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Mark Harris

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This was a long-planned trip to experience the early season top-water bite at The Hallaniyat Islands, and one I was looking forward to very much.  It did not disappoint in any way!  As demonstrated in Nick's contemporaneous report, it was top-water mayhem out there.

I will not go through the trip day-by-day here, but will be producing a very detailed report in PDF format later. Anyone who would like a copy of that, please just let me know. This is more of a quick summary.... apart from anything else, sorting through the 100s of pics will take a while!

I would like to give a big shout out to Andy Rowe and Pablo Alday who proved to be very fine company throughout the trip - thank you both guys for making this such a memorable experience.  Likewise the other group who were fishing with No Boundaries at the same time - Roger Mortimore, Andy Walker and Andy Garnham from the UK - great guys and hilarious company when the boats met up during the day, and every evening around the dinner table.

Those of you who have fished with No Boundaries before will like the changes Ed and Angela have made. The lodges are better than ever (hard to imagine I know, but they are) and the second boat is a great addition.  The standards of accommodation, food and general all-round hospitality, are the best I have ever experienced from a  fishing operator. Home-baked bread after a hard days' fishing? Yes please :)Sincere thanks go to Ed and Angela as well as the two new Kenyan crew members - Mohammed and Yasir - for looking after us so very, very well.

I will let the pictures do most of the talking in this summary.

First though, a few quick notes on tackle. After being murdered by several monster GTs, I am now totally convinced that you cannot fish the shallow Hallaniyat reefs with even the best PE8, and PE10 must be the choice. 

It was notable during our trip that we did not catch a single GT with a surface stickbait, despite giving them water-time.

Successful GT lures:
Heru Skipjack 150 (amazing success with this by Andy)
Heru GT Mania 150
Hammerhead D Cup
Craftbait GT3 170
Shell Shaping Kathibe 160
Patriot Design Masterd Bomb 150
Shimano Ocean Pencil 110 sinking
Orion Bigfoot 140

On with some pictures, starting naturally with some GTs.

Biggest fish of the trip, Andy with a monstrous 139 cms:



Some other GTs:











The action with Yellow-spotted and Bludger Trevally was insane. Lost count of exactly how many we caught but it was about 40 fish on everything from PE2 gear to PE10 with huge GT lures. Also plenty of  Black-tipped Trevally on the light gear only.





A top-water Amberjack was a personal ambition of mine and here it is fulfilled. Absolutely stoked with this fish caught with a Heru Bobara 150.



First fish of the trip and the first of many Spanglies caught by each of us:



Very fat Mack Tuna which was surprisingly mixing in with the GTs in very shallow water:



Beautiful Diamond Trevally caught inshore by Pablo - a foggy morning which  reminded me of Europe!



Dinner on the first night in the new mingling area at the No Boundaries lodge:



Hardan 2 - the new No Boundaries boat. Fantastic boat to fish from:



Possibly the ultimate GT angling heaven - the back reef at Soda Island:


Last Edit: October 09, 2012, 05:46:27 PM by Mark Harris

chris caley

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Great report mark. I wish i had stayed a bit longer now!!!!

Mark Harris

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Thanks for the reply Chris.

Yep, if you had I reckon you would have had some fun both on and off the water.  The fishing was amazing and we had some real laughs back at base in the evening as well  8).

Vincenzo Caccico

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Nice you tag the fish, congrats

Vincenzo

Simon Bomholt

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Looks like avgreat trip mate
Greetings
Simon

Jeen Raj

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Super stuff Mark. Congrats to all the guys for the super fishing. PE 10 then.



Jeen

chris caley

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yeh we had some great laughs whilst we were there. I left 4 days before you arrived i think but wasn't much fun with a dislocated shoulder!!! happened on my last day there so not so bad.

Peter Olesen

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Looks like you had a great time there, Mark! I guess some luck is crucial if you want to land those horses on PE8.

Thanks for sharing.
"If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter." Mark Twain

Ben Furness

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Hey Mark, looks like you are living the dream buddy!

Amazing trip by the looks of it, good to see you posting up some great pictures again.

Jay Burgess

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Thanks for the trip report Mark, got me frothing for my trip in a couple of weeks  8)

That pic of the 139cm fish really does not do it justice!  :-\
Last Edit: October 10, 2012, 02:37:26 PM by Jay Burgess

Mark Harris

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I am sure you will have great time Jay. I know Ed is looking forward to seeing you again.

I know on that out of focus big fish  :(... still sorting pics. Was mayhem at that moment with very rough seas and pics were not great - either out of focus or missed getting the whole fish in. Here are some more of that fish. It was truly immense.






Chris Tan

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Time to get the wide angle lens Mark!

Some very nice fish landed

Mark Harris

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You are winding me up Chris.... Ummm.. a resounding "no" to that :)

Yes some lovely fish.

Mark Harris

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Nice you tag the fish, congrats

Vincenzo

Yes Vincenzo it is great that so many of the GTs caught by No Boundaries are tagged. Last year more than 300 over 30 kgs were tagged.

Clem Henry

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Great fish there Mark...like Matt said, a long wait to April