April came and passed in the nicest way possible: with fair weather and low winds from changing directions most of the time, high activity for the charter boats and of course the usual decent catches. The anglers represented a good mix of hardcore fishing groups to vacationers eager for a tryout of our waters. An example of those were Robert and his wife from Germany. A half day GT popping was tough and had not produced for them but a jigging day at the Drop Off on Unreel and skippered by Evanio provided happy fishing.

Meanwhile Mervin fished along that first week of the month with a group that impressed not only by some quality catches but also really colorful hats. 

Brandon also had a group that fished and caught well but they kept all the pictures unfortunately. Still a glance at Greg`s selection of catches should provide sufficient proof that - whether it was trolling, jigging or popping – everything worked really nicely along that first third of the month.

On the 10th Robert made a second attempt for a GT out of Mahe with Stefan but it was again tough due to the extreme heat we got with those windless days, so they resorted to some jigging. See how mirror flat the water was and you will get an idea how killing the popping must have been.

Two days later I came along on a half day GT popping with Dutch angler Nick and Mervin. The breath of wind that morning made it bearable and Nick really worked his butt off just to experience a tiny one, a very few raises and a proper GT that seemed safely on but dropped the hook after a few seconds. Eventually after three actionless hours Mervin called for the last cast and unbelievably a GT first missed, turned around and hammered the popper. A second attempt of those is rather rare here but no-one deserved it more that Nick. Joy all over of course.

A few days before he had done a trip out of Mahe to Bird Island in the north and done well there too. The Yellowfin came on jig and gave him hell. But good to see those around. 

They appeared here and there, not reliably and not always big, but some quality ones showed themselves every so often. A few days later Mervin found those barrels and his group got three on poppers. Still Mervin complained a bit that the anglers were not the youngest and strongest which caused them lose a couple even bigger ones and some very strong jigging fish also. That one Yellowfin lost a few meters under the boat that he estimated at around 80kg haunted him for a while.

But at least they were there and also found by Greg who doesn`t usually go to the Drop Off on his boat TopWater unless it`s reliably calm. They had a great day out there, cool big Doggies these are.

Also Brandon continued to do well with a new group that did not bother to keep their splendid catches secret. Nice mix of species once more.

And Mervin finished with his senior group at Easter Saturday.

The last few days I was not all that close to the action due to some obligations and preparations for an absence along until the end of the month. This also explains why this edition comes a week early. But last night Brandon sent a few more pics from another great day at the Drop.

Also in the mix was this huge Sailfish that is a pending National Record for Seychelles. The cool thing about that fish is that it was not caught trolling, but on jig. Fantastic feat.

To wrap it all up a few words on fly fishing that I concentrated on. Partly as my boat is still out of order so I had no ther way to fish and also as these two recent months are traditionally the best ones for that here. Still not much to shine though: results were rather unsatisfactory despite over two dozen stints done and my quest for a proper Permit (that would be +40cm) continues. I had been roaming the flat on the west coast of Praslin easy 20 times since late January. The small ones came reliably but anything better remained a dream. Sightings of bigger ones were few (maybe 4 or 5) and my only two opportunities, once on a single one and the other time on a pair that even offered two shots, led to nothing as the Flexo Crab was inspected but eventually found unworthy each time. Had a few shots at tailing Golden Trevallies and each of that casts produced a bent rod but every time it was just one of those tiny Permits again that move around with those Goldens.

So all rather pitiful. One must consider and accept that the fly fishing there comes with all sorts of headaches. One is the condensation cloud that builds nearly every single morning above the island when the sun comes up. And it inevitably shades the area from the so important sunlight. Would estimate that at least 70% of the time spent there went without sunshine. Add other adversities like tourists coming close to ask about catches. Of course I remain friendly. Or these dogs that have learned that fair-skinned people are usually tourists that are amused by them chasing the Stingrays and splashing around. I still remain friendly. Only on the really most stupid question if there possibly are any fish here at all, I allow myself the little rudeness of just replying “no” without even looking. Which ends any further conversation reliably.

Here in front of my place at Anse Gouvernement I saw a massive Permit twice. Surely +50cm, rather around 60 I would say. That fish of my dreams just swam at arm`s length when I was snorkeling for the lost part of my mooring on those two early days of clear water end of February. Naturally I spent a good part of the following days casting into the wind and again murky water but nothing ever happened. The Mackerel for a third year in a row now did not come into the bay in noteworthy numbers after in had happened reliably along the previous decade. Thus there was no reason for the Trevallies and other larger predators to stick around. Subsequently I picked up just two Brassies along the weeks, both rather small.

The small catches of Trumpetfish, Snappers and such stuff came of course. This one was a bit better and quite pretty. 

Bonefish remained totally elusive, both on the western flat and in front of Hotel l`Archipel where I used to get one here and there. But these all came on a certain patch of sand that has overgrown with seaweed over the last couple of years, and so far I have not been able to find them again. So I can pretty much only hold on to the fact that there is probably no nicer environment in the world to catch nothing but here.

Comparing my findings while wading with those during occasional snorkels I have the impression that the better fish avoid the wadably shallows more that in previous times. Some sort of skiff or other platform to fish these deeper waters will probably be a gamechanger to some degree. Serge on Mahe must have his reasons to fish that way with his guests and the results speak for themselves. But surely his vast experience from guiding in the Outer Islands play a significant role, and possibly also the larger choice of fishable areas over there around Mahe. 

Still the Inner Island can not match the Outer ones as far as fly fishing is concerned and I am really looking forward to roam one of those in the week ahead. What might come up there and what will happen here along this last week of April you will learn in the next edition.

Apart from a few short spells of heavy but much needed rains, at times along with briefly high rising winds and occasional thunderstorms, this March offered decent to nice weather conditions. Subsequently a lot of fishing was done that would have made for a nice, long edition. Still, due to an unexpected, much too early and very sad passing within my most inner circle of fishing and beyond friends, who have become as close to family here as it can get, I feel not in the state or mood for a lively report. Thus, hoping for your understanding, I will refrain from much text, and just present the catch pics of the active boats. Before that a short reminiscense to the February edition though: you will have seen this pic of that shore GT from Praslin, but with the angler`s blanked face. Turned out a day after the upload that the angler was `Billy´who had inquired with me on shore fishing prior to his trip. I was especially glad that not only my input looks to have been valuable, but also that the GT was released and swam away. Billy made some more decent catches, see here:

Also those days a couple of anglers from Israel fished from La Digue shores. That big Bluefin Trevally is also a very special shore catch, and some more good ones came on top.

As usually the recipe for success was the abundance of baitballs within casting reach. On the boat fishing side of things Greg was active on his boat TopWater and successful along his mixed inshore fishings.

Mervin also was on the water a lot but went a bit unlucky especially on the Drop Off jigging side of things. Somehow he was out there at every single of those bad weather days in about unfishable conditions, and else his anglers got reefed by all the really large Doggies he found for them. But that Bonefish on speedjig out of 60m depth was a special catch even for him who has seen and done it all.

Last but not least Brandon skippering Fayth had a lot of jigging trips to the Drop Off with really great results. The Sailfish was caught on jig, and a few times he found some early Yellowfin to cast at. Excellent job by him.

Only so much for this month, as my tribute to a lady that is not only a sadly missed friend, but above all was the pillar, soul and sunshine of her family. Rest in peace T.

For the preceeding reports check the archive.