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
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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:
