Fishing In Aden, Yemen 🇾🇪: Catch And Eat!
- Konrad Tillman
- Jun 12
- 5 min read
Intro
As much as I love traveling, there is one thing in my life more than it: fishing. Seriously, ever since I was a kid, my favorite thing in the whole entire world has been fishing. So when I visit countries around the world and have an opportunity to fish, I jump right on it.
But what is even cooler than just fishing is combining travel, fishing, and experiencing what life is like on a daily basis for a lot of people in Yemen. A lot of what people eat in Yemen is fish, and hence, there are fishing captains that go out for days at a time just to try and bring back some fish to sell (more on that later).
The Day Before
The day prior, my guide had taken me to the small offshoot of Aden: Little Aden. After waltzing around the market and taking some pictures with some Yemenis, I headed off to the beach to go for a swim.
It was cool to see, kids were splashing around in the water, people attempting to sell me some knock-off Pepsis, but out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a few boats that were anchored down. I asked my guide, "Is there any way I can go out on one for a bit just to relax on the water" (at this point, fishing wasn't on my mind).
Sure enough, the guide had arranged a 30 minute tour out into the ocean around some rock formations with a guy named Mohamed. Not a motorboat featuring a bathroom, a skiff with seats that had probably been made back when the British were here.
Functional lifejackets? Forget those. Captain chewing Khat? You betcha.
Anyways, about 15 minutes into the boat ride, I looked over the side of the boat and saw some Bonitos jumping no more than 50 meters offshore. My fishing fight-or-flight response engaged, so I began scanning the horizon. Boom, skipjacks another 100 meters away.
With no rod in hand, my excitement quickly turned into dismay. Even the captain looked at me with those bright eyes as if he said to me, "I wish I had my handline right now". We might speak different languages, but fishermen are fishermen, and people are people.
The Next Day
Most of the few tourists who visit Yemen might head to Seiyun or possibly see Little Ben in Aden, so when I asked my guide the next morning, "I want to go fishing today", he looked at me as if a cheetah had just appeared in the hotel. Little did I know that my guide was deathly afraid of the ocean... 😅
But if there is one thing you should know about me is that when I put my mind to something, it is going to get done. My guide called his brother, who likes fishing, and he called the boat driver, and within a minute we had arranged a 3-hour trip for 40$. Not bad.
We stocked up on some gear at the local fishing shop and began the drive back to Little Aden...
With more Justin Bieber playing at max volume, it wasn't long until we arrived at the beach ready to get underway. The captain was waiting for us, I rigged up a rapala, and we began trolling out to those cargo ships... Literal baitballs, just waiting to be taken advantage of.
20 minutes in... BOOOM we had a hit. Garfish, which sadly got off on the leader.
Back to it, I guess. Slowly, slowly, slowly trolling. BOOM. FISH ON! I set the drag, set the hook, and a nice 8 lb King Mackerel was at the boat in no time. We kept dancing around the cargo ships for a while and had a few more strikes, managing to boat another King Mackerel and a Bonito.
Honestly though, with the right tackle and venturing out a little further, all the signs pointed to the sailies being around...
Dinner
With a torn-up deep-diving knock-off Halco, and a smile on my face, I quickly called my guide (because I was with his brother) and said, "let's feast". My guide told us that he was so down, and that there is a perfect local spot right by the fish market where they cook it in spices. PERFECT is the word.
Finagling through the checkpoints, we made it to the dropped pin that my guide sent, where we met up with him and another American who had just arrived on tourism. We placed our order with the kitchen, dropped off the fish, and sat down in this local restaurant.
If you had told me three years ago that I would be sitting at a local restaurant with an American guy and two Yemenis in Yemen, about to eat a fish I had just caught on some knockoff tackle from Aden, I would never have believed you. But that is what happened.
We chatted and we ate. No one on their phones, no alcohol, just laughs about sea-sickness and about how we tried to ask the militiary for his gun. It is these small moments that bring humanity back into the picture. If we can sit at a table and laugh with someone from Yemen as Americans, you can talk to that person in your class. We are all so different, but so similar.
After dinner, my guide showed me to the fish market. I'm not gonna talk about it because it makes me sad that I didn't have my gear. Look at the size of that Sailfish on the left. My goodness gracious.
TDLR: There are a lot of fish in the channel between Yemen and Somalia. A lot.
Final Thoughts
Over my whole trip to Yemen, this day was the highlight of the whole thing. Honestly, I got to see a side of Aden that I am truly grateful for, and engage with the local culture. We laughed with the captain on the boat, laughed at my guide's brother for being sea-sick, caught three fish, and ended up sharing them over dinner with two Yemenis and two Americans. It's a day I'll never forget, and for those who made it possible: thank you ❤️.
Yemen Series:
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