R. Rasgatheem, Raa Atoll, Maldives
- 189 km
- North of Malé
- 900 m
- Depth past the reef edge
- 15 kg
- Yellowfin tuna caught from the jetty
The island
Rasgatheem, officially Rasgetheemu, sits on the eastern rim of Raa Atoll. It’s about 875 m long and
425 m wide, and 537 people lived there in the 2022 census. The name is usually read as “King’s
Island.” Local legend says a prince named Koimala landed here first and made it a royal seat.
The jetty
King’s Jetty, also called the Kandu Jetty, stands on the island’s northeast side. A concrete walkway
on paired piles crosses the shallow reef flat and ends in a T-head on the fore reef, right where the
seabed falls from about 18 m (60 ft) to about 900 m (3,000 ft).
Why the fishing is good
Current runs along the drop-off, and bait gathers in it, so ocean fish hunt within casting range of
the T-head. From the jetty, anglers land yellowfin tuna, wahoo, giant trevally, mahi-mahi, rainbow
runner, barracuda, kawakawa, and snapper.
The usual methods are vertical jigging, casting and popping lures along the surface, and live bait.
In this animation you can see all of them, plus a handliner at the north end of the T-head.
About this model
The scene is a reconstruction. The jetty’s layout and proportions follow a top-down aerial photo,
with the walkway assumed to be 3.6 m wide. The island and reef match the photo’s general shape
rather than a survey.