2 FLATS SLAMS IN ONE WEEK!

The South Eastern remained a challenge throughout the entire week, pushing in the large swell and heavy cloud cover. However, by midweek, the sun appeared, and the fishing turned on, like a lit-up bluefin behind a 4/0 crease fly skipping on the water’s surface. The bonefishing remained remarkably stable during the week, with more than 400 fish landed, including a couple well over the 60 cm mark.

Giant trevally was targeted inside the St. Francois lagoon, with the sea standing up due to the wind. From the Wildfly crew, Jeremy Rochester landed an extraordinary 82 cm fish, his personal best, inside Rattray’s channel. Also, Alphonse Island fished well, with Lee Potter landing two GTs at GT bay on Friday. A popper raised the GT of the week in Petit La Passe by Dick Warner – a brute of a fish measuring 106 cm. Some large Bluefin is also being caught regularly, like William Hobhouse’s 74 cm specimen, proving that they are indeed a worthy quarry on the fly.

Milkfish were also prevalent inside the lagoon, and large numbers were seen feeding along the finger flats. Two fish were landed during the week, one by Richard Simpson on Ignoblis finger and the other by John Barns. John also had excellent bluewater fishing throughout the week, landing three Sailfish on the fly. Gareth George, also from the Wildfly crew, struck gold Friday by landing a beaut of a Permit at the back of the moon.

Owing to the diversity of the fishery, two skillful and fortunate fishermen had the pleasure of landing a flat slam each. On his first time to Seychelles, cooper mead landed a 51 cm moustache triggerfish, a 63 cm GT, and a bonefish on Thursday. Jeremy Rochester was also getting it done with a 47 cm moustache triggerfish, a 65 cm GT, and a bonefish.

GT tagging programme update:

We battled harsh weather this week with high winds and a very antisocial sun. We still managed to land a few fish, though, and put PIT tags in five new GT caught around St. Francois. We also had a crew from the South African fishing TV show “Wildfly” here filming several episodes, one of which will focus on the GT research that we are doing!

We managed to film a GT’s capture and tagging process with both the PIT tag and acoustic transmitter being surgically inserted. I believe the episode will air in Oct 2019, so stay tuned for more details. We are now tracking the movement and activity of 69 GT and only have ONE TRANSMITTER LEFT to put out. Who is going to be the lucky #70?

Tight lines,
From Alphonse Fishing Co.