Profiles and Deceivers for the trevally. Good wading boots are a must, as some of the best flats for the GTs contain a lot of broken coral rubble.

For more information on the fishing program contact FlyOdyssey (UK) www.flyodyssey.co.uk or Angling Adventures (Aus) 1800 033 094 www.anglingadventures.com.au