Luke handing down the gear early morning at the hotel
We got into the vehicles and headed back down the road to the same location as the day before. We had decided to have another go at the big fish we saw the day before and had come a bit more prepared mentally and physically. But the area is small so we decided to fish the morning session and then do a bit of sight seeing in the mountains of Socotra.
We traveled through great scenery again and still it was our third time this road and we were still in awe of the place. As we were getting closer to the fishing village we had a puncture of our vehicle, I thought this was going to put a big dent into our fishing time but another reason we called our driver Shumacker was he could change a wheel with F1 pit crew speed, he had the tire off and the spare on in less than 5 minutes!! I think they must practice this in the off season!!
Schumie in action!!
We arrived at the fishing village and all the boats were ready and this time we managed to get away relatively quickly without being swamped by all the kids, maybe it was a school day! We headed back out to the island at almost trolling speed. But again the day was nice and calm so very enjoyable and we all caught up on some sleep including our trusty captain!!
Our boat round 2!
Now this is how to skipper a boat island style!
On the way to the island Luke and Barry stopped a couple of times and by the time they caught up to us they had had a few casts at a free swimming marlin but unfortunately did not hook up! We had decided to do the first drift together around the top point of the island to try and max our chances of hooking up one of the monster and get the fish out into deeper water so we executed our well laid plan but as fishing will have it there were no GTs at home!! We did a couple of drifts and raised only one smallish fish. We were a little disappointed after the mayhem of the day before but that's how fishing goes and you have to take the good with the bad!
We did a couple of drifts and I changed to my lighter gear which was the Race Point 150 prototype and Stella 10K with PE6. Great outfit and I have been excited for a long time to try out a couple of the prototype 150s Sami brought as I do have a bit of a passion for trying to catch big GTs on light tackle. I used Abdels Guerilla G2 stickbait and the combo was fantaqstic with long casting distance. I put in a few casts to the back end of the island and had a big red shape come up under the lure and smash it, a few hits and I was into a good Bohar, the rod did a great job and although it has a soft tip for stickbaits it has a huge amount of backbone to be able to land most fish, I got a nice Bohar to the boat and got a few pictures.
Bending on the RP150 prototype
A nice Bohar on lighter tackle and the G2
We carried on drifting down the back of the current away from the island and had a good few smaller trevally and jobfish chase and hit the lures, great fun. I finally managed to hook up another Bohar on the same rig and got the fish to the boat for another few pictures.
Another Bohar
With the fishing slow we all decided to call the day off early and head back to the fishing village jigging along the way and then do some exploring of the island as this would be our only chance. We stopped along the way to jig in a few spots. Sami got into the action with what seemed to become his daily jobfish on jig. But this was a big fish and put a bit of hurting on the big guy and OBX500. Great fight and Sami got a nice Jobbie to the boat.
Sami stopping the first run of the jobbie, awesome fighting fish for its size!
Bus jobfish, never seen them as big as Socotra
We jigged a few more spots and all of a sudden we heard screams and shouts from the other boat, we turned around and there was a pack attack of sailfish about 20m behind our boat. There must have been 6 sails we could see all slashing on the surface hitting bait, totally amazing to see. We almost tripped over each other and broke all of our rods to try and get to our light gear with stickbaits. We both had hits and I dropped mine and Sami hooked up. Barry and Luke were casting from their boat towards us and they both hooked up. Luke was hooked up on his light 30lbs gear!! There was a lot of whooping and fish jumping every where! Unfortunately Luke and Sami dropped their fish but Barry stayed hooked into his fish on the Hots 711MH.
After a great and nail biting fight Barry landed a beautiful sail much to his happiness! We got a few good pictures from our boat and then the fish was released to fight another day. Not much point in trying to top that catch so we called it a day and headed for the village and up into the mountains!
Luke leadering the sail, did an amazing job with limited help!
Barry extremely happy with his first sail caught on camera! Well done!!
Hey hey how you guys like that??
One of the goals for this trip was also to try and see some of the island and especially the Dragon Blood Tree which has become a symbol of Socotra, so it was great to pull ourselves away from the fishing a bit to enjoy the island. We first drove up passed the military base to one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen. Pure white sand, clear calm water and no one for miles. We had a great swim to cool off and relax the already weary muscles.
Picture with our captain
Amazing beach and untouched.
Awesome swimming
We then headed up into the mountains and almost immediately could feel a huge temperature change and it got nice and cool. Driving up passes and through mountain villages we finally came across the first Dragon Blood Tree. Quite an amazing looking tree and they are ancient trees running into hundreds of years. Our guide told us that a nursery on the island had been growing some Dragon Blood trees for over 10 years and they were only about 5cms high!! These trees we were seeing were several meters high!
Dragon Blood Tree
Barry under one of the Dragon Blood trees
Aaaahhhhhhhh I can still hear some of the screaming!!
After an exilirating drive into the gorge we came to an absolute stunning fresh water stream running through palm trees with rolling rocks, green undergrowth. It was almost a case of the book and movie Salmon Fishing in the Yemen could be true!!
We finally arrived at the bottom, beautiful stram and surroundings filled with palms and tamarind trees.
We hiked a distance through undergrowth and down the stream and came to a large fresh water pool. Within seconds everyone was in the cool water enjoying a swim in a mountain stream. Very special place! We spent the rest of the afternoon swimming in the cool water and warming up lying on the hot rocks around the pool. Very relaxing and enjoyable.
Magical pool
Luke diving into the pool
Team picture
Ever the fisherman we were looking for fish in all the pools the only thing we could find was a few crabs!
With the sun starting to set we still had the long drive back out the gorge which we all thought would not be possible, but Schumacker pointed his trusty landcruiser up the road and never missed a beat once, we just trundled back up the gorge and back to out hotel! Another great day had come to an end. No big fish but it is not always about the fish but the adventure.
Driving out of the gorge
Egyptian Vultures everywhere.
The following day we had decided to end to the opposite end of the island to camp and be close to the fishing grounds. So after a quick dinner everyone was totally worn out and into bed for some well deserved rest!
Day 3 and the rest of the trip to follow!
