Not every day you go away on a family holiday 3500 miles away, seemingly going with no intention to fish only to be contacted by friends saying someone has seen you at the airport at Gatwick and he's on my flight....couple of days later a chap called Adam Bass contacted me to see if it was me for sure, of course, it was! Adam and I have trodden the same paths over the years but had never met nor spoke via social media platforms beforehand.
This world is a strange place and noticeably how small it is...he was staying in Makadi, just a few miles from where my family and I were holidaying, soaking up the delights of the Egyptian climate. The conversation we had was great and a really nice chap, then proceeded to ask me if I fancied joining him on his charter out of Makadi Marina, after a very short waffle with the mrs the deal was done, I was going on a boat in the Red Sea for game fish, LAVERLY!
A few days passed until the morning arrived that I was due to go and by 6am we were nearly ready to rock and we were afloat and gone by 7am. A number of fish were possible but I was just happy to get out on a boat, my sea legs needed an outing :)
Adam very kindly suggested as the guest I should have first run...I did try to say no but he wasn't having any of it, so when the freespool was sent into meltdown I was up! 10mins later a nice SkipJack tuna was aboard and dispatched quickly as it was approaching mid morning, stuff your normal elevenesses, sashimi skipjack is where its at, bloody lovely and the chef done a brilliant job with it later on with a light batter, brown rice and fresh salad.
First blood, athletic SkipJack |
Adam then had a skipjack and then I hooked something that was a lot better than the skipjack and it played me hard, this fish didn't want to come up as we fished over nearly 100m of water just off the coast, after about 15mins she was nearly done and with a steady battle alongside the boat the captain reached out with the gaff and 20kg+ Yellowfin Tuna was boated! what a fish and what a battle.
Readying a YF! |
Mega!!!! |
Ditto |
Ditto |
If I thought skipjack carved off a 10min old fish was great then this yellowfin was in a different league, my god it was incredible !!!!
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SkipJack sashimi |
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Nom Nom!!! |
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Yellowfin Sashimi |
I am certainly a conservationist with my angling but when you are abroad the rules are different! Plus they are life experiences and one that one must enjoy during your lifetime. Great company, great fishing and great food on the deep blue sea in wonderful coastal scenery.
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Adam battling a spirited SkipJack |
After that yellowfin Adam lost a good fish so it was back to me, the next take was something you could only dream of, the sheer speed and power that this fish went at had the reel screaming! Atef the captain was 100% sure it was a DogTooth Tuna, the characteristics of the fight were to him made it undoubtably so. I just couldn't do much with it, in the end the flourocarbon leader must have cut across its teeth and she was gone, I was gutted but looking back just to experience that type of sustained power is a first for me.
Adam, if you ever read this, cheers brother!! It was a blast.