24 minute read
Adventures for the Brave
By Hannes Vorster
EVER wanted to catch a big giant trevally (Caranx ignobilis aka GT) and lots of them? Or even the elusive and renowned Napoleon Wrasse. Well, I think I may have just found the place but, as with all things, this comes at a price (and I’m not referring to money here). I have been fortunate to fish in some of the world’s most prestigious GT waters but fishing the picturesque atolls of the Lakshadweep has been my most adventurous trip ever!
When I get invited on a trip with the opening line stating: “Not for the faint hearted” and I’m reminded to bring my sea legs along — if you remotely suffer from mal de mer then do not even consider this trip — then you really have my attention! However, nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to experience in this remote part of the ocean that I had never even heard of.
We were going to the Lakshadweep Islands 440km off the south west coast of India. They form the smallest Union Territory of India and their total surface area is only 32km 2 . These islands are the northernmost of the LakshadweepMaldives-Chagos group of islands — the tops of a vast undersea mountain range.
The archipelago consists of 12 atolls, three reefs and five submerged banks, with a total of about 39 islands and islets. All these islands have been built up by corals and have fringing coral reefs very close to their shores. The reefs are in fact also atolls, although mostly submerged, with only small bare sand cays above the high-water mark. The submerged banks are sunken atolls. Only ten of the islands are inhabited.
Since our visit in late November was at the end of the monsoon season, we were fully aware of the risk of potential bad weather and the odd rain shower. However, at the same time, it was the start of the fishing season, with a dark moon and fishing known to be very productive at this time of the year, so we figured it was a chance worth taking.
The first part of our adventure was getting there. Our group of six anglers flew in from all over the world (Canada, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and South Africa) and met up at the Kochi International Airport in India. Next we flew to Agatti Island — a 7.6km long island, and the only one with a runway for domestic flights from India.
From here we took tuk-tuks (carrying all our fishing gear and kit for a week) to the port, and from there we had a onehour ferry ride to Bangaram Island. The islands are magnificent! En route to Bangaram it was not difficult to spot the massive coral reefs and what the locals call bommies (coral reef pinnacles) under the crystal-clear waters of the Indian/Arabian Sea.
On arrival on the pure white tropical beach surrounded by beautiful swaying palm trees we had a very warm welcome from the locals. As primitive as it is, Bangaram boasts a beautiful resort with air-conditioned beach bungalows, a dining area and a beach bar. This is the only island in Lakshadweep where the sale and consumption of alcohol is permitted.
Diving is obviously a very popular activity in this part of the world and the dive centre is a popular attraction as are the other numerous water sport activities offered at the resort. The island is also regarded as a very important breeding place for sea turtles as well as for a number of pelagic birds.
After enjoying a cold beverage on the hammock slung between two palm trees on the beach, and reflecting on our long journey to get there, I felt as if I could quite comfortably stay there for remainder of the trip. However, if this is what the “commercial” islands looked like, I could only imagine what the more remote areas were like.
Fishing the waters in the surrounding atolls is a very rare and special experience and only a few fortunate folks have licenses from the local authorities to enter the area for recreational or sportfishing. Commercial fishing is also very strictly controlled and kept at a minimum and many species are protected.
Every fisherman dreams of visiting a secret spot where nobody else goes and where you know with 100% certainty that you are going to catch fish. It’s just human nature; we want it all to ourselves and don’t want to be bothered by strangers taking our bite. Well, you can imagine our excitement when Sameer Aman (our tour guide and owner of Ammathi Adventures who is licensed for recreational fishing in Lakshadweep) informed us that the last time fishermen who visited these remote and mysterious atolls was in April! Can you just imagine casting a popper onto a reef that has not been fished in over 6 months?
We had all our fishing tackle packed out and spent the evening rigging all the rods, spooling reels, making knots and all the regular preparations. Our boats were going to pick us up and midnight, and you could feel the excitement in the air. Eventually the call came that the boats had arrived — we were off on a seven day adventure! We would completely be cut off from the rest of the world for six days — no cellphone reception, no satellite phones, two small radios for the boat captains to communicate with one another, no GPS, no electricity, no cooling facility (which meant no ice!). However we had enough rice, pasta and coconuts to last for six days and lots of curry. This was a real Robinson Crusoe adventure.
The wooden boats, custom built by the locals for fishing and typically used in the area, do not offer much shelter . There’s a bit of cover in the back, but otherwise it’s a completely open deck which offers enough casting space for three fishermen. We later found out that these decks would double up for sleeping space in the evenings — under the stars with no cabin. We each had a small roll-up mattress, a fleece blanket and a pillow.
The two boats each carried three fishermen, a captain, a guide, a cook, a safety officer and a general deckhand. It was around 12:15am when we finally crept into our “beds” to get some rest before we engaged in some serious fishing. We were now completely cut off from civilization, en route to our first destination — Bitra island.
“Cast! Cast! Cast!” those were the first words I heard our captain shout. It was 7am and the sun was just clearing the horizon. We had arrived at the first reef after sailing through the night. I was still trying to fathom where I was and who was shouting at us so early in the morning when I realised what was going on.
We were in the middle of a school of baitfish frantically trying to escape from whatever game fish were feeding on them. They suddenly disappeared as quickly as they had arrived, but by now it was complete chaos on the boat with us all trying to clear our bedding from the deck to make space for casting.
Each of us was armed with two popping/stickbaiting rods (one heavy and one light), lighter spinning rods (for leisure fun and catching livebait), jigging rods (that would double up as trawling rods during the dead of the day when we were moving between the atolls) and an abundance of jigs, spinning lures, trawling skirts, poppers and stickbaits of all shapes and sizes. The boat is rigged with a very neat rod-rack to keep all the rods neat and ready for whenever they were needed.
I have never seen such clear water. You could literally see the large GTs and other gamefish swimming through the reef structures, coral trees and gullies, and the abundance of reef fish made it feel like we were in the middle of a giant fish tank. It almost felt it should be illegal to fish there. However, the downside was that whatever we did was as visible to the fish as it was for us.
We approached the atoll and started casting towards the bommies, and within only a few casts I heard a massive explosion on the surface. Edward Kuhn shouted “Fish on!” I saw Eddie’s Hamachi rod bend from butt to tip and we all looked at each other; we just knew this was going to be a week packed with a lot of fun and a lot of fish!
In the days to come we were rewarded with some fish species I have only read about in books and some I am still trying to identify. And to top it all, they were big.
At the end of day one we teamed up with the other boat and started our search to find an entrance through the reefs into the atoll’s lagoon to find a quiet place to anchor and get some rest after a very hard day’s fishing.
Casting 200-300 gram poppers and stickbaits and retrieving those plugs to create the unique splashing sound of feeding or injured fish on the surface is truly hard work and could be compared to any workout in the gym. Doing it all day long is another story, let alone doing it for six days nonstop!
We were pleasantly surprised to see Adriaan Hotlzhousen who was fishing on the other boat holding up a massive dogtooth tuna. This fish was well over the 20kg mark, and a personal best for Adriaan who only recently became interested in offshore gamefishing. We were all very envious as this was one of the species we particularly wanted to catch. It turned out that the fish swallowed the popper entirely and despite us all using barbless hooks it died whilst the crew were trying to remove the lure from its mouth and at the same time avoid the razor sharp teeth.
Hannes was very proud of this GT. A few good wahoo were caught.
A beautiful wahoo for Kurt.
Malabar groupers have huge mouths.
The aim was to release all fish caught, but since there was no cooling facility on the boat we obviously had to keep one or two fish each day for eating. I can say many things about the basic facilities on the boat, but one thing that absolutely stood out for me was how these blokes, given their limited resources, managed to come up with the quality of food they served us. Each day the cooks, each armed with only one small gas cooker, came up with mouthwatering dishes filled with Indian spices and freshly grated coconut. I have not eaten such delectable curry dishes in the best of Dubai’s Indian restaurants.
We all gathered on one boat for the evening meal and could not wait to hear each other’s stories of the day. On day one between the six of us we caught over 30 large fish of varying species including 10 GTs. Adriaan’s doggie was obviously the highlight of the day. Edward lost a large rainbow runner on the light jigging setup. It was clearly to big for the setup and although Eddie managed to keep the fish on the line and got it right next to the boat, it saw us and darted back into the deep. The fish managed to break the leader line whilst Eddie was frantically trying to stop the screaming reel with his hand.
The next two days we were going to fish Valiyapani reef. It is quite incredible to see huge waves breaking in the middle of the sea, where the currents meet the shallower water of
52 • SKI-BOAT March/April 2020 the atoll. The aim is to get as close as possible to the reef and then to cast your lure into the whitewash where the GTs and other large gamefish are lurking, waiting for baitfish to wash off the reef into the deeper water.
At one point I was retrieving a sinking stickbait and the next moment it was clear there was something chasing. It was only after Sameer shouted “Big fish! Big fish!” that we all realised that it was a huge GT which was literally breaking the surface water with its dorsal fin. From experience I know that when this happens you must continue your retrieval at the same speed and not change anything, but I have never in my entire life seen such a big fish! It was like I was getting “fish fever” — like “bok koors” when hunting. I must have done something wrong because the fish just turned away and lost interest.
I was still shaking like a reed and the adrenaline was nearly oozing through my skin. This was the largest GT I had ever seen — well over the 50kg mark. It turns out all the stories of the big fish at Lakshadweep were true!
We approached a shallow water area with clearly visible reefs and bommies and this was an area where we were all hoping to catch our first Napoleon wrasse. These creatures are the largest of all reef fish and can grow up to 7ft in length, with intricate, beautiful markings. Also known as the humphead wrasse, this behemoth is known for its broad lips, strong
Johan with a GT.
teeth, vibrant colours and the strange hump on its forehead.
An interesting fact about the Napoleon wrasse is that an adult has the remarkable ability to change its sex. Born with both male and female sex organs, most changes occur female to male; this usually happens when a dominant male dies.
I had been getting many strikes on a pink amberjack sinking stickbait, but just could not manage to get a decent hookup. Suddenly I had a hookup! I knew this lure was going to do the trick, but my joy was soon replaced with disappointment. I got stuck! The captain started reversing the boat and I frantically tried to avoid having my braided line cut off on the reef. I kept tight tension on my line and the next moment something really strange happened. I seemed to have managed to get the lure unstuck, but there was still a fish on the end of my line. Immediately I knew what had happened — this was the behaviour of a large grouper that had taken shelter in one of the caves or overhangs after getting hooked. It seemed like the angle of the boat and my attempts to get the lure back forced him out of his hole. I made sure I got the fish to the boat as soon as possible without giving it a change to dive back onto the reef. I was awarded with a huge Malabar grouper which looks like a pre-historic fish.
On day three, Dan Oxford pulled out a wooden Napalm lure, this looked more like a mantelpiece decoration than a real lure. Despite the enormous cost of this beauty I was very Adriaan’s dogtooth tuna - the highlight on day one..
skeptical about its ability to actually attract a fish’s attention. I was soon to be proved wrong. On his third cast Dan was into a fish that certainly meant business. Dan was putting his Carpenter Monster Hunter through its paces and this phenomenal rod just proved again why this range is so popular. Soon Dan had a 30kg GT on the boat!
Cheriyapani Reef was where we had our first encounter with the Napoleon wrasse. This reef lies in particularly shallow water and there are large gulllies, bommies and holes in the reef; it’s known for its abundance of wrasses. The obvious problem was that it would be really challenging to negotiate one’s line away from the reef’s edges which cuts through your braid like a ceramic knife.
At one stage the boat passed over a large hole in the reef surprising three wrasses that were just basking in there. I don’t know who got the biggest surprise — us or the fish, but they clearly got a massive fright and darted off into the reef. It wasn’t until later in the day that I had my first real opportunity of catching one.
I was once again casting my favourite pink amberjack lure when all of a sudden I had a follow by two Napoleons. They came right up to the boat and the larger of the two was actually bumping my lure with its nose, but just not committing to taking it. I was literally praying and kept saying “Take it, take it, take it!”but in this crystal-clear water it was difficult to hide
anything from the fish. As soon as they noticed the boat and/or heard me they both turned away and swam off.
On the same day Eddie, Dan and I each caught a GT of around the 30-35kg mark. I was ecstatic after being reminded of the strength and extreme fighting power of these beasts — this is what I came for!
Later that morning we spotted some bird activity on the horizon and headed out towards where we saw them diving and feeding on small baitfish. This behaviour typically indicates the presence of yellowfin tuna. We weren’t disappointed. After each of us hooked and landed a number of tuna’s all in the 10-15kg range we decided that was enough of that and we headed back to the reef looking for more GT and possibly that prized Napoleon action.
54 • SKI-BOAT March/April 2020 Sleeping on deck. The success just continued over the next few days and there were countless stories shared each evening of the large fish being landed and in great numbers. A particular story worth reflecting on was one told by Kurt Holtzhousen. On day five the other boat spotted a number of bonito out in the deeper water away from the reef; it was clear that something was feeding on them. The skipper decided to head out and see if they could catch any on the lighter spinning gear.
Kurt passed his light jigging gear to the skipper (Abdullah) whilst he continued spinning with his own light tackle gear. All of a sudden Abdullah had a hook up; it was nothing big, but all indications were that it would be a bonnie and perfect size for a livebait. Seconds later about six or seven doggies arrived on the scene completely lit up and making no secret that they were in full feeding mode. The poor little bonnie was frantically trying to escape the onslaught. One could actually hear the doggies swiping at it; they were lining this fish up and darting at it like a Polaris missile and absolutely giving everything to grab it from their competition. If they missed they turned around and immediately gave it another go.
Abdullah was trying his best to keep his catch away from these predators as we needed to rig it up as livebait. Meanwhile everyone else grabbed their bigger rods and started casting larger lures at the doggies. In the midst of this pandemonium Johan Hotzhousen was pulling a Cubera popper and a huge doggie came up for it and literally sucked the whole popper into its mouth less than a metre from the boat. This doggie was estimated around the 80-100kg mark so obviously a once in a lifetime fish, but Johan, in sheer admiration for the size and beauty of this large specimen got such a fright and completely froze. He did not strike or do anything, he was just staring at the 4D National Geographic scene playing out in front of him. Unfortunately, the doggie capitalized on this opportunity and managed to spit out the popper and disappear as fast as it had appeared.
Adriaan also had a few chases by some of the members of this school, but none of them committed. Eventually one of the largest of all the doggies got hold of the poor bonnie which was still trying to flee. The guys said the doggie hit the bonnie so hard that it sounded like a hand grenade had gone off. The little jigging rod was no match for it and snapped into pieces. Regrettably nobody got a chance to get the GoPro going in these moments of havoc, as everybody was frantically trying to get a hook-up. The crew sailed back to the reef empty handed, but with the sight of these beauties and the story they were about to tell imprinted on their memories forever!
For our last day of fishing we would be on PerumulPar reef which is the most remote. We decided to troll some lures behind the boat en route to the reef to see if we could pick
up some wahoo, sailfish or dorado. This turned out to be very productive and it wasn’t long until we caught a really decent size wahoo and a few other fish. The big surprise was the two marlin we raised, with one committing to a lure. It was a short-lived battle, though, and the fish swam away with one of Eddie’s favorite lures. As if this was not enough, he got completely spooled and had to replace the line on his Diawa Saltiga 5500H. I think he may have seized the bearings too gathering from the way that it was screaming and peeling line off at maximum drag.
Later that day Eddie was awarded with a personal best GT of around the 40kg mark which cheered him up. It was a real beauty of a fish that took him by complete surprise. The rest of us were just chilling after a very hard morning and afternoon session but Eddie was being persistent and kept saying that this was the last day and he did not want to have any regrets of not making the most of every moment.
Well, his perseverance paid off. He was just about to lift his lure out the water for yet another cast when a GT grabbed it and nearly pulled Eddie off the boat. Once he came to his senses he looked at me with an expression of pure joy on his face and said:“This is the one!”
I could see his rod bent from butt to tip and line peeling off his reel as Eddie frantically tried to turn the fish around. After an exhausting battle of around ten minutes, the fish started spiralling towards the surface from the depths. After a quick pic of his trophy the fish was safely released.
Finally it was time to head back and you could see the disappointment on everybody’s faces. We desperately wanted to stay in this place but there was one thing we were looking forward to back at the beach bar at the Bangaram resort — an ice cold beverage with ice!
We had caught a large variety of fish and in large numbers and a number of us had caught a personal best of at least one or more species. We were exhausted, but we’d had the experience of a lifetime. Sadly none of us caught a Napoleon wrasse, but we had seen them and even had a few follows during the course of the week. They are indeed very elusive and hence so highly sought after.
We had so much fun and laughter and memories which will last a lifetime, and I fully realise how truly blessed I am. I would like to thank the Lord for granting me these opportunities, protecting me on the sea and for bringing me safely back to my family.
I want to give special recognition to some of the folks who made this trip possible for us: Kurt Holtzhousen for putting the trip together, Sameer Aman who was our organiser and guide, Firos Sha our Safety & Rescue Officer, Mohammed Rafeeq & Abdullah who were our two boat captains, Saifudheen the guide on the second boat, and lastly Aboobacker, Riyas, Saif Ali & Aslam Uvvaour our cooks and deck hands who did an absolutely amazing job. Here’s to more amazing adventures!
FISH CAUGHT ON OUR TRIP Giant trevally, black trevally, big eye trevally, blue fin trevally, dogtooth tuna, passion fruit coral trout, leopard coral trout, tomato rock cod, Malabar grouper, red moontail grouper, yellowfin grouper, red sea bass, red emperor, spangled emperor, green jobfish, rosy jobfish, yellowfin tuna, barracuda, rainbow runner, bonito and wahoo.
THINGS TO REMEMBER • Visas are required to enter India, regardless of nationality. • Permission to fish in the area must be obtained prior to the trip and can be arranged through the tour guide. • No alcohol — this will be confiscated at Kochi Airport and the rule is strictly enforced. • Waterproof bags are a necessity to keep important items dry during rain showers. • Ablution facilities are very basic and the only way to wash is a “sea shower”. • There is no electricity on the boats, so any electronic devices that need charging would require a battery pack. Take a few of these and ensure they are fully charged before you go. • There is no mobile phone reception, and if you feel the need to make use of a satellite phone you need to take your own. You will be cut off from civilization for the duration of the trip. • There are no cooling facilities aboard so you need to be aware that all soft drinks and water will be enjoyed at room temperature. • There is limited shelter on the boat, so be prepared to get wet when it rains and to be exposed to the sun. Take the necessary protection. • You’ll be sleeping on the deck under the stars — what an experience! • Barbless hooks are mandatory, not only to protect the fish and facilitate a quick release, but also for the safety of the anglers and the crew on deck. • Weight restriction on the flight from Kochi to Agatti is set at 20kg and any excess luggage is charged at a substantial cost so be prepared and ensure you only take what is really needed. • Take a diving mask as it is great to end each day with a bit of snorkelling around the reefs. • This is not a trip for the faint hearted — be warned. • Anybody interested in making a booking should contact Sameer on: <laktourism@gmail.com> or visit their Facebook page <www.facebook.com/sportfishing lakshadweep/>.
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