maldives help

**smoothound56** · 05-01-2008, 12:30

just got myself a bargain after haggling over the phone for 2 weeks in kuredu resort, maldives. never fished that part of the world so just wondering if anyone has fished it and can let me know what to take and what i am likely to catch
thanks in advance

**PanamaJack** · 05-01-2008, 13:36

Can’t comment on the specific atoll you’ll be staying on but a German friend of mine was in the Maldives a month or so ago. There’s a report of his trip, in English, on this site - http://www.bluewaterfishing.eu/e_start.html . Look under Trip Reports, Maldiven. It will at least illustrate some of the species you can encounter.

In addition try a search this forum, using Maldives, from the Asia ‘home page’. There’re three other threads that might provide some further information.

I think most of the resorts though seem to offer 'basic' hand line fishing on the reef edge in the evenings.

**Spitfire66** · 05-01-2008, 14:47

Originally Posted by PanamaJack

Can’t comment on the specific atoll you’ll be staying on but a German friend of mine was in the Maldives a month or so ago. There’s a report of his trip, in English, on this site - http://www.bluewaterfishing.eu/e_start.html . Look under Trip Reports, Maldiven. It will at least illustrate some of the species you can encounter.

In addition try a search this forum, using Maldives, from the Asia ‘home page’. There’re three other threads that might provide some further information.

I think most of the resorts though seem to offer 'basic' hand line fishing on the reef edge in the evenings.

wow - incredible pictures there - I especially like the before and after plug pics

**Enzo200500** · 05-01-2008, 18:08

Smoothound56.
Please be VERY CAREFUL when using your credit card on Kuredu.

Me and the wifey have just returned from a weeks diving in the Maldives - liveaboard on the dive boat visiting numerous atols etc.

At the end of the trip we went to pay our bar bill (not much honest!!) from the boat. They could not process the card on he boat so we were ferried over to the reception on Kuredu. They are 'tied' in with some sort of business arrangment.

Upon returning home, after stopping in Dubai, I happened to check on-line my c/card balance. Lo and behold, there was £130 in 3 SEPERATE transactions for mobile phone top ups back here in the UK???

These transactions were taken after the only bar bill in Kuredu and my next purchase in Dubai. So very easy to spot.

I can only summise that there is some bad dealings going on with somebody at the reception with contacts back in the UK hoping that these 'small' amounts will go unnoticed.

I have cancelled the card and informed Visa.

And yes, there are some VERY BIG fish on the outer walls/reefs. I just wish that I had taken a travel rod etc.

Have fun and try to sit on the left hand side of the sea plane when flying out from Mali - good view of island and Atols. And the pilots don't even wear shoes.....

**marktheshark** · 06-01-2008, 03:11

Ullo matey
I was in Maldives in spring 2007, not Kuredu but an island called Meedhupparu. First up, a warning that fishing from the shore, jetties or any watercraft within the atoll of resort reefs is forbidden, and punishable with a US $500 fine. I initially thought that was a shame, but when I saw how unconcerned about humans the fish, turtles and dolphins were around the house reef, I changed my mind. Best leave the shore gear at home, or use it from the boat.
My brochures don't list deep-sea fishing or line fishing as an activity at Kuredu, and it doesn't look like it has much of a house reef - it looks more of a sandy island than a coral one. However, the Maldivians use dhoni boats like taxis and we were able to fish off the back of the ones from Meedhupparu (if we asked the skipper) when we were out on excursions etc.
I'm sure that if you really want to fish, you'll find a way. At Meedhu, a group of us asked the resort's head of entertainments to arrange a charter for us with a skipper who knew what he was doing - he just didn't have the gear. So we wrote down exactly what we wanted, how many hours, what time, what drinks etc and it was arranged - and we had a cracking day. Eight dorado to 30lb, loads of tuna, a wahoo ...
Inshore there are loads of small tuna, jacks, snapper, kingfish, sharks, needlefish. You don't have to go far to get among the pelagic species, and we saw a local boat hauling in a sailfish less than 10min offshore.
Big Rapala Magnums worked, also Williamson sailfish lures were popular with the dorado. The locals used handlines with a live bonito on a 10/0 hook for dorado, wahoo, and I'd imagine just about everything else. You need tiny (3in) muppets to catch the bonito (I also used saltwater flies, size 2 clousers), then troll them along slowly. There are fish everywhere - they'll find you! Take heavy wire traces as the wahoo and kingfish have horrendous teeth. I took a couple of 30lb class travel boat rods and a 20lb one for the tuna, which was about right.
The charter was excellent value: US$130 for six of us, six hours' fishing (or about £12 each incl tip). The resort also arranged morning trips (3hrs, $25 per person), which again, were great as long as you had your own gear; the boat only had handlines, but it was the same sort of trolling for dorado, wahoo etc; and evening trips (3hrs, $25), which involved anchoring near a reef and handlining snapper, grunt, sweetlips etc for dinner. Again, if you brought your own gear, you could have a ball as the reef edges were patrolled by some big jacks, snapper etc. I didn't do the evening trips, but my guess is that big poppers and very heavy spinning gear would be yer man.
I think I left a catch report on the Asia forum in April. When are you going? And which agency did you haggle with, if you don't mind me asking.
Good luck
Mark

PS: most extras there are charged in US dollars and can be settled in cash, I think. Bearing in mind the previous post, and the possibility that the £ will probably fall against the $, I'd buy my spending money now rather than later. Just an opinion, I'm not a financial advisor!

**smoothound56** · 06-01-2008, 13:15

Originally Posted by marktheshark

Ullo matey
I was in Maldives in spring 2007, not Kuredu but an island called Meedhupparu. First up, a warning that fishing from the shore, jetties or any watercraft within the atoll of resort reefs is forbidden, and punishable with a US $500 fine. I initially thought that was a shame, but when I saw how unconcerned about humans the fish, turtles and dolphins were around the house reef, I changed my mind. Best leave the shore gear at home, or use it from the boat.
My brochures don't list deep-sea fishing or line fishing as an activity at Kuredu, and it doesn't look like it has much of a house reef - it looks more of a sandy island than a coral one. However, the Maldivians use dhoni boats like taxis and we were able to fish off the back of the ones from Meedhupparu (if we asked the skipper) when we were out on excursions etc.
I'm sure that if you really want to fish, you'll find a way. At Meedhu, a group of us asked the resort's head of entertainments to arrange a charter for us with a skipper who knew what he was doing - he just didn't have the gear. So we wrote down exactly what we wanted, how many hours, what time, what drinks etc and it was arranged - and we had a cracking day. Eight dorado to 30lb, loads of tuna, a wahoo ...
Inshore there are loads of small tuna, jacks, snapper, kingfish, sharks, needlefish. You don't have to go far to get among the pelagic species, and we saw a local boat hauling in a sailfish less than 10min offshore.
Big Rapala Magnums worked, also Williamson sailfish lures were popular with the dorado. The locals used handlines with a live bonito on a 10/0 hook for dorado, wahoo, and I'd imagine just about everything else. You need tiny (3in) muppets to catch the bonito (I also used saltwater flies, size 2 clousers), then troll them along slowly. There are fish everywhere - they'll find you! Take heavy wire traces as the wahoo and kingfish have horrendous teeth. I took a couple of 30lb class travel boat rods and a 20lb one for the tuna, which was about right.
The charter was excellent value: US$130 for six of us, six hours' fishing (or about £12 each incl tip). The resort also arranged morning trips (3hrs, $25 per person), which again, were great as long as you had your own gear; the boat only had handlines, but it was the same sort of trolling for dorado, wahoo etc; and evening trips (3hrs, $25), which involved anchoring near a reef and handlining snapper, grunt, sweetlips etc for dinner. Again, if you brought your own gear, you could have a ball as the reef edges were patrolled by some big jacks, snapper etc. I didn't do the evening trips, but my guess is that big poppers and very heavy spinning gear would be yer man.
I think I left a catch report on the Asia forum in April. When are you going? And which agency did you haggle with, if you don't mind me asking.
Good luck
Mark

PS: most extras there are charged in US dollars and can be settled in cash, I think. Bearing in mind the previous post, and the possibility that the £ will probably fall against the $, I'd buy my spending money now rather than later. Just an opinion, I'm not a financial advisor!

thanks for the very informative reply mate, i did read about the ruling on beach fishing so will concentrate on getting some fairly heavy boat gear together. as for the haggling, we went back and forth from first choice, thomas cook and thompsons. in the end we got it through thomas cook for over a grand less than the first quote. we are going in october so hopefully miss the monsoon seasons