I met David Boyd at Turneffe Flats back in fall of 2018. I was helping train new guides for the lodge and Dave was on a group trip with fellow Seattle mates. We talked a few times and he asked me where the best saltwater fly fishing was in my opinion. When I mentioned the Seychelles he said let me know if hosted a trip over. He wanted to catch a GT.
About that time James Shanley was asking about GT’s at Cosmoledo and Astove. I got with my friends at Yellow Dog Flyfishing and put together this week’s custom ten day adventure to Astove and Cosmoledo. Today was our final day at Astove and I had the pleasure of fishing with Dave along with the head guide, Rudy Lubbe.
Rudy, like the other guides of Astove, goes full throttle for GT’s. Catching GT’s is their thing and rightfully so. Most guest that visit here come specifically for GT’s. As much as I enjoy GT fishing, I’m easily distracted by other fish. The way the day started, Dave and Rudy walked out from the lodge to the reef looking for GT’s while I moved slower. I sat on the beach finishing a coke. A glimmering silver/blue bonefish tail broke the flat and that was it. I hunted bones all morning and caught three hefty ones and several bluefin trevally.
I caught up to the guys around 11 AM. In three hours they saw only a few GTs and of them only got off a single cast. Dave landed it perfect but the geet refused.
From there our walk took us around the north point of the Astove Atoll. We’d been walking a flat on the leeward side of the atoll where it was calm and now we popped out into big wind. In addition, the landscape changed and the area holds some of the sharpest lava rock you can imagine. Despite some triggerfish around wading was dangerous. Treacherous to be exact. And the wind and tidal current made the fishing difficult.
Tough conditions didn’t keep us from trying. Dave made an attempt at some triggers with the help of Rudy but you could see he was uncomfortable. You get hit by some big waves here which makes falling and injuring yourself more likely. I spotted a few triggers and gave it a try. While I could handle the wading and made a few decent casts, every good presentation to the triggerfish was stolen away by either a bluefin trevally, a yellowlip emperor or a three spot pompano. Fun fish to catch too but I wanted a trigger.
The challenging conditions called for a change and Rudy suggested retreating to the shelter of the Astove lagoon. We hopped in the back of a tractor for 20 minutes and ate lunch. Then we boarded one of the lodges flats skiffs. Dave took the bow and there were plenty of fish around.
Rudy and Dave found a perch and waited for Gt’s to come to them. While Dave was holding the 12-weight a school of permit ambushed them. I had my permit rod ready but it was tough to get the cast off. Rudy told me I could venture on my own if I wanted. You know I jumped out of that boat fast!
First thing that happened is I got a new species for myself. I spotted a school of shiny fish marauding the shallows. I was pretty sure they weren’t permit but didn’t care. This fish is very similar to the yellowfin mojarra we catch in the Caribbean. I know for sure it’s a member of the mojarra family and believe this one is the deep-bodied mojarra (Gerres erythrourus). If anyone can help with this it would be much appreciated.
As I enjoyed my walk I kept Dave and Rudy in sight. I watched Dave land a small GT but soon after he went tight on something much stronger. Next I heard the excitement and Dave leaped from the boat with Rudy chasing. They had a big one and I reeled it in and ran to the fun.
By the time I got to the scene the excitement was intense. Not only was this a nice GT but a shark was involved and Rudy was having none of it. Rudy literally waded to the fighting GT and fought off the shark by kicking and shouting. The shark knew it wasn’t welcome and each time retreated. But it came back also. Finally Rudy tailed the GT and ran it to shore. The shark went as far as to follow Rudy right to the bank.
This was a great fish and I put my cameras to action. The GT was 83 cm and was a perfect specimen. Fortunately the shark left the scene and soon Dave got to enjoy the release.
I punctured my shin badly on a mangrove stick when I ran to the boys and was a bloody mess. I cleaned it up with saltwater but it felt like I had a piece of wood in there. I didn’t feel much like walking so I stood on the bow with both my Winston 12-weight and my 9-weight for permit. I did more standing around than casting when suddenly we spotted a whole school of permit. I waited and timed my cast to land two feet in front of the lead fish. To my delight a streak of yellow ran to my Bauer Crab and tailed on it. One strip and the permit was on!
The trip had barely started and I was doing battle with my second permit. After about five minutes I landed the sharp looking Indo-Pacific permit. Rudy fired off some shots and I released the beauty back to his friends.
We wrapped it up shortly after the permit. I made a few casts at sharks and Dave caught several bonefish but all in all the tide had changed and our fishing was over. That fact that my leg hurt like hell too was a good enough reason to call it.
We leave for Cosmoledo Atoll tomorrow. I have six more guests coming to join us for this part of the trip. They will fly in on the charter then we take a 35 mile boat ride to the next Atoll. We had another amazing dinner with cocktail hour out on the beach.
I kept my sharpies moving and did up packs and fly boxes for the guides, our host Gabby and the chef Luke. We made it a fun late night and its time for bed. Good times here in the Seychelles. . . . as always!
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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