Today I fished with guest Dave Meyers and guide Brandon Poole. Dave is a friend from back in Idaho. Dave invited me to fish on his Jackson Hole One Fly Team in 2019. We thought we’d be fishing in the One Fly together for years but the Covid thing messed it all up. This trip is the first time I’ve seen Dave since 2019.
The weather was about the same as every day – gale winds and unpredictable rainstorms on and off all day. Our guide Brandon took us to the north end of Cosmoledo to start the day under sunny skies. Dave nailed a nice bluefin trevally but within about 15 minutes we got waxed with three hours of heavy rain.
Dave got a couple nice GT’s yesterday so he seemed very relaxed. When the rain and wind got ugly he literally buttoned down the hood of his rain jacket, curled up on the boat seat and slept. He slept through at least a couple hours of rain. It was a good call because as he slept Brandon and I couldn’t find a single fish to cast too.
The sun worked its way out again like it has each afternoon. But the wind escalated with it. Once again it went from 20 mph up to 30 and it was a challenge to cast. Dave held bow duty while Brandon walked the boat. It took all his might to keep the skiff on course and though we saw some fish, they simply couldn’t get close enough to cast.
As we struggled along, we spooked a few triggers. Brandon gave me the ok to hop from the boat and walk on my own. I found a stout yellowmargin triggerfish (peach face) tailing. I’ve only caught one in my life and that was in Sudan. I went on the stalk and hooked up. It was all I could do to hang on and keep the burly fish from the nearby coral head. Pop! There went my 35lb leader. Unreal. I lost him.
Triggers, let alone yellowmargin triggers, aren’t easy to come by so I was ticked off with myself. I’m not sure what I could have done different and you can’t look back. The next flat had several mustached triggers tailing. On my first cast I spooked them all!
Before I could get too bummed out I saw another from the distance spooking as well. This fish seemed to feel a “run for your life” vibe from his friends even though they were far apart. This fish however, in his run for the reef, appeared to be heading in range of a long cast. I started false casting. The wind was playing havoc with my loops. The distance in which I needed to cast went from about 70 feet to 80 and finally 90 feet. This looked to be a hopeless opportunity. But I let my crab fly and evidentially the fish gods were over my shoulder. My fly landed exactly two feet in front of the cruising trigger.
I expected him to spook even more when I moved the fly in front of him but instead he charged my fake and ate. I couldn’t believe it when I went tight. Brandon saw the whole thing unfold and came running with his net. By the time he got to me the massive tug o war was near the end and this time I won.
The moral of the story, if you can put your fly in front of a fish, any fish, no matter what the behavior, do so. I never in my life thought this fish would eat. I thought he was in full spook mode and wouldn’t stop for anything. Thank goodness I tried for him.
That hefty trigger was my only fish of the day. Dave’s bluefin was his only. Fishing has been tough this week but persistence somehow always breaks through. Everyone on this trip understands the value of one great fish over a bunch of small ones. John Claeys landed this beautiful bluefin this afternoon.
Tonight we had the most amazing sashimi appetizer I’ve even seen in my life. All twelve of us are sushi eaters and we had a feast. And you guessed it, after the appetizer feast, we nocked back and amazing dinner. Despite brutal weather conditions we are having a fantastic trip. Tomorrow is our last day.
Oh – and of course, I broke out my sharpies tonight and did up a few items for our guides. Trevor, whom I won’t get to fish with this week, also guides in Lesotho for trout and smallmouth yellowfish. Lesotho is place I’ve had the privileged of fishing twice over the years both in 2015 and 2016. Brandon requested a brown trout on his Yeti and I don’t disappoint.
Be sure to keep track of my upcoming travels around the world!
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