Early the following morning everyone was up at 04.00am and ready for breakfast which consisted of omlettes, french toast, beans which would become a staple part of our diet (with side effects!), Nandos sauce and of all things much to Lukes excitement Nuttela!! Breakfast of champions! After breakfast as first light was coming up and the local mosque started prayers we headed for our first chosen destination which was one of the small islands off the coast. The drive was going to be long at about 2 hours but gave us a good chance to look at some spectacular scenery. We drove along the coast, up passes and through mountains with ever changing terrain. Our interpreter was extremely knowledgable about the island, history and wildlife, telling us the names of all the trees and places. Our driver soon got the name Schumacker as he drove like a bat out of hell but new every pot hole and speed bump on the island plus he was one of the friendliest guys with a permanent smile and always humming or singing some Arabic song out of the blue which always put a smile on our faces. After many months of planning and a lot of apprehension we finally came to a small fishing village and were greeted by our captains and "boats" for the day. The boats were definately not what we were used to and were semi fiberglass and wood pangas with a single 40hp outboards and sat about 2 foot out of the water. But when in Rome. So we got onto the boats with a massive audience of local kids and some old folks look at us with some questioning looks of "what are you guys doing here!" we definately stuck out of the crowd, but everyone was extremely friendly and we never once felt unsafe or threatened and was totally the opposite, after a few hours we realized we could have been on any tropical island with monster fish lurking in the depths.
Tackle truck ready with all of our gear, the guides took the utmost care with securing the equipment, better than ever before!
Heading through town to get on the "highway"
Schumacker! Check out half the goat around the gear stick! Loved this!
Scenery!
Arriving at the local fishin village, very narrow streets and more goats!
Through Palm Plantations.
Finally we had arrived, a beautiful place!
Some of the local "boats" we used
Our boats coming to the shore
Our Sportsfisher........
Barry and Luke ready! Hit it!!
With all the initial excitement and taking of pictures and video we settled down on our boats and realized we were only doing a top speed of about 10 knots! Not quite Al Sayyad! But it was a calm day and weather clear, so still enjoyable. We had a long run to an island that we could see the whole time and slowly came closer and closer with agonizing slow speed. Finally we arrived at the island and were greeted by some excellent looking fishy water with current ripping, millions of sea birds and baitfish. We were fishing two per boat, Sami and myself were fishing in the one boat and Barry and Luke in the second boat. We luckily had a very slightly faster boat which might have been the momentum from two more full figured guys on the boat! But we let rip first as we got to the island with a large amount of GT adrenalin running though our vains, we were expecting the first monster GT to come up at anytime, but after a few casts we gathered ourselves and checked the currents and general lie of the the island and decided to head up current to the top of the island and do a long drift down the side of the island. Barry and Luke arrived and started fishing the current line and found some baitfish and Barry went on tight with the first GT of the trip a good start with a smallish GT! We were on the board.
Barry and Luke! The race is on at top speed of 10kts!
Sami and I on our boat
Luke chilling with all the time to get to the island, the boats were actually very comfortable and we could easily sleep when under way!
Inside of our boat
Good start to the trip, Barry with a nice GT caught in the back current in some bait schools.
Sami and I got to the top of the island with a strong current pushing onto the top point. Our captain was a local fisherman and a really great old guy and a reputation as one of the best fisherman in the area but they are by no means used to guys fishing with rods and reels never mind heavy popping gear, so it took a bit of time to explain how we wanted to set up the drifts and land fish, but luckily with Sami and his Arabic we got it right and our captain understood and got the hang of things very quickly. We put in the first casts and the first pop of the lures brought up a few big red shapes under our poppers and some aggressive hits from big Bohar Snapper, a double strike and a lot of whooping and the game was on. The fish came to the boat quickly and Sami and I had our first fish in Socotra. We got a few pictures and released the fish.
Sami with the first Bohar Snapper and first fish on the Siren 300 prototype.
Stunning Bohar, colours were amazing!
We got straight back into position and put in another couple of long casts to the island and were greeted by absolute GT Armageddon! A pack attack of about 20 GTs came up all huge fish but with a couple of absolute monster fish, the fish were so aggressive and competing for the lures so much they were hitting the lures out of the water, missing the lures and finally we started to run out of water, I finally hooked up right next to the boat with the fish spreying water into the boat, a decent fish and we managed to pull the fish out of the shallow water and brought a black GT to the boat. Really awesome to have my first Socotra GT after all the planning and expectation! A few pictures and the fish was released and we got back into position.
Bending properly on the Monster Hunter 80H!
Awesome 133cm GT, black mamma!
This is now when the real chaos started, we had multiple fish come up again and huge fish trying to smash our lures, there were fish everywhere, under the boat, on the lures and then Sami hooked into a monster on the Siren 300, Race Point 300 and Saltywater Tackle 8/0 hooks all prototypes to handle monster GTs. An epic fight ensued, Sami putting max pressure with the new beast of a rod and he had it under control but the fish was huge and heavy and we pulled the fish into deeper water, the fish was not budging with a locked drag and Power Pro 130 hollow and heavy leader, but finally the line went slack and the monster had come off! The hooks which is one of the heaviest GT hooks I have ever seen had opened! HECTIC! Welcome to Socotra hope you brought your A game! Sami was testing a range of new hooks and luckily had some even heavier hooks which I thought would be to big but proved to be the right hooks for these big fish and strong currents and will be using in the near future to land these big fish!
Sami bending with very high drag on the RP300!
Eish!
After talking out what happened we tried a new approach to come down the side of the island to try and get the fish into deeper water. Back into position and next it was my turn, I had changed up to my trusty old power rod the Carpenter Wild Violence 80XH. A beast to catch a beast! A huge swirl came up behind the Siren 300 white and silver with 10/0 Decoys, bang the fish missed the first time then with a wild craziness came back to try and absolutely obliterate the lure, the fish came half out of the water and smashed the lure, I hit the fish several times and almost had the rod pulled out my hands, I hit the fish several more times and the game was on, we managed to get the fish off the island and after a long run got back some line, I finally had the fish under the boat just out of sight when it made another strong run and broke me off on a shallow rock!!! Smoked again!! Eish!
Putting the pressure with the Wild Violence 80XH!
Now this was getting serious! We were getting abused! I got out a spare spool already rigged got it on the rod put on a Gamma Orange Nemo 200 with 8/0 GT Recorders. Ready, back into position, cast towards the rock, again a pack attack came up on out lures, another monster got to my lure first, I hit it several times and after a short run the fish broke off again!! What the hell was happening!! I pulled my line back and 300lbs leader had been bitten through!! Amazing, I was totally lost for words.
We were a bit slower getting our gear ready as we were trying to work out how to try and get these big fish out of the current in shallow water. We ran a wider drift and after a good few casts, Sami had a fish hit his lure and hooked the fish up, our captain managed to get us into deeper water and he put on the pressure and got a good fish to the boat, not one of the monsters but still gave us a bit more confidence after a spanking! It was Samis first Socotra GT and the first of many GTs on the Race Point 300. A few pictures and the fish was released.
Sami using the bench on the boat to get max leverage, dangerous position and not to try at home........but did the trick.
Fish coming to the boat
Samis first Socotra GT and first on the RP300!
By this time we saw Luke and Barry coming up the back of the current, the guys had been fishing the back currents but not to much luck, we tied up next to each other and had a chat about what had happened and they got into position at the top on the island and put there skills to the test! The first drift did not produce a hit and then on the second drift we could see Luke trade mark Red Fisherman putting long casts, awesome to watch from the back current. But Barry had the first hit and we could see him hitting the fish like a jackhammer and the fight was on, the guys managed to get the fish out into deeper water and after a long hard fright Barry landed a great 137cm GT, a really great fish and well fought.
Team debate and snack break
Barry with a good 137cm GT, excellent catch in the conditions on an ASWB lure!
Sami and I had drifted down the current and started to have some spectacular aerial hits from kingfish, after several hits Sami managed to hook and land the first fish on the New Siren 300 prototype! I had a few hits and did not manage to hook up but then Sami did the trick again and got another good kingfish, these were going to be dinner for us and the captains!
Sami into one of the kingfish
Nice king on the Siren 300
Next king on a Shell Shaping
Barry and Luke repositioned and as we watched on we could even from a distance see a massive hit and Luke shouting only like a GT can make you! Then a groan as e fish missed and turned away! Another drift and finally it was Luke's turn! Bang fish on! Luke fought the fish well and got his first Socotra GT to the boat. Everyone on the board in the first morning! Awesome!
Luke with his first Socotra GT, very nice fish!
The fishing slowed down as the fishing area is very small so we decided to start making the long run back to e village and stop along e way to jig. We had some excellent fun catching some small tuna, emperor, black jack, snapper and jobfish. We did not have a depth finder so the local captains knowledge was put to the test, fishing current lines, under busting tuna etc, but they proved to be very knowledgable and put us into some great fish with Sami landing some massive jobfish.
Barry with a nice Bohar on jig
Sami with a jobie on jig
Black Jack! Love these little guys, if they were the size of GTs they would kick your ass!
We got back to the fishing village late afternoon and we swamped by kids wanting to look at the gear, cameras etc. really cute kids and we spent sometime showing them pictures and taking pictures of them. We loaded up all the gear and headed back for the hotel. Along the way we stopped at one of the many indeginous frankincense trees and our guide talked us through the methods of harvesting the trees and uses, really amazing and great to see in person. We enjoyed a drive back to e hotel at sunset with some of the team catching up on sleep!
Kids in the Fishing Village!
Barry making sure all the tackle is packed!
Frankincense tree
Sami checking out the sweet smelling sap
Our wheels.
A quick shower and we headed out in the town to a local restaurant and had a great meal in the side street with the locals and some friendly goats! A great end to our first day, with everyone very tired we walked back through the village to the hotel and got a better look at the everyday life on the island. We had a few leaders to re-tie and to sort out our tackle for day 2. We had decided to fish the same island the second day to try and catch one of the monster we had seen!
Another good dinner, check how tired everyone is after a day on the water!
Day 2 and the rest of the trip to follow!
