Fishing in the Maldives — an angler's paradise

I am not an angler.

I have rods for deep jigging, spinning and trolling. I get up at four in the morning to chase wahoo, tuna and marlin. In the afternoon I roast in the equatorial sun for grouper and snapper, and in the evening I get seasick on a night-fishing trip.

But I am not an angler. Imagine if I were. :)

“Ma” in Dhivehi (Maldivian) means “I”, and “mas” means “fish”. 😉

Do I really need to explain what fish mean to the locals? They are exceptionally skilled anglers. They know the ocean, the currents, the reefs and where to find different fish.

The Maldives offers an extraordinary variety of fishing adventures.

How do you arrange a fishing trip? What does it cost? Which kind should you choose? Do you need to bring your own rods and tackle? What happens to the catch afterwards? And what if you catch nothing?

These are the questions I am asked most often.

I have covered these questions in great detail in one of the links below. Here is my detailed post from August 2026 as well. Well, I will not leave you completely without information here — let me tell you a little too. 😊

The Maldives is one of the places in the world offering high-quality professional fishing trips. These are boat or yacht trips lasting several days, usually around a week. The boat is dedicated entirely to fishing, you live and sleep aboard, a crew looks after the guests, and the whole focus is on the catch.

Fans of this kind of fishing hardly need me to explain — they know all about it.

The rest of us ordinary (non-)anglers can try a completely different kind of fishing every day: promising trolling, spectacular casting/spinning, rewarding jigging, the obligatory bottom fishing and demanding driftline fishing, where you may find yourself fighting creatures bigger than you are.

And I must not forget the most popular option with tourists: night/evening fishing, because it suits even people who have never fished before. It really is very easy, but it can also be full of surprises — I have caught all sorts on these trips: moray eels, snakes, and once I even hooked a shark (blacktip shark) about 2.5 metres long.

Fishing enthusiasts, dive into the links and...

Tight lines!