When we went to bed last night the stars were magnificent. I have good stars where I lived in Idaho but I mean – here at Cosmoledo in the middle of the Indian Ocean – the visibility and brightness of the stars are beyond belief. But how the skies can change. At 4 am I was awaken by heavy rain and wind. This gigantic change in weather was so bad it interrupted our fishing departure by a couple hours.
This delay was a bummer because today I fished with my friend Michael Lodge. We’d been waiting for this day awhile. Mike is a lobster boat captain out of Portsmouth, NH. We met at Casa Blanca in Mexico a few years ago and over early morning coffee I was telling him about the Seychelles. Mike was all in and went to Providence Atoll shortly after. Upon return he signed on for this trip and also my April 2022 hosted trip to Providence. Mike is serious about his saltwater fly fishing and we were anxious to get out.
When the guides were willing to go for it with us, things still weren’t pretty. The rain was light but we could see black clouds in all directions. No doubt this would be an uncomfortable day. Our guide was Gus.
It was blowing like all get out. We wave hopped our way to the northern end of Cosmoledo. I guess with the rain the splashes we took on didn’t really matter but it still beats up your body. I can feel for some of my older guys this trip. When we got there Mike took the bow and although he got a couple shots at small GT’s, casting was a work out and the fish extremely uncooperative.
Gus suggested we walk a flat for triggers and GT’s. I was stoked for that. I did my usual and let Mike and Gus get off on their own then I jumped in. I have good eyes for spotting fish on the flats but with the rain, wind and gray skies, in the next two hours the only fish I made a legitimate cast at was a puffer. And he gave me the fin.
Mike and Gus had similar results. They maybe saw a small GT or two but couldn’t get a response. Our best chance came after our two hour flats walk when we ran into a school of jumbo bonefish right by our boat. I stayed back and watched Mike try for them. He had on an orange colored Flex-o Crab which is ideal for triggers. Sadly, though these bones investigated Mikes imitation, they would not close the deal.
When the tide hit its lowest point we ate lunch from the boat. I saw a school of fish approaching us and had high hopes it was the bones again. Instead it was a school of yellowlip emperor fish. I couldn’t take it and needed a tug. I presented my crab fly and although it took a few tries, I finally hooked up and landed this guy. They don’t get much credit, but they’re hard fighters. Kind of cute too!
As the tide rolled back in we stayed put. A huge, meter plus GT showed up. Mike and Gus leaped from the boat to pursue the beast but he didn’t stick around long. With the bad light they lost sight of him so Mike wisely made some blind casts the direction they last saw him. Although it wasn’t the GT, Mike got his first tug of the day from this beautiful bluefin trevally.
The awful weather we had all morning and into the afternoon got even worse. But despite the windy wet challenge, Gus continued to take us to his spots and Mike and I continued to keep our fly in the water. Conditions grew so poor that we spent our last two hours blind casting with our 12-weights with GT Brush flies. To all of our surprise, we didn’t move a single fish. Evidently the weather has affected the fish as well.
At 5 PM we returned to the Cosmoledo Eco Lodge to call it a day. Everyone was beaten down pretty good. This being said, everyone kept their flies in the water and a few folks connected. Here’s a nice GT caught by T.J.
Every trip usually throws a bad weather day at you. Today’s was a beauty. Sadly, the rain and wind carried into the evening and its 9:30 PM and still looking horrible. The guys are taking it well and the beer and wine is flowing after another Cosmoledo feast. Life could certainly be worse.
And yes, I broke out the sharpies tonight. Each night I’m slowly nibbling away at my teams packs and fly boxes. It needs to be mentioned my guest Dave Meyers, my past Jackson Hole One Fly teammate, caught a permit yesterday. He’s a quiet guy and somehow most of us didn’t know, but now he has a yellow permit on his pack!
This is a Yellow Dog Hosted trip and if you ever want to go feel free to contact me or go directly to Yellow Dog.
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