The south-easterly trade winds continued to blow and made the last two weeks’ casting a little tricky but, as they say, every cloud has a silver lining and as the cooler winds kept water temperatures down, it made for longer periods of incredible bonefishing and also enticed the permit to feed.
As we continue to ease into the season we hosted six anglers comprising a team from Wildfly TV show, a team from VagabondFly mag and friends Niel Rowe and Mike Holman. In true Alphonse fashion the teams started with some incredible bonefish sessions before turning their focus on all of the other wonderful species on offer.
The Wildfly team comprising Brad Cartright and Jeremy Rochester were quick off the mark with Brad landing the biggest GT of the week measuring 101cm (47lb). His week didn’t end there as later on he managed to land a trophy moustache triggerfish, and on the same day Jeremy landed a massive yellowmargin triggerfish. Jeremy too had an outstanding week as he landed the first sailfish of the season – and on a 20lb leader. Later that day he hopped onto the flats and landed a few bonefish, which entitled him to the first ‘Bills and Bones’ slam of the season.
Keith Rose-Innes and Devan Van Der Merwe took a break from the office and headed onto the flats for a few sessions, landing three GTs on the first day. The fishing gods smiled favourably on Keith as he landed two magnificent permit in two consecutive sessions. Our very own guide, Dave Marshall, also managed to sneak himself in front of the Wildfly camera and managed to land a fantastic yellowmargin triggerfish.
The Vagabond boys, Collin Campbell and Peter Taljaard had their first Seychelles flats experience this week. Needless to say they were very eager to get fishing and after landing over 20 Bonefish each on the first morning, Peter locked horns with a great 95cm GT later that day. Collin also bagged an 89cm GT as well as two beautiful permit making a grant total of four permit landed during the week.
Overall, with only six dedicated rods, the fishery produced a spectacular and large number of fish this week:
• Bonefish – 126
• Triggerfish – 4
• GTs – 7
• Permit – 3
• Sailfish – 1
• Bills and Bones Slam – 1
Tight lines from the Alphonse team.
