Popping in Paradise!
by Austen Goldsmith
If I were a betting man I would feel confident to place a bet on caranx ignobilis as top of most Saltwater fly fishermen’s wish list right now. The Giant Trevally must be the most hyped fish on the planet. The Dramatic photographs of Fly fishermen clasping these beasts on sun drenched electric blue flats are bound to capture our imagination, add the reports of epic battles with these cartoon character like thugs and you have a dream fish in a dream location. Finally throw in the inherently high costs of fishing at these fabled GT Camps and you have the stuff that dreams are made off. For every Fly fisher walking the flats with a Twelve weight rod there must be a hundred or more who would love to be able to afford to swap flats boots with them and live the dream. I get to speak to quite a few of the lucky elite heading off to these Atoll’s , for some it may be a yearly trip for many it is a once in a lifetime journey. I definitely fell into the dreamer category. No matter how much I would love to go. I simply could not justify the expense at this time in my life. So what do you do? Keep dreaming or find another way. Of course you do.
The Seychelles is a massive archipelago of Islands in the Indian Ocean. The diversity and volume of marine life that inhabits its waters is remarkable. There are hundreds of Atolls spread over a vast area, the commercial fleet are certainly harvesting from these waters but never the less at this moment in time it is still a rich resource. I believe the Japanese are scaling up fishing operations out there so who knows what the future holds for this special place.For a fly fisherman visiting the Seychelles the list of target species is rather overwhelming. On my recent trip I landed many hard fighting game fish including Gt, Yellow Fin Tuna, Bluefin Trevally, even a Wahoo. The list goes on. I even had a close encounter with a sailfish. The Bonefishing was excellent wherever we went; Seychelles Bones were there in large numbers and always willing to grab a fly. There’s no doubt as to which style of fishing hit the spot both in terms of adrenaline, exhaustion and fun and that was GT Popping with the fly rod.
As fly fishermen at times we do like to make things hard for ourselves. Yes I know it’s a sport you cry. That’s true but trying send a wake up call to a thick skinned fish with bad hearing in a world of noise and chaos; this can be hard at times. Almost as hard as realising that your fishing companions turn out to be Spin fishermen who fly fish occasionally rather than visa versa. It was a test of character for me to fish the fly virtually fruitlessly for a couple of days while the boys were having a ball landing one trophy GT after another. Dedicated hardcore GT popping gear was bending and creaking under the strain of the battles .Expensive Fluorescent Poppers were adorning the jaws of several escapees‘. This was hardcore fishing and the tackle loses were evident. It was rather daunting to fish a fly rod in the deeper water where a hooked fish would just head down and stay down. At this stage I had not hooked a GT and too be honest I was starting to wonder if I wanted too. I think I did pretty well to temper my frustration and solder on , chopping and changing methods before finally getting it right and just for the record I would fish with the guys again they were stars.
There’s that old saying if you can’t beat them join them and I finally managed to arouse the attention of the locals thanks to a switch of tactics. The Fast sinking line with flashy profile flies were left to one side. The Twelve weight floating line and 6/0 Poppers were tried. The results were almost instant. Where sinking flies had gone un noticed previously, simply the splash of the popper landing would pull up various reef fish from the depths. Jobfish being by far the most inquisitive. Pods of four or five fish would track below or behind the fly as it splashed its way home. I had various missed takes from Job fish, Blufin Trevally and Snapper. 
A change to the retrieve was required to convert these follows into hook-ups. The best retrieve by far was the big splash and pause. At home when fishing for Bass. I have found the constant double handed retrieve to be a winner. In the Indian Ocean the best you can ever do is make the most humongous violent boils and splashes possible with your humble fly. Slow and noisy is better than fast and quiet. Fast and noisy would be even better but as I said before, we are fly fishermen, we sometimes clip our own wings before attempting flight with our choice of gear, so we do the best we can. A violent upward strike combined with a sharp haul with the stripping hand created maximum noise and hit the spot, that’s the one they wanted and finally after much trial and error I managed to combine the right fly with the appropriate retrieve and my luck began to change. First the Jobfish were starting to play ball. These bread and butter fish of the Seychelles fight hard and provide great sport, they make a great target species for fly fishermen and they are abundant .They also make very good eating. Armed with a formidable chunky set of fangs they make a first class job of munching poppers, so there’s a tip, take plenty of spares. Large Red Snapper and Grouper will also hit poppers. I did not manage to hook one but I witnessed it out there.
One thing I love about all forms of Surface popping is the take, if you are watching then time stands still and somehow that vision just seems to hardwire itself into your memory. I have the worst memory on the planet but there are a hand full of surface takes that I will be able to mentally rewind for years. I can’t remember the battle or what the fish looked like. But the take that’s a whole different matter, I am still haunted by a wonderful side on sliding take from a Seven Pound Bass at home last winter . Like wise there were two surface takes in the Seychelles that were motion captured by my eyes, one was my first GT and the other a large Yellow fin Tuna. Fighting these fish in deep water can be hard going at times, the opening chapter begins with a Violent surface explosion, followed by the screaming reel chapter while you gather your self and begin to try to gain a little control. It is better to clamp down hard early and try to give as little line as possible, the further they go , the further your going to have to pull them back! The final chapter of the fight can be a long and tiresome tug of war under the boat. These fish will play hard to get for up to Forty minutes. One of my companions on the boat played a 100 lb + Tuna for over forty minutes on heavy spinning gear. On a fly rod who knows how long that would take. It would be prudent to join a gym prior to one of these trips and start weight training fighting these fish in the tropics leaves you feeling shattered. You release the fish sit down and say ‘’ that’s enough for today’’ An Ice cold beer soothes the aches and pains and within half an hour you are casting and popping again. Time is precious when you are in paradise.
Tackle Considerations
You will need to take no less than a twelve weight rod with a very large reel with endless backing. I fished with a Large Tibor Pacific loaded with a mile of 66 lb Power Pro. The fly line was the excellent new GT Fly line from Airflo. This line was developed in the Seychelles for extreme fly fishing. The 60 lb core gives you confidence to pull very hard. The line was also a pleasure to fish with .For leaders I fished a short six inch class tippet of 44 lb attached to a Two foot Shock leader of 100 lb Suffix. Threes no such thing a too big where poppers are concerned. Fish the largest fly you can cast. Pink and Chartreuse were very popular along with Mylar Skirted very flashy Bangers, Hook sizes should range from 6/0 to 10/0. Over the next year I will be working hard to develop my popper collection to suit these extreme situations. Tube mounted Poppers with Tiemco 600 SP 8/0 Hooks, may well provide the answer.
If you want to go
The great thing about the Seychelles is that there a still places left to explore if you fancy an adventure. You don’t have to go to the Established Fishing Camps to experience great fishing. Although I do respect and appreciate the logistics and quality product they provide. Our recent two week trip cost possibly half the price of a week on a Packaged GT fishing Holiday in the Seychelles. Suffice to say we will be setting sail in the Indian Ocean next November.
If you wish to join in then please feel free to ask, as I currently have a space , you need to have a good sense of humour, enjoy eating fish and a healthy supply of poppers!!
Austen Goldsmith - www.uksaltwaterflies.com
For more information on the Seychelles visit their official website.