Maldives Day 2 Part 1

Tuesday 16 September 2008

We woke up early for trolling fishing. This is different from sunset fishing the night before and we are looking for much bigger fish. Usually this has to be much earlier in the morning but we set out around 7am. The skies are still rather dark but we could see sunlight peeking through the clouds.

There were only three participants in this fishing trip. Us and the fishing enthusiast from South Africa. He’s such a quiet man and seems to know so much about fishing that we thought he came solely to fish. It was only much later we realized he did come with his partner. Anyways AS and I enjoyed the morning breeze and waited for it to be brighter before we could take more pictures. Here’s our crew for the day.

And here’s the bait for trolling fishing. It’s much larger and longer, and has a fly. The hook is also very much larger than the one during Sunset fishing.

This is then attached to a very long fishing line and dropped into the waters. The fishing line has a thin rope attached, and we just hold onto it and wait for a fish. In the meantime the boat will continue moving so I think the bait would resemble a small swimming fish in the deep water.

OH when we just settled down with our fishing lines, we spotted dolphins again!! There were quite a few of them (much more than on the first day) and I think the waters were still cool enough so they were jumping out of the water just like we see on Animal Planet or something. Unfortunately by the time we got hold of our camera, all we caught was a fin. Can you see it? (You might not since the picture here is small)

But at least we saw it and it was a sight worth remembering.

We had breakfast on the boat while waiting for fish. First we had some coffee and some snacks. And then we were served an array of pastries from the kitchen.

Trolling fishing is interesting because we get to see the beautiful sights in open waters early in the morning. I love the breeze and the waves as well.

But as everyone knows, fishing requires a lot of patience and so there were long periods of time where we had nothing to do. AS decided to sit and wait at the side of the boat and have the running water at his feet…

While I started to take random photos…

Awhile later, I ran out of subjects to shoot. So I just sat and watched the water. It was a very dark navy blue and the waves were very calming despite the boat’s speed. I just stared and stared and thought to myself… Are there any fish in there? Maybe there aren’t….

And suddenly, as if in response to my question, I felt a huge tug on my line.

Initially I thought it was a huge wave, but this one was relentless. I stood up immediately and held on to the post of the ship about 1.5m away from where I was sitting. And then in my raspy voice (I had a cough) I said ‘Fish? I think it’s a fish!’

At first AS looked at me like ‘huh? A fish? did you say a fish?’

And the rest of the crew came running to help.

At first we were all skeptical because when they asked ‘Is it a fish?’ I said ‘I dunno. I think so.’ Probably due to the lack of fruitful results during the Sunset fishing the night before, I was almost certain the hook will be empty again. But one of the crew members took over my line and tugged at it. Then he nodded his head and said ‘Yes! Fish!’

With that he passed the line to another member, and went to get something. We were all pulling in the line and in my heart I kept thinking the fish has already escaped. But everytime I thought that, there was a strong tug on the line again.

So we were happily pulling and pulling and I saw the first crew member wielding this giant hook. I realized that he had to hook out the fish when it’s near enough the boat.

Suddenly everyone yelled and was very excited; Apparently the fish was just next to the boat and was BIG!!!! We could feel more tension on the line and the crew with the giant hook was all ready to catch the fish.

…. lo and behold, the fish was so near the boat and it gave a final desparate struggle… it pulled unto the line so tightly and in this process, all of us holding the line had cuts.

AND it got away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

It was such a disappointment and I DIDN’T EVEN SEE THE FISH!!!!

It was allegedly at least 1.5 meters and had silver and gold/metallic green scales. We were able to identify it as a Yellowfin Tuna later.

(@#$&*#&%)

So here are two of the few fishers who battled with the fish

Although it was disappointing that the fish got away, I was glad I even managed to catch something (in a way). At least now I now what it’s like to be reeling something in! We continued fishing for another hour or so, and the boat went around searching for possibly fishing spots (like looking for birds and going to areas where the big fishes jump out of the water), but it turned out that my escapee was the only one to take the bait that morning. It was good fun though and we want to do this again sometime. This would be one story we’d be telling for a long long time!

~ by alt.ayu on September 25, 2008.