Jurassic Park in the north of Africa - Big Game Fishing Egypt

  • Hi guys,




    first I want to apologize for the delay of this report. Oli, Carsten and I fished in the May at the St. John´s Reef, in the south of Egypt. The german version of the report got published, and here is the english Version






    Jurassic Park in the north of Africa
    or
    „One of the last, real adventures of Big Game Fishing“






    Finally our adventure takes place. For several weeks we had intensive preparations for our trip to the St. John´s reef. A long time ago we infected all our friends, partner, parents and a lot of other people with our special tension, a tension that only can be produced from angler with a very special passion for their hobby. And now, finally we are in the airplane, with only one direction - “to the south”. Our flight from Berlin to Hurghada (Egypt) takes nearly five hours. Five hours in a good mood, with a lot of loud laughing and suggestions about the upcoming Adventure.„We“ Well that are two ladies (Katja and Claudia) and three angler (Oli, Carsten and myself Uwe). Our plane lands in time and some friends of our host supports us with the entry formalities. After a short transfer we arrive in the very nice house of our host “Sherif”.
    Sherif welcome us on his marvelous property and for the first time I have the opportunity to talk with this interesting man.



    Starting with a small restaurant in Hurghada this man became a very successful businessman. His strong cultural (Egyptian) roots combined with an world-open attitude helped him very much. During the whole journey Sherif was an outstanding host and friend for us. Thank you very much Sherif! Mr. Ahmed, his friend for many years, supported him. After few hours in Sherif´s house we got to a mini bus, that will bring us to the south, closer to our long-awaited destination, the St. Johns reef.Now we become acquainted with the Russian group, which will accompany us with this journey. Natalia is a blond, beautiful young girl. Evgeny is a very humerous and pleasant man. The two are accompanied with Alexey, „the uncle “of Evgeny.
    Our bus-drive takes four hours to Marsa Alam. The trip on Egyptian roads is a rough experience. Especially at night J


    Claudia prepared us very well for the trip. We got a booklet with a lot of very helpful informations. Moon phases, a short introduction to all the participients of the journey, the cabin-allocation of our mothership and many interesting things more. The time passes by very fast and soon we turn on a small dusty dirt road, directly heading to the sea. After we got agitated very hard, we arrived at the “harbour”. Immediately some guys, who asks us about our goal-ship, showed up. After we told them „M.Y Patriot“ they nodded uncertain and began to stow our luggage in their small dingies. Few minutes later we arrive at the M.Y Patriot, a big luxury diving-ship. We refer our cabins and then we have a very good lunch.






    Then we went in our bed and the ship started in south direction. Around 03:00 AM we get our wake up calls, because we meet the two Big Game boats, which are already waiting for us. It is really a genuine adventure when the headlight of our boat searching the night for the two boats in the fog. The fog is caused by the warm water and the cold outside temperatures. The scene has somethink spooky, I could smell the extremly pure adventure in the Midnightair. 1st Fishing Day We stored our fishing tackle on the smaller boats, tackling up our gear , ready to fight any sizes of Fish and the two boats move (again in south direction). Our mothership will follow tomorrow. After very few hours of sleep (it is about 06:30AM) we could begin with the fishing.







    Oli puts out his „Oli-Spezial“ (a combination of an Ilander Bullethead and a softplastic ballyhoo). The other two rods we armed with two Ilander (Sea Star & Black Hole) . I fish my 30lb-tackle with a Mann´s Lure and an Ilander`s “Sailfish catcher” . We are ready to hear the screaming of our Reels for the first time here at the St. John´s reef. We`ll meet our mothership around Noon.
    At 06:50AM my reel begins to sing her wonderful Strike-song. BITE! Oh wow, I take the rod and I can feel a nice fish on the other end of the Line. After few minutes, a big barracuda comes to the boat. What a wonderful start. My joy is unbelievable. The big fish measures 135cm and has a weight of 35lb! Barrac uuuuuuuu da!






    What a wonderful feeling! We celebrate this wonderful Warm up with a fresh made morning-cafe. And this tastes like „this is the right time at the right place“. And the Red Sea approved my feeling, so Oli´s reel plays the Accurate-melody. The lure? Of course his „Oli Spezial“. quickly he jumps to his rod, the fightingbelt around his hips and the fight begins with his hell bent custom rod. We all are fishing stand up and Oli has an aware smile on his lips. Actually, after few minutes we see a bulky Shadow behind the boat. The fish comes in much deeper then the barracuda and soon we can spot the species. A very nice Dogtooth Tuna. I´m totally fired up. One of my favourite fish-species, and the first one I see „alive“. The weight of the fish is about 20 kilo and it is (like all the other fish we caught in this week) very good fed. The fish comes in the icebox and we are looking forward to a delicous meal.














    For two more hours nothing happens and so we enjoy the „silence before the fight“ with very good conversation, when the Accurate-melody plays again... This time Oli´s opponent is much bigger and stronger. The rod bents and the reel works simply “accurate”. The fish takes line, Oli arrange the bring line back on and again the same procedure... The fine selected tackle works perfect and after 8 minutes the fish in on the boat. Again a doggie, but now a size bigger. We estimate the fish to 30kilo. Unfortunately, the scale broke after reaching the 25 kilo Mark. But it´s Ok for us, it definitely is a very good fish.



    Ok, Ok, it is still early in the morning but…the following beer tastes fantastic. But there is no time to waste, the sweet music of Accurate yelled over the deck. It is only 10:00AM and on the „Oli Spezial“ another nice tuna. But this time it`s a Yellowfin. A very good statistic, four hours fishing and four good fish. Unbelievable! But the show is still on. At 11:00AM another strike, now on my Lure. And again a good fish on the other side of the line. The fish takes line, I get some back on and the fish goes very deep. Again a very nice doggy. Not as big as Oli´s doggie, but still in the 25 kilo range. My deafening Cheers (because of my first doggie) is really….loud. Loud`n Proud On the way to the mothership we took that picture…



  • After a very good lunch on our mothership „M.Y. Patriot“ we started again at about 3:00 PM for fishing. The sea is a little bit rougher, but not hard. We are happy about our morning catches, but we are also very exciting about what will come on now. We are trolling the Oli Spezial Lure and my „Mann´s“. During a Barracuda Attack I lost my Lure. Holy sh** I should`ve used a piano wire or steel…It is a very silent afternoon and we spend the time with fishing and sunbathing on the flybridge. Suddenly my reel screames!Strike! I look astern and…..a billfish jumps. We all are sure that this is a small marlin, because the fish is very fat and bulky. I start drilling. It seems that the hook set perfect, but I don´t have a good feeling. The fish takes a lot of line (30lb) and soon I can see the core of my spool (TLD 25). Oli leaded me very calm, holds me during high waves (we fish stand up) and he leads the crew. They are very excited because it is their first billfish. The Captain can´t bring the boat in a good position and only with Oli`s instructions the captain is able to support me a little bit better. The fish jumps a lot and takes line. The boat makes a round-course and so I can take some line back. And again the same ol` game….fish takes line, I get line back on and so on. Some time I think I can see the double line, but it is more a wish than reality. And every time, I think the fish is near the boat it takes off again. Finally after 40 minutes the fish is on board. Now we see that it isn´t a marlin. It is a sail! But, what a fish? And the fish is hard injured. So the crew takes it out. My first sailfish! I´m very happy. What an unbelievable day! A wonderful fish. 200cm long and an width of 86cm! A real bull!







    I am celebrating with Oli and the crew!










    After this wonderful fish it is time to go back to the mothership. A Sailfish Party is up to come! 1st Day – second boat with Carsten and Sherif on board. The second boat with Carsten, Sherif and the russian group had a good day too.Sherif trolls his lures far behind the boat. So, Carsten has to place his lures (2x Oli spezial) behind Sheriff`s Lures, very f*cking far out. Another little problem is the low trolling-speed, for the diving Lures is fantastic, but for the ilander a problem. But, they are successful. Sherif can catch some really nice dogtooth tuna, the biggest had about 25 kilo. A real good fish. Carsten catches a beautiful bluefin trevally. They have some doublestrikes and they fight a lot of fish. They have a very good morning too and once they came near our boat, we could see Carsten with the popper rod and smashing his popper way out. Like a cowboy who tries to catch a raging Bull with a lasso. After the lunch they increase their speed and reduce the line-length of the trolling lures. The result are some barracudas, not as successful as in the morning. But still it was a very good day for us all. Let me tell you, such a good cold beer like the one that I had this evening, I never had before in my whole life ;-). By the way, who would you prefer?











    Second day!Our group is very homogenous, but unfortunately not with the same experience. Our russian friends are absolut beginners in saltwater-fishing but they are very motivated. So it´s only fair that one of us goes on sherif´s boat too and supports him. Otherwise he would have been the only experienced angler on board. Yesterday it was Carsten, today it´s my turn. Unfortunately we start late (at about 11 AM), because Sherif had a very hard week and needed some extra sleep. For me it´s no problem, because I had a hard week too. Some minutes later the first strike. This time Natalia is fighting the fish. She does a very good job. A real talent. A fish of about 90cm. Natalia is happy and I put the lure back in the water.After half an hour we have a hard attack on Sherif´s Rapalla. The fish hangs and the rod bent`s in Sherif´s hands. Sherif has 50lb line Setup but he can`t pull the fish to the boat. It takes line and give a real fight. Sherif get´s beads of sweat on his forehead. The fish comes very deep, but it´s not a tuna. A big GT hangs on the Lure. The joy of Sherif and the whole crew is big. A 30 kilo GT, biiiiig fish!
    After that, it´s time for lunch. It´s fantastic. Today we have dogtooth tuna Steaks. Delicious.




    During the afternoon we can catch some Barracudas. But then, at about 6:00PM, we hear a loud noise on the Penn Senator 50lb on Sherif´s rod. A big fish took the Rapala. From the flybridge we can see a big shadow, the silhouettes of a shark.Evgeny is fighting the fish and it´s a hard fight. He sweats a lot as he fights stand up against the fish from the flybridge of the boat. The fish takes line, a lot of line. The max. Drag of the reel can´t stop the Fish. The captain supports the angler, but for each and every meter that Evgeny reels in, the fish takes off another two metersBodyweight. It´s a fight with passion and a lot of humour. After about 150 minutes Sherif win´s that fight. A Whitetip Shark with 2,35 meter comes up. What a fish! You can´t imagine the party we celebrated. J 2nd Day - Carsten and Oli on the second boat But the second boat was also very successful. We troll (nearly all rods) the „Oli-Special-Lure“. The first hours we catch three Barracudas. But today we have other goals. Today we want to try popping for GT´s. And so I casted my popper in front of the reefstructure, following the rule “Long cast big fish”! A cruel Attack show´s me that I´m darn right. My rod shows that wonderful action that every Fisherman loves so much…. The fight is very short, but the fish is very beautiful. A nice Bluefin Trevally. The crew on the boat is very busy, maybe a little bit panical. The captain and crew never saw this kind of fishing before and all are very inspired. The sun is burning from above and everyone who ever tried this kind of fishing knows that it is a real hard work. The arms get very tired and the only thing that get`s me going is the motivation to catch the next big Fish. But it`s worth, because once again the water splashes behind my popper and a cruel attacks hit`s it. The Adrenalinpush is unbelievable! Well, when I should ever get a heart-attack, than I wish that it happens while Popper Fishing. The second, wonderfull Bluefin Trevally show up. What a beautiful species!And again, my body has some reserves. Cast by Cast, I fish the reef edges. suddenly a big fish attacks my popper. He jumps on top of the popper. The fight is very hard. But I win. A big Barracuda of 15 Kilo. Wow!This will be the biggest Barracuda for this day, but not the last. Two more Barracudas loved my popper. Do you think this is the best of today, No! Two very big Tuna (about 40 and 50 Kilo) followed Oli`s Slider. I never saw anything like that before, because both attack the popper with wild splashes. Unfortunately they shred the leader too. We lost two worthy opponent. That makes the fishing very interesting! We have some more pursuer, unfortunately without success. But the highlight of the day will come a little bit later. while my popper flashes through the reefchanel, a big red shadow attacks him. Failed! Sh** That was the ultimate Reefpig, the King of the underwater Hill, the T-Rex of the St. John´s reef! I`ll never ever get this memory out of my mind… What a fantastic fishery with the poppers! Five different species on popper, a great result. Popping is extra Class, (sometimes) better then sex!



    3rd Day This day is something special for Oli, Carsten and me. For the first time in our life we can fish together. Of course we leave our mothership early at 6:00AM. The sea is very calm, maybe too calm. We don´t have a lot of Strikes. Yes, we caught some Barracudas, but the real interesting bigger fish won´t bite. At about 11:00AM Oli has a nice Strike and now the fight is different to the Barracuda. Soon we see the fish behind the boat, a nice Dorado. But we loose the fish, cause the Crew failed to gaff it right. Ok, it was not really a problem but it would have been a further species for our “Daily To Do List”.The whole day our results in trolling had been not really good. But the Stops for popping been Highlights. Carsten shows us his fantastic technique. His poppers make very good splashes and so he could catch a lot of big barracudas on these poppers. Unfortunately, his most wanted GT don´t show up (not yet).We have a very good day on board with a lot of stories, jokes and laughter. Katja our Photographer is very funny and is a wonderful team-member.The day goes by too fast, but in the evening we all are sitting together with a good glass of wine on Deck. Evgeny is a very good guy with a very funny humour. His stories (he tells them all in broken English with a heavy russian Accent) are fantastic. My stomach hurts from all the laughing. Last Fishing-Day.
    This day should be something special. Katja, Hans, Carsten, Oli and me are on Sherif´s boat together. Natalia decided to join us on our boat too, of course we are very happy about this. She helps where she can, for example rigging…..




    Today we have hard wind and high waves. We want to fish a lot with the popper and trolling during the breaks. In the early morning a Barracuda bites and Natalia fights the fish. Again she`s shows a real talent. At 8:00AM we have our first popper-stop. Our Captain steers the boat in an perfect position and after some Cast Carsten yells „yo yo yo yo“ and with a giant splash his popper disappears in the deep Blue.
    A thrilling fight follows. Carsten is hanging in his struggled rod. The fish swims under our boat but the captain is a master and navigates the boat perfectly, so Carsten can continue his fight. After some minutes the crew wants to gaff the fish. Unfortunately Carten fights the fish in the front of the boat, so the Reeling is to far away to from the surface. But the Egypts are very fast and rich of improvisations and so one of the crew-members takes the others feets and holds him down for gaffing. You won´t believe it, but it worked! Unbelievable. So we landed the fish and our smile got biiig. What a fish….!. A GT with 24 Kilos!





    We make a little break and trolled some lures JAt 10:30 AM the next popper-stop and now it´s Oli´s turn. After some cast there is a fish following the popper and this fish attacks…..and bammm - hangs. The fish takes a lot of line and Oli fights hard. The fish goes deep and the rod looks like a circle in Oli´s hands. The captain steers the boat very attentively and the tension becomes indescribable. That´s a hard fight! After a lot of days with stiffer trollingrods, this rod in oli´s hands is thrilling. We can see the fish the first time, what a beast! Enormous, much bigger than Carsten´s GT. After some more runs we land the fish! 26 Kilos. What a monster! Brilliant. And that all in the Red Sea, not Coral Reef in Australia….just 5 hours from HomeJ



    I had a wonderful strike on my popper too. A big Barracuda jumped on my popper, but it also cuts my leader…bye bye….with my popper in his jaw and a tear in my eye. But the king in the ring of popping was…..Carsten. His technique and tackle was really the best for this kind of fishing. But I learned a lot. Now I know what`s really important and the next time I will be prepared with better, stronger tackle and a better technique.



    So we went back to our mother ship. Loud and Proud. Today, the popping made the difference. Trolling wasn´t good at all, other than popping. Flexibility is very important in fishing too, that is another thing I learned.
    Our catch from four days. This fish were all deep frozen and will be served in a restaurant in Hurghada





    We enjoy the last evening on the boat altogether with the others. It´s hard to leave our St. John´s reef. We had such a good time here. The last day we had very hard wind on our trip back. We made it back with the bus to Hurghada and 6 hours later we enjoyed a hot pizza and a good glass of red wine.
    It`s crystal Clear….we`ll be back! Soon.


    Carsten, Oli and Uwe







  • Well done! Certainly sounds as if the three of you had a good trip AND caught some great fish. And there always seems a great challenge, a real sense of adventure, in embarking on multi-day trips.


    And you're 'ahead' of me Uwe. I've never caught - in fact never even fished for - Giant Trevally or Dogtooths.


    Just a couple of points of detail. You describe a three and a half hour run from Marsa Alam before you start trolling. Is that because the topography in the immediate area of Marsa Alam is not conducive to fishing, it's fished out, or is part of a designated marine park? Or is it just to minimise travel time to that particular reef? And how far is the reef from Marsa Alam?

    Dave
    Honorary Life President
    Sportfishing Club of the British Isles

  • Well done! Certainly sounds as if the three of you had a good trip AND caught some great fish. And there always seems a great challenge, a real sense of adventure, in embarking on multi-day trips.


    And you're 'ahead' of me Uwe. I've never caught - in fact never even fished for - Giant Trevally or Dogtooths.


    Just a couple of points of detail. You describe a three and a half hour run from Marsa Alam before you start trolling. Is that because the topography in the immediate area of Marsa Alam is not conducive to fishing, it's fished out, or is part of a designated marine park? Or is it just to minimise travel time to that particular reef? And how far is the reef from Marsa Alam?


    Hi Dave,


    thank you very much for the flowers. But I think to be ahead you I have to fish a lot years more ;)



    Dave, to your last question. Well, the truth is that I´m not sure. Unfortunately I never saw a seacard. I think the cause is that the topography near Marsa Alam is very unspectacular for fishing. To reach the reef we had to drive about a half day, but not in trolling-speed (we drove back about 6 hours full speed on the last day). But it is a real interesting area there.


    Some days we read that a diver-woman from France got killed from a Whitetip-Shark there. But I think it was an accident because she feeded the sharks. ;(


    Then, about two weeks ago I got a link to an very interesting article (in German) where a group of divers write about the fantastic fish population in the north of the Sudan. They described large Hammerhead-Sharks, a fantastic Sail Population and many more. I think it is one of the few underfished areas.



    A very good time.

  • Dieses Thema enthält 5 weitere Beiträge, die nur für registrierte Benutzer sichtbar sind, bitte registrieren Sie sich oder melden Sie sich an um diese lesen zu können.

Big-Game Partner

PE12


PecheXtreme


Getawaytours


Jigabite



Jupiter Sunrise Lodge


Big Game Fischen Kroatien


GT-Fishing.com