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Why I Keep Going Back,
and This is No ‘Fish Story’!!
By Duncan McLean
The Author with his Prize Catch
It has been over four and a half years now since
I first inquired about Lake Nasser. Like many people, I saw Barrie
Rickards’ ad in Pikelines Magazine, a well-known fishing journal
in the UK, and I just had to find out more. Within a short space
of time, Barrie had replied, and, next thing I knew, I had booked
a week at the beginning of November 1996.
It was a totally different experience from
anything I had tried before. I flew from Gatwick to Luxor, and on
arrival met up with Guy from South Africa and Wim from Holland. It
sounds like the beginning of a joke: Did
you hear the one about the Englishman, the Dutchman, and the South
African?…
It was a great week. Will Wragg was our guide,
along with Hamdy. The fishing was not at its best, but we all
managed to catch a few. Wim had the biggest, a 50-pounder, caught
at Wadi Abyad Island, on his favorite lure, the blue Rapala Super
Shad Rap. This made me determined to return the following year –
not just for one week this time, but for three!
So in October 1997 I was at Heathrow for the
return to Lake Nassar. At the airport, I met four lads from
Norwich: Martin, Howard, Mike and Andy. They were going for two
weeks, and what fun we had! I joined up with Will again, and this
time he had a new guide with him, Shaban, a quiet man and a very
good angler. The boys went with Mohammed and Ahmed, two very
experienced guides. Second day on the lake, Mike caught perch of
101 and 109 pounds! He was soon to be known as ‘Golden Bollocks’.
Fitting really: a few days later we saw him get a 50-pounder form
the shore at Khor Mariya! The gods of angling were certainly on
his side.
A record Breaking Catch on Lake Nasser
In the second week, Alan Jones, from London,
joined me. Then the fun really began. His wife had packed his
case, and she even put a deck chair in it! Then there was plenty
of fun and games with the beasts beneath the surface. I had a
250lb-rated Sampo Swivel destroyed by an absolute monster. We
caught some good fish, too, with Alan’s best going 64lb and mine
124lb. Howard was the one we felt really sorry for. He had lost at
least five fish over 100lb – two estimated at over 160. Then, on
his last-but-one day, he had a 110-pounder. Martin caught a 56lb
perch from the shore, and I managed a 60-pounder shore fishing, on
a Rapala CD14 Fire Tiger. At the end of the two weeks, we all
exchanged numbers to arrange a trip for the following year.
In my third week Alan and Ian from Essex joined
me; and Bob and Guy from Portsmouth joined Mohammed. I think
everyone lost some truly monstrous fish. Guy had a Russelure
ripped apart, and I had a Super Shad Rap snapped in two!! Ian and
Alan landed plenty of fish up to 60lb, and I managed a 144lb fish
on a CD18. Things just couldn’t get any better – but they did.
The same day I hooked and landed and 8lb tiger, and Alan lost one
around the 15lb mark.. Guy and Bob also had some good tigers,
taking fish to double figures. As usual, the safari ended too
soon, but we had the next trip to look forward to.
In 1998, just a few weeks before flying out, I
had a shock phone call from Alan Jones’ wife, Pauline. He had
fallen at work and broken both legs and one of his arms. The boys
couldn’t believe what had happened, but not as much as Alan.
We met up at the airport, all a bit fed up that
Alan wouldn’t be with us. It was also Will’s last safari
before leaving to work in Fiji, so he wanted it to be special –
and it was. We had a new recruit with us, Duncan Redhead,
nicknamed ‘the plug’. I was working with him at the time, and
he wanted a big fish. He got it as well: a perch of 107lb on a
Depth Raider, at Korosko. The good thing with this safari was that
neither Andy nor Martin had caught a 100lb fish last time, but
this time they did. Howard came out on top, with three fish over
100, the best weighing in at 155lb, from Korosko. Funny thing was
that Korosko was not supposed to be fishing that well! Howard also
managed a vundu, about 8lb, the first I had seen. I managed a
103lb perch on a Depth Raider, and that was trolling with a fixed
spool! Mike landed a tiger of 9lb 12oz. – an absolute cracker.
Will had a personal best of 90lb on a Cisco Kid,
near Afia. We also had an experience with a big crocodile. It was
at the same beach where we had weighed and photographed Will’s
fish, just a few days later! He was about 12-14 feet long!
Normally crocs run a mile from the sound of outboards, but not
this one. Shaban was taking the line off the prop, when the croc
appeared underneath him! He broke the high jump record by several
feet, a feat for which he is now a legend within the Nubian
community. The holiday was a total success: eight 100lb+ fish, at
the time a new safari record, and we all caught well. The only
problem was we had to go home.
I arranged to return with Alan when he was fit
and well, so at the end of May 1999 we went for a one week Nubian,
with Yousef and Bibi. As usual there were plenty of fish. The lake
was very different, though: at least four meters lower, so all the
winter venues were very, very different. Also the land around the
lake was very green. This surprised me, as I would have expected
it to be very dry in the summer. The land actually had grass on
it, and for the first time we met Bedouin farmers, grazing their
sheep.
Alan had some real big fish on, and lost them.
One jumped out of the water, hit the boat, and knocked out the
hooks. Another took a lot of line and broke him on rocks. Shore
fishing was better: we both caught mainly this way. CD14s and the
rubber fish scored well. At Kalabsha I witnessed a pack of Niles
hunting tilapia through a weed-bed. It was amazing. The speed at
which they move is similar to pike, but they were working together
in packs of maybe six.
Alan landed a Perch of 54lb (on my lure)
trolling one day. I had one of 55lb on a CD14 Fire Tiger, shore
fishing, and another the same size trolling with a Super Shad Rap.
One afternoon, fishing for tigers, Alan took one of 5lb, and I
landed a 15lb perch on an 8cm Rapala Rattlin’ Rap – it took
some doing on a 6ft 6in baitcaster!
The highlight of this safari for me was my first
vundu catfish, caught on meat. I always remember Will saying how
strong they are, and this one was no exception. It weighed 26lb
and the fight was awesome. It left me a nervous wreck. God can
only know what a real big one fights like! It must have had 100
yards of line off at one point. Incredible.
I have just returned from my fifth trip. Again I
teamed up with Alan for a week. At the airport we met five other
anglers: Mark from Norwich, Steve from London, and Smoke Bloke,
Fat Bloke, and Baldy Bloke, the Sea Anglers from Luton (you know
who you are!). The fishing was quite difficult – at this time of
year the weather conditions are still changing.
Our guide was Shaban, and we had Bibi and
Mohammed the Black Crocodile as supply boat staff. We took off to
head down south, and the fishing was quite tough – nothing on
the first day. Second day I had a 93lb perch first troll, followed
by a 60-pounder then a 4lb tiger fish! The weather was good, so
Alan was happy; he loves the sun. We lost some good fish on our
way to El Madig. It is a good area to fish and it was worth the
traveling. I landed fish to 102lb and Alan landed a 35lb perch –
at night on a Depth Raider!
As we moved up the lake we met Tim and Steve.
They reeled in fish up to 132lb, but didn’t know how the other
safaris had done. Eventually we met up with the other boys, and
they had taken fish to 70lb. By now the trip for next year had
already been planned, this time for two weeks.
So, we are back out in November 2000 for my
sixth trip. As regulars will know, it is not just about the big
fish. It is also for the good company that is out there. The staff
people are all excellent, and do anything to help. Nothing is too
much trouble. The food, too, is quite special considering the
conditions. Bibi makes about the finest bread you will taste
anywhere, and Morsi can create cakes that are to die for.
On top of all that, the African Angler guides
take great pride in us catching the biggest fish – it’s almost
an obsession with them. They do try their hearts out. All these
are reasons why I keep going back.
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