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David Sharples

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Maldives Finally!
February 09, 2008, 03:19:37 AM
Just got back, fishing was tough due to unseasonable wind and current. The party the week before we arrived popped all week for five fish. I mixed up some jigging with popping for a few average doggies, AJs and rosy jobfish. Last day did a mornings popping, third cast I got this thing on a flying fish pattern craft bait stick bait. No idea of the weight as at the time I was shaking with adrenaline and couldn't string a sentence together! Scared the hell out of me on PE6 and a light rod which I though was going to explode!

All credit to the guys on here for the advice though, worked perfectly and this is the result. Most exciting five minutes of my life  ;)

Typically as we were steaming home we started to see patches of fusiliers fizzing everywhere with big fish underneath.

Now its time to book a week in Musandam with some proper kit and do it again. Awesome.


Does anyone know how to fish the CraftBait stickbaits? I've got the floating ones and although I think it was working well when I got this one it seems to slide on its side over the water, especially when casting from a high deck...

Cheers

David

Neil Griffiths

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Re: Maldives Finally!
February 09, 2008, 09:48:57 AM
Does anyone know how to fish the CraftBait stickbaits? I've got the floating ones and although I think it was working well when I got this one it seems to slide on its side over the water, especially when casting from a high deck...

Cheers

David

G'day David

I prefer to rig them with trebles to reduce bouyancy a bit, they have a wild action that will roll right over when retrieved.
High decks can provide a challenge for a lot of lures, generally working the lure with the rod tip down at foot level or below will often be the best in this situation.


Wong Kai Zhee

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Re: Maldives Finally!
February 09, 2008, 04:35:13 PM
u went up north or down south?

i am going there 2nd week of march.

any advise for me?

cus if th weather is anticipated to be rough, i'll bring more light tackle and focus on fishing the lagoons.

is the jigging result better than popping?


Stephen Wan

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Re: Maldives Finally!
February 09, 2008, 04:46:59 PM
Nice fish!

Stephen

David Sharples

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Re: Maldives Finally!
February 09, 2008, 09:53:45 PM
u went up north or down south?

i am going there 2nd week of march.

any advise for me?

cus if th weather is anticipated to be rough, i'll bring more light tackle and focus on fishing the lagoons.

is the jigging result better than popping?



We went far south, I think Hudhavoo Atoll and the weather was pretty rough for most of the time which meant they couldn't get out to the reefs they wanted to jig. Inshore we got a lot of small to medium size fish like jobfish and AJs plus small doggies. I was fishing the Smith AMJ EXH and a Stella 20000 which was too much for these fish. If you can, take a lighter jig rod with 8000 size reel so you can get some fun from the smaller ones. Saying that I got smashed by a big yellowfin at the boat and our guide had a doggie around 40kg so you take your chances with light gear! Heaviest jigs we used were 300g but mostly 180g-250g were fine. The Sevenseas Hooker in 220g was best for me, they seem to like short baitfish size jigs.

For popping everyone was right, you need to cast far as the GTs are right in the surf on the reef and unless you can get your lure in there you are wasting your time. The guides seem to like pencil type poppers with a fast retrieve. As we were leaving there were loads of fusiliers inside the lagoon with GTs underneath so try to bring Orion Bigfoots in fusilier colour.

There's also a lot of bluefins inside the lagoon under the birds, we had a lot of fun catching these and small doggies with 40g metal slices on a light rod. There are much bigger bluefins in the surf where they pop for GTs so maybe try an 8000 size popping outfit there with smaller lures.

Hope that helps. The weather was getting better as we left so reckon by March it should be great, the fishing also got a lot better during the week, apparently the monsoon was changing or something which meant the weather was unusual for the time of year.  The group after us was with Nicola Zingarelli from Caranx.net so maybe ask him for an update in a week.

If you want to know any more PM me. Good fishing!

David Sharples

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Re: Maldives Finally!
February 09, 2008, 10:53:00 PM
G'day David

I prefer to rig them with trebles to reduce bouyancy a bit, they have a wild action that will roll right over when retrieved.
High decks can provide a challenge for a lot of lures, generally working the lure with the rod tip down at foot level or below will often be the best in this situation.


[/quote]

Cheers Neil

I was fishing from the Dinghy when I got this one and was holding the rod tip underwater to stop the lure surfacing, this gave it a great action. Cheers for the advice, awesome lure though. No damage to it at all after that fish, just a few pressure marks, No paint chipping or anything. Excellent.

Cheers, David