Check before you Fish

Fly fishing hazards are every where as we all know, but the biggest hazard I encountered recently is taking all of my travel fly fishing gear away with me only to realise fishing is not allowed in the resort! I have just got back from a weeks holiday in Egypt, what a fantastic place, rich cultural history, wonderful people and unbelieviablly hot weather.

However, I didn’t check before I went away if I could fish or not, my thinking being that I am on a coastal resort with a private beach and I would be using barbless hooks, what can possibly go wrong? Well, we stayed in the resort of Sharm El Sheikh, a truely magical resort for diving and snorkeling as the fish are massive and abundant to say the least. I was swimming with 10+lb fish within 15 feet of the beach and they were the most cheeky fish I have ever come across. There were shoals of 2-3lb fish with brilliant colours and fantastic shaped fins and tails, to be honest, after I went snorkeling and diving in Sharm I didn’t want to catch any fish. I couldn’t believe it, I didn’t actually want to catch the fish. My reasoning was that the fish would not be any sport, they would fight for the fantastic Shipmans buzzers and Diawl Bach’s that I had specially tied in pearlescents and uv reflective materials, they would attack the flies and if I put 10 droppers on I would catch 10 fish every cast….is that fishing? The fish were basically tame!

So here I am, stood in 3 feet of crystal blue water that was no less than 25c with fish shoaling around me and I am not fishing, “you should have just cast a line”, I hear you cry, well, I took the sensible step of asking if i could fish off the beach and the man at receptionist nearly fainted (not a joke, he nearly fainted), when he composed himself, he told me that they have wardens patrolling and if you are caught fishing, you get all of your gear confiscated and fine £1000, oh and while your travel buddies are getting the cash together, they allow you a free stay in the local jail! So, you can easily understand the reason i didn’t fish at Sharm El Sheikh, but like I have said, I am not sure I would have fished even if I was allowed.

So the lesson here is that if you are going to go to a forgiegn country or a new location in your own country, you should always check the fishing bye laws and rules. I didnt specifically go on this trip to go fishing, it was a family holiday where I tried to escape for a bit of fishing so nothing lost.