Saudi Arabia

It was since a long time at Wild Sea we looked at Saudi Arabia wandering about fishing, actually since 2012 when we started operating in the Red Sea, but those years were a no-go since Saudi canceled tourist visas for foreigners, until the end of 2019, and then Covid came, delaying everything.

This year we were finally able to spend time in Saudi Arabia and we found what we believe to be the holy grail of Permit fishing, which is something we were expecting thanks to our previous explorations of Eritrea. Over two weeks we drove for 2,500 km, sailed for 550 km in the sea, and walked about 50 km, enough to say we already kind of knew the place. Although we arrived late and the temperature was already very high, we were lucky with the good tide helping us in the morning when the water was colder, and thanks to a little lucky strike we experienced what we think must be the best Permit fishing in the world. Over three days in the area we counted over 80 Blochii, with 3 hookups and 2 landed fish, but we could have done much better.

As an essential act, we had to kill a Permit to see the stomach content, since in the best session we saw 45 Permit in 3 hours, which meant they were there for something specific, and in fact we found very interesting stuff inside the fish, which of course will remain secret. Thanks to the fact we speak Arabic, that we did some satellite investigation, and matching the research with our decennial experience in the Red Sea, it didn’t take us time to hit the right place at the right time, and after the Permit heaven we struck on Triggers and some others GT, which I’ve missed because of mistakes, and I even fell on a nice Napoleon.

Overall our first exploration of Saudi Arabia has been a great success and it’s been pretty surgical, with an amount of days dedicated to each of the very few areas we considered interesting and with success in almost every place we choose. Finally, to describe our experience in Saudi, I would use the word unique, as the destination itself is unquestionably not wild and naturalistic like Sudan, but is without any doubt a prime destination for the Indo-Pacific Permit, with an incredible value for the budget. And on top of Permit, you can catch GT, Golden Trevally ( which will be the material of future trips ), and other various species.

We will start running pilot trips to develop the fishery in February 2024, our trips will be based on 4 guests only with 2 professional Fly Fishing guides in order to have the maximum level of attention and be sure customers will have the maximum amount of fishable area,

While hitting this fishery prime season we are sure we will have some great results.

For info on dates and pricing get in touch with us.

Tight lines, WSE Team.