Maldives fly fishing

Just back from looking at some more fly fishing destinations in the Maldives. We again fished the Kanuhura resort for a few days before flying down to the remotest area of the southern maldives and visiting the stunning Ayada resort. Both resorts are ideally set up for family vacations, honeymoons or just a holiday in the sun.

From a fishing point of view both offer something different. Kanuhura has a boston whaler and trained up fly fishing guide. We have also established a pick up and drop off program for the DIY angler. We encountered good numbers of bonefish while there and had over a dozen shots at ind-pacific permit over a couple of days fishing. The permit here are as fussy as elsewhere but we had several fish very interested in our presentations. The GT's were not around in big numbers but was not a great tide week so this may explain only the few fish seen.

Ayada is a new resort located in the far south of the Maldives. They are in the early stages of setting up their fishing program which will include a gameboat, spotrfisher and flats skiff. We will be helping them over the coming months to establish their fishing operations. There are extensive flats areas nearby to the resort and we spent 2 days looking at these. The habitat is varied (shallow sand, turtle grass and ocean reef) and extensive. Despite the great looking habitat we encountered few fish and this was probabl;y due to a big weather system that came through during our visit.

When the sun shone we manage dot find indo-pacific permit, big triggerfish and a fair number of good sized bluefin trevally (10 lb +). While the flats screamed bonefish we didn't encounter any on this trip. However the area looks great and I am excited about a return visit to try and find out a bit more about that fishery.

 FOR MORE INFORMATION ON FLY FISHING IN THE MALDIVES PLEASE CALL US ON +44 (0) 1621 743 711 OR EMAIL: enquiries@flyodyssey.co.uk

Fly fishing the Maldives: Client report

Always good to get some feedback from a client who has had a good trip. For those looking at taking the family away it is hard to go past Dhonakulhi island in the Maldives for a family stay with some saltwater fly fishing. We established this destination in 2011 and can help with all arrangements to the island to ensure you get the best out of the fishing opportunities in the Maldives.

Hi Mat,

Further as per our phone call just now, wanted to thank you again for organising such an epic Holiday. Jo, Hector and I had an fantastic time.

We had rising to high tides during the morning over our stay and falling low tides in the afternoon.

I'd spend the mornings fishing for bluefin trevally and GT's. Alot of this I could do from the beach outside our villa. The afternoons I'd wade one of the two flats on the island.

The Bluefin fishing was exceptional. I would either sight cast with bait fish patterns to larger fish cruising the beach edge or cast to scattering bait fish which would usually result in a hook up. When the fish were feeding it was frantic and you could expect numerous fish in a short time. Fish of 3-4 pounds were common and they would take me into backing, larger fish would do a bit more damage than that - I was broken off a few times! They are beautiful fish.

Over the high tide there were a regular supply of GT's whether I was on one of the flats or on the beach outside our villa. As you know, being a saltwater novice, I was a bit worried about being able to spot them. This is the easy part of GT fishing, you could probably do it without polaroids! They are like sunken drifting filing cabinets. Outside our villa I'd see them about 100m up the beach in ones, twos sometimes gangs of 4 or 5. On the sand flats you'd usually see a large dark shape emerge from the darker coral areas surrounding the sand, they seemed on average to be larger and come in only ones and twos on the flats. More often than not i'd stuff up the cast when sprinting into position but a couple of times I got it right and got some decent follows with the fishes backs coming right out of the water before veering off last moment, really is heart in mouth stuff. Unfortunately the only 2 hook ups I got were on a tiny popper I was fishing for bluefin with 15lb line! The leader was snapped like cotton thread.

During the afternoon the sandflats would be wadeable at about knee deep. There were less fish than high tide but  more varied spiecies and all fish that were caught were seen first. I found striped, gold spot and golden trevally on the flats, a well placed weighted pattern with some flash would usually do the trick. Striped trevally were propbably most numerous, they feed in the sand and have a striped back so from a distance I often mistook them for bonefish. I'd generally catch less in the afternoon but it was true flats fishing and each fish felt like a real achievement as I had no guide to spot for me.

Bonefish were absent the majority of my stay, I can only assume this was to do with the fact it was a full moon week which had been highlighted to me as a factor before. I actually didn't see a bonefish till my last afternoon on the flats when I saw a large shoal. I managed to hook one and lost it. On our leaving day as I was walking down the dock to our boat just off the beach to our right I saw about 4 or 5 bonefish feeding - large ones! Think they were giving me another reason to come back, not that I needed one.

As you know Hector is only 4 months old, so any holiday was a going to be a potential challenge. A saltwater fly fishing holiday almost unthinkable, but the villa, butler service, staff and resort in general were all geared towards making life as easy and relaxing as possible whether you want to go fishing, go for dinner or any of the other activities available. Being unguided presented me with both a challenge and the ability to arrange my time around my family. Jo tells me the spa is also amazing.

I don't think there is any other saltwater fishing location that is so family friendly.

I will be returning as have unfinished business with the GT's.

Unfortunately we didn't pack our camera charger so only have pics from the first day which attached.

Thanks again, NZ next up in Feb - can't wait.

Dorian

 FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT US ON +44 1621743711 OR EMAIL: enquiries@flyodyssey.co.uk