Today was our official first day of fishing here in the Seychelles with my hosted Yellow Dog Flyfishing group. Yesterday’s fishing and the yellow permit was truly a bonus. I fished with guest and friend T.J. Rung whom I met in Belize last January. Our guide was Enrico. Enrico has been guiding here on Astove Atoll for several years.
While the main focus today was giant trevally (GT) at the mouth of the lagoon, the tide wasn’t quite right when we started at 8 AM. We took a 15 minute tractor ride to above the lagoon mouth and made a slow wade in. All along the way T. J. and I casted to tailing bonefish. We each caught at least three – all solid 18”-20” missile shaped speedsters that took you into your backing every time.
We reached the mouth of the lagoon around 10:30 AM. The wind was cranking and big waves crashed ashore. It wasn’t the most hospitable casting weather but it does get GT’s moving. This being said, the big fish were hiding. T. J. got one shot all morning long. Because GT opportunities were slim I stayed back and messed with more bones and some small GT’s and bluefin trevally.
With the GT fishing slow I encouraged T. J. to stick a couple bluefin trevally that were zipping through the rocks in the wave breaks. It was treacherous wading but he took my advice and hooked one. As Enrico and I watched we could see a sizeable lemon shark headed his way. Unfortunately the shark sensed the stressed bluefin and came to life and chased it down and ate it. Sharks appear to be slow swimmers but when they go for the kill it’s so fast it’s frightening.
The real excitement however was when T. J. then found himself hooked up to the shark. His 12-weight was doubled over and the 5-foot lemon screamed off line. Enrico and I feared T. J. would lose the fly line and break his rod. Though the heave went on for about 5 minutes, eventually the shark bit through the leader before any equipment damage was done.
Shortly after, I encountered my own shark problem. I’d seen a GIANT bonefish but he had a few smaller bonefish body guards that beat him to the fly each time I tried. But I finally got a shot him while he was alone. Because sharks were around I was using straight 35lb Scientific Anglers Absolute Fluoro in order to land fish fast. I wasn’t sure if the large bonefish would fall for a fly on such heavy leader but he did. It turns out this was one of the biggest bonefish I’ve ever caught (largest was St. Brandon’s at 10 ¾ lbs. in 2018).
The huge bone put on an insane battle but I managed to get him quick. During the fight two sharks were attracted. They whizzed unnervingly close to me as I unhooked the bonefish. I waited for them to leave then let him go. But when I did, they reappeared like magic and chased him down and ate him.
I was distraught at the loss of life of this bonefish. It was my fault and I felt terrible. Though there were more bonefish to catch I refused to try for them knowing the same thing would happen. Instead, I rigged my 12-weight for sharks and chased the hungry marauders for two hours.
I hooked two of the lemons. The first, a massive 6-footer that I kept on awhile before his teeth wore through my 40lb wire. The second was a 5-footer that chewed through my wire in minutes. Though I didn’t land either it was fun. And it didn’t cost us anymore bonefish lives!
The sharks thickened throughout the day. So much so that by 2 PM Enrico suggested we head back into the lagoon where the sharks weren’t lurking nearly as much. T. J. and I liked the idea just for the sake of escaping the deafening wind. We caught a few small GT’s, more bluefins and I got this pickhandle barracuda, a species unique to the Indian Ocean.
Late afternoon came the fun fish of the day. T. J. landed a colorful species of pufferfish. T. J. probably wouldn’t have cast to it at all if it weren’t for me encouraging him to cast to another earlier in the day. But this one he got and as I expected, it blew up to basketball size during the hero shots. A cute little fish indeed and a lesson to all – cast to every fish you see!
It was a tough day for some of the guys. Mike Lodge had a nice GT eaten by a shark. Others simply didn’t find many fish to try for. There was one big success however, James got a 75 cm GT. Congrats to James on this. It sounds like it was a wild rodeo with the battle taking place where there was heaps of coral. Hopefully I’ll have a picture to add here soon.
We just finished up a fantastic dinner and desert. This place is off the charts with its staff and service. We are living like kings.
After diner I broke out the sharpies. In case you didn’t read yesterdays blog, its my intention to draw my guest’s favorite fish on their packs or fly boxes this week.
This is a Yellow Dog Hosted trip. If you ever want to go feel free to contact me or go directly to Yellow Dog. I will be doing the 2019 cyclone make up trip in April 2022 to Providence Atoll and there are a couple spots. Let me know!
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