The Giant Trevally – or just GT amongst friends – is of course the one fish that we target first and foremost. In our opinion nothing else comes even close when it comes to surface fishing in tropical waters. The fierce, explosive takes and the fearless aggressiveness combined with its size and stamina during a fight and the GT is – and always will be, our favorite fish to catch.

While Maldives isn’t necessarily known for record breaking GT-sizes, we have landed many spectacular fish between 40 and 50 KG over the years, and a few of more than 50 KG being caught and released. However, what is really great about this fishery is the number of GTs between 5 and 35 KG.

If you know where to look for them – and we do! – few destinations offer the same consistency GTs, and there is no need to resort to jigging: We can always find them on the surface.

While some think the ‘cuda is quite scary, with its big teeth, mean looks and vicious attacks, we love catching them. Especially, if they get into the 10-15 KG range or bigger, a size that isn’t uncommon in The Maldives. They are not always easy to fool but once they turn on, will hit any surface lure with true vengeance.

Once they need to be unhooked, you might appreciate some help from the crew. Don’t mess around with those teeth unless you know what you’re doing!

It’s not unusual to hook smaller yellowfins while popping near deeper channels or drop offs but to find numbers, and bigger specimens, we need to go a bit off shore. Sometimes, we see diving birds and make a quick move to deeper water, other times we decide to go look for them specifically.

They come in all sizes, and it can vary a lot from school to school. The biggest we have caught are more than 80 KG but most are 2-10 KG. Yellowfins will be one of the few fish that we keep. Maldivian waters have an abundant population, and they are one of the best fish to eat. Our crew will make you fresh sashimi after you have done your part of the job.

If you hook into one of a bigger reef sharks, you’d better prepare yourself for a serious fight – one that might well start with some crazy headshakes and continue with serious runs and a heated drag!

The most common shark species in in Maldivian waters, and the ones that most often would hit a popper on the surface, are blacktip, whitetip of grey reef sharks. Most sharks we encounter are in the 10-30 KG range.

AKA napoleon fish, humphead wrasse and by several other names, is one of the most fascinating fish you can hope to catch – even if you’re not supposed to hope so, because they are a protected species in the Maldives.

However, since we neither can nor will target them specifically, you should enjoy it without mixed feelings if one of the magnificent creatures engulfs your lure. They can grow to over two metres in length, and weigh close to 200 KG but that is not the size we are likely to encounter. The smaller specimens are around 3-5 KG but once we get onto one of the adult fish, they range from 30 to 60 KG.

We don’t catch many, and when we do hook one, we release them after a taking a few quick pictures. Every season, we run a couple of expeditions to a special place down south where there seems to be more napoleons than anywhere else in the Maldives, so on these trips you never know what can happen …

There are many different species of grouper and we catch a good number during a season. They can grow very big but on surface lures we tend to tempt fish of between 5 and 15 KG. They fight well and you need to keep them away from rocks and reefs.

The dogtooth tuna earned its name because their teeth resembling those of a canine. They grow to really big sizes – more than 100 KG – and are often caught on jigging tackle along deep edges. (Edges, they love to cut your line on!).

What’s seems to be pretty special about the Maldives is that we find smaller specimens hunting some of the same spots as where we target GTs. They typically range from 10-50 KG but we have even caught a few bigger ones on surface lures. They are a highly sought-after fish to catch on the surface but they can be tricky to fool. They will often follow your lure all the way to the boat without hitting it: Super exciting and frustrating at the same time.

The bluefin trevally won’t reach anywhere near the same sizes as the GT but what it lacks in size it has in sheer beauty, with electric blue markings covering its overall body. Once bluefins reach a reasonable size, they really start taking a fancy to the surface lures we throw for GTs.

They are strong fighters for their size, and while our average catches are usually between 3 and 5 KG, we have landed specimens of more than 8 KG.

A great catch that always brings out happy smiles! Also known as dorado or dolphinfish, it’s possible the fastest growing fish in the ocean and can grow to more than 15 KG in a year. The have a short life span and most of the mahi mahis we find in Maldivian waters are between 3 and 10 KG. They are prized not only for their table fare, but also for their acrobatics during the fight – and not least their neon colors that range from vibrant greens to blues to yellows. We catch them on both poppers and jigs.

Bohar snapper, also often called red snapper, is a beautiful catch and one of the most common bycatches on poppers or stick baits. It’s a beautiful fish that often hunt in schools and we catch them up to 7-8 KG, though more common sizes are 3-5 KG.

The makes them fairly small compared to the GTs but don’t be fooled: The bohar snapper probably costs our anglers more lures than all other species we fish for put together! They are strong, and what’s worse: They are smart! As soon as you hook one, you must give it all you’ve got, keeping them from reaching the bottom. If they do, they will often dive under a rock and the outcome will be a victorious one for the fish.