It has been 27 years, since I last set my foot on Saudi Arabian soil… I was almost 13 years when we moved back to Germany (my dad had worked there) and so I spent most of my life here in Germany. But Saudi Arabia has left its mark in my heart, and the Red Sea still flows through my veins.

Legends abound of uncounted snappers, barracudas and groupers which my dad caught using a hand line and dead bait.
The first fish I remember as having caught completely on my own was a small needlefish… And even after 27 years almost every big family dinner ends with the discussion, if the Red Sea is still as beautiful as then, and if we would still catch fish using our current fishing methods.

Rather unexpectedly, Saudi Arabia opened its visa regulation last year and suddenly the chance was there to make a dream come true… Together with my brother I went to visit our old home, and to fish the Red Sea of course – my brother with his spinning gear, and I using my fly rod.

 

Tough negotiations

Starting from our hotel, we drove to spots which had looked promising on satellite images. Full of enthusiasm we had planned to snorkel a bit to see what the reef looked like, and then start fishing afterwards. But as soon as we had entered the water, the coast guard was there and asked us to leave the water – swimming was forbidden and we were prompted to follow them in our car….
There were signs of warning indeed, but we thought that those were rather addressed to people who could not swim, and not to us two surfers who were well familar with currents and waves…. And so began the first of many episodes with the authorities, of many discussions, explanations, many cups of spiced coffee, almonds and dates… the Arabian hospitality, no matter what the circumstances are, is admirable after all. All people we met, treated us with great courtesy. But many of them were of the opinion that swimming began as soon as your feet were wet, and they sent us away on many good spots.

 

Fish!

When we had finally managed to negotiate a few hours of fishing, we were completely happy! We waded through crystal clear water towards the reef. The smells were so familiar, as were the fish, the wind… it was hard to believe that it had been such a long time since we had been here, it was the comforting feeling of being home again.


And the first casts brought fish! On the fly rod I had difficulties to turn the strikes into fights – small trevallies in all forms and colors attacked the streamers and poppers so viscously that I set the hook too slow in the beginning.

My brother was more successful on the spinning gear, and his orange-spotted trevallies and needlefish showed us immediately that this spot was not bad after all! A very intense colored orange-spotted trevally was my first fish, not very big but surprisingly strong if you are used to fresh water fish mostly.

 

Heaven and Hell

It is hard to describe the following days in only a few words. One of the first words that come to my mind is “diversified”, in every aspect! The mornings often began with little wind and a sea like a mirror, turning into heavy wind with gusts of 20 knots at noon. Casting with the fly rod became physical education… backhand-double-haul against the wind, stripping as fast as my hands could do… adrenalin pumping when a follower raced after the fly, several trevallies fighting over the streamer but none of them hooked and then again hours without a single take. Sometimes fish after fish, and in the end a broken rod… shifting emotions all the time!

In the evenings I was completely dead, and while we drove home into the sunset we hardly spoke a word, the skin felt tight from wind and salt, and we needed quite some amounts of grilled chicken, shawarmer, all kinds of arabic starters to restore our energy.

The coastline was in parts sandy, sometimes rocky with overhanging cliffs you could not climb down to the water. The reef edge was sometimes only meters away from the beach, dropping 150 yards down into the dark blue. Sometimes the reef was far out, miles away from the beach, with extensive lagoons and flats.

We saw rays and mackerels, parrotfish and turtles… on two evenings even a dugong (sea cow)! The Red Sea is still a paradise, but it is well guarded! Every inch of the coastline is being surveyed by the coast guard and without loads of diplomacy, time and some Arabic you will stand at the beach and not be able to make a single cast! We were sent away on the probably best spot and were not able to get permission to fish there a second time.

 

Realization

It was sometimes hard to bear that by sheer numbers, my brother with spinning gear was a lot more successful than me with my fly rod. When we met again after some hours of fishing in different spots, he usually had caught 10 fish or more, while I had only one missed take in the bucket.

While I was working hard for my first fish of the day, doubts were lurking in my mind… was I completely crackbrained to fish the reef with a fly rod? The spinning gear was far superior in casting distance and frequency and a lure was louder and shinier and attracted fish from greater distances… next time I would tie streamers that pushed more water, were more noticeable. More poppers in various sizes also…!

But every day, sooner or later during I realized that good fish were coming also for the fly gear, and that gave my confidence. All I needed was a spot where I could stand and cast well, and some persistence. And I am still very proud for every fish I hooked – without a guide, without boat, teaser or feeding.

 

Fish diversity

The number of species we caught in Saudi Arabia is higher than anywhere else I have fished before. Whereas “caught” means hooked and not “landed”, because the amount of fish we lost during the fight was also higher than anywhere else before.

 

No chance

Those fish, that were so big or fierce we did not stand a chance, do not bother me much. A very big barracuda cut off my 80lbs-Fluorocarbon on the strike – I did not feel much resistance when I set the hook, the leader was simply hacked through. My brother hooked the same barracuda only moments later on a wobbler – the barracuda shook the hooks off and left marks almost a quarter of an inch deep in the hard plastic lure. No comparison to a Northern Pike which looks somewhat similar, but the biting strength of a barracuda is obviously something completely different – that much I learned!

My brother had similar experiences with big snappers and an unstoppable GT which left him shrugging shoulders after it had cut him off probably somewhere on the other side of the ocean.

A lot more disappointing was losing a large red-toothed trigger which surprised me completely with its strength and speed. After taking my crab pattern it took off so viciously that I put far to little pressure on him, it pulled around a big rock, I lost contact and it was gone. Such situations occurred several times, not only fish that wrapped the line around some obstacle, others just swam so fast towards me that I wasn’t able to keep line tension and the fish was gone as well. Fishing barbless was still the right decision, I wouldn’t want to risk a surgery, trying to remove a hook.

 

Reward

Our persistence was rewarded in the end. Marco caught besides many good trevallies a very nice barracuda with just a little under 4ft. My own personal highlight was a stout bluefin trevally after having lost a similarly big boy just minutes before. This bluefin was by far the strongest fish I have ever caught! When I finally held this fish in hand I was struck by its beauty, by its wonderful iridescent blue and green colors that were shining bright in the last rays of sunset. A marvelous fish on a self-tied streamer – mission accomplished, a good bluefin had been everything I had hoped for on this trip, and there it was!

 

The new fishing paradise?

Trevallies, barracudas, groupers, snappers… is Saudi Arabia the ideal destination for a DIY-trip? Definitely NO! Saudi Arabia is slowly opening for tourism. The Saudi authorities and people are not yet used to tourists, there is no established routine, almost no touristic infrastructure. Most of the coast guards and border guards we met were in fear that something might happen to us, and that they would be held responsible for a tourist drowning. So before risking their own livelihood, they would rather send us away. Penalties are hard in Saudi Arabia, and the laws are a bit different from back home. If you insist too strongly on fishing in a specific area, they might take it as an offense and you might be in serious trouble sooner than you intended. So whoever is not familiar with customs and language should not try to go DIY yet. The situation might be different in 5 years, but I strongly advise against going there without the appropriate background or company (of course it is ideal if you have a buddy already living in Saudi Arabia).

 

Tackle

A few last words concerning tackle: I fished almost exclusively a Hardy Demon SWS 10wt with a Hardy Ultralight SDSL 8000. This rod is swift and light and you can blindcast the entire day. The line I used was a RIO GT with a 50lbs core, the leader was either 80lbs or 100lbs Fluorocarbon from Varivas and Seaguar. In the lagoon, where I fished smaller streamers and poppers (with smaller hook eyes) I used 50lbs-FC which was not enough in one occasion, when a good orange-spotted trevally cut me off on the corals.