Sunrise, best time of the day! A new start and anything is possible!
Sami enjoying the morning sunrise and coffee!
Boarding the boats in the morning was also good fun!
We arrived and fished the area we stayed close to the normal areas but Luke and Barry drifted down the current to a ledge at the back of the current and were greeted by a big pack attack of GTs all round the boat trying to hammer there lures! Both went tight on a double and the game was on! It is not very easy to land a double on these boats and a good game of musical chairs normally develops! The guys got both the fish up to the boat and got a great double trouble picture!!
Big grouper
Deep water grouper!!
Barry and Sami has been having a bit of smack talk going on about jigging and catching jobfish. All Barry wanted to catch was one Jobfish and Sami had caught a few and the negotiations had started on what Barry would swop to catch a jobie! But Barry had stuck to his guns and finally Barry with perseverance hooked up and landed a great jobie! Another good fish ticked off the list for Barry!
Barry with a hard earned Jobie
We headed back to camp before lunch but the captains took us to a new shallow reef for a few casts and the place came alive with snapper and bluefin. We had several hits and Sami managed to land a nice Bohar that we thought was initially a GT it fought so hard and Luke landed a nice Bluefin. Great morning having fun fishing various spots and techniques!
Sami in the action
Sami with a big bohar on a Moutoukenmaru
Luke with a nice bluefin
Luke with the release
We had a nice long leisurely lunch and swim to rest up for the afternoon session, the guys trying to rest themselves as much as possible for hopefully another afternoon filled with GT chaos! We had a heap of Egyptian Vultures around the camp and Luke was getting up close and personal with them with the camera, was amazing once they were used to you how close they would come! Luke had to back away a few times as the birds were very brave and had a set of mean tallons and beaks!!
Egyptian Vultures flocking
Luke Attenborough getting up close and personal with the localwild life!
We headed back out for the afternoon session and got back into position. Amazing what a few hours does to change a place! The current was ripping again and on the first drift I was straight into a good fish on popper. We pulled the fish upcurrent and although the fish was not big but it put on the hurt big time with the current pushing one way and the boat pulling another. The WV80XH was working for her money!!
Bending!
The beast!
Another good GT on popper
Luke managed to hook up a nice fish and landed her to take a few pictures. Luke and Barry moved to the area they had hooked the fish in the morning and this is when it turned nasty. Luke put on a Gamma 250 as it was coming towards the end of the trip and the time had arrived big lure big fish!! They drifted the back of the current and Luke had a big hit from a massive kingfish that came clean out of the water about 4m with the Gamma flying out of its mouth! A bit of panic as the king has some nasty teeth that like to cut off expensive lures! Luke pulled the lure back towards the boat and got hit again near the boat. By now everyone on the boat was in sheer fish fever mode! Not one to shy away from a challenge Luke put out another long cast, the king again hit the lure and by now Luke was getting the hump and started working the lure quickly when all of a sudden the sea opened close to the boat and the true Giant trevally came head out of the water and engulfed the Gamma 250 and turned and headed straight back down to the bottom and reefed Luke in about 5 seconds!!! Totally epic and a huge fish!! Luke put on another Gamma 160 and the next cast basically another beast hit the lure and got the fish under control and with a wrong decision from the skipper got reefed again! Now the trip was starting to become expensive! Amazing how you think you have the fish figured out and something like this happens! Why we love GT fishing!!
Luke very happy with a well earned GT!
Sami and I had stayed at the top of the current and Sami put on the Siren 300 orange prototype and put in a few casts up current and had a good hit but quickly figured out the fish was not to big but another nice Bohar came to the boat, but the lure was almost the same size as the fish! Very aggressive and feeding in 5 knot current on a lure that looked like his brother! No mercy in this part of the World!
Think this Siren has to be named Bohar colour!!
I had a bit of luck on my side and drifting down the current we had a pack attack come up on Samis lure but unfortunately did not hook, I put out a cast tothe left and had another couple of fish chase the lure right to the boat, I slowed the Hammerhead down and the lead fish came up and sipped the lure off the surface like a dry fly, awesome to watch! Bang fish on! Pull up current, loose half your spool of line and then the long task of working a fish back to the boat! Socotra is definitely one of the toughest terrains and environments to catch big GTs but once you have the fish in the boat no matter what the size it is a great sense of achievement! I got another good GT to the boat after one of the most grueling fights and the fish was around the 25kg mark!
This is hard work but fun!
Not a big fish but the fight was hectic and stretched my arms about another 10cms!
Sami continued with the Siren 300 and finally got rewarded with a good fish hitting the lure out of sight as the lure is sinking. Sami hit the fish and another epic battle ensued. Sami put on the hurt and got a good fish to the boat. To end off the day I had a good hit on a Siren 250 but by now the arms were tired so I got the captain to turn the boat and try pull the fish down current and across the current! Luckily this worked and I got a good fish to the boat for a few pictures!
Sami bending on the RP300 and Siren 300! 300 Club!
Great fish, lure and angler!
Great fish to end the day on a Siren 250
The end came all to soon to another great day on Socotra. The trip had really been worth all of the planning and effort. We had not known what to expect and we had only dealt with the local guides on the island and we were never sure if they were positive about the fishing and safety on the island just to try and get us to the island for money but we had come to realize that the local Socotrians are extremely honest and they were true to their word that we would have a trip of a lifetime!!
We ended off the day sitting around the fire and had some of the local fisherman sit with us and through Sami we talked about the island, fishing, life on the island etc. Very interesting and they are a very proud and relaxed people. But the story that made us all gasp was one of the local fisherman had been netting in 4m of water for sharks which is a big export and revenue stream for the local fisherman. But he had laid a net and when he pulled up the net he had 2 huge GTs in the net. The locals don't eat or really sell the GTs but the fisherman did sell the fish as they were dead and the fish buyer weighed both fish at an identical weight of 90kg each!!!!!!! Yes 90kgs confirmed and weighed not a guestimate! So there is no doubt that the Worlds biggest GTs lurk in these waters between Socotra and Hallaniyat! Not sure if you could ever land these beasts but sitting around the fire in Socotra with the stars shinning and water lapping the shore we did dream for a while that it might be possible and will defiantly bring us back for round 2!
Sitting around a great fire to end the day with wild stories of big fish!
The last and final days fishing and leaving the island with goats and all to follow!
