Today I fished with guests Dave Moeller and Allan Grosshart here on Providence Atoll. Both are longtime Yellow Dog customers but this trip is the first time I’ve met either one. I was much looking forward to catching up with them on the water. Our guide was my friend Nick Isabelle of South Africa. Like with most of the guides, Nick and I go back a number of years.
It was a beautiful day. Nick drove us to a flat where he’s seen busting GT’s every morning this week. We eased on it then began our walk. I’m feeling normal again so while the guys stayed near Nick, I took a distant route of my own. Other than a few busting schools of teenager GT’s in the distance, our highlight was getting back in the boat because of an aggressive tiger shark that we watched catch and eat a turtle!
The morning was slow for the most part but by noon the tide dropped enough I found some triggerfish. I got about five decent casts over the next hour but every single fish spooked at the sight of a cast or plunk of a crab fly. They were extremely wary.
Though a pleasant morning, by lunch time we hadn’t caught much. Nick assured us the best tide flows were ahead for the afternoon session. In my mind I had the chances at those triggerfish, it was on me to figure a way not to keep spooking them. Shortly after lunch Dave proved they were catchable when he landed this beautiful mustache triggerfish.
The afternoon would indeed come right for us. Nick took us to the north end of Providence Atoll to a massive flat that butted up against Providence Island. At first there was hardly any water. But the tide returned fast and along came with it were some bonefish and more triggers. Alan picked off this beautiful yellowmargin triggerfish.
Where I was at on the flat, I couldn’t find any triggers but the bonefish were huge. While many anglers prefer to hunt bigger faster fish species, I find bonefish to be one of the greatest of all flats fish. I went to work chasing a school of three monsters. These were so big that at first I thought they might be milkfish. But I proved it to myself, they were huge bonefish. Naturally, the one I convinced to eat my fly was the smaller of the three. Still not bad though!
Though a slow start to fishing today, most of my anglers here on my Yellow Dog Hosted trip ran into some great fish in the afternoon. Not only did Allan, Dave and I have a action, but so did everyone else. Well worth mentioning was Dave Boyd’s 106cm GT which he caught far from the boat on his own. A truly awesome catch!
With everyone having a great time so far, there was some celebrating tonight. Before dinner we always sit up on the high deck of the Mayas Dugong and enjoy some beverages. Tonight was really fun and I believe everyone has hit their stride. I expect plenty more fish will be caught over the next five days!
To see more photos from this incredible Yellow Dog Trip be sure to visit my Instagram page – @jeffcurrier65
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