St Brandon Blog: 2 – 12 Oct 2023
Our 5th week of the season saw us welcome a fresh bunch of faces for their first trip to the atoll with us, including Justin, Ivar, Robert, Brent, Greg, Tyler & Louis.
Week 5 Conditions: High water, tough light and a light south easterly wind.
The bonefishing continues to be on the tricky side. We’re dealing with some unusually high water which we believe is one of the major factors influencing it. That said, a couple of really nice fish still came out, with Greg’s 12lbs fish a real trophy!
The permit fishing continues to fire, this week many of our fish coming off the back of a cruising stingray. Not only does this allow for more time when presenting to a fish, the permit generally seems more aggressive to the fly when it appears near to a ray. Justin managed to land a beautiful specimen of 14lbs off the back of a cruising fish, it being one of three fish he landed during a single day.
We also encountered good numbers of trevally during the week, with multiple fish being hooked. Sadly our hooking to landing ratio was not high, with tackle failure again rearing its ugly head. We had loops popping and fly lines getting wrapped around coral, but thankfully Brent managed to hook and land a trophy GT which stretched the measuring tape to 118cm. Congratulations Brent on a very special fish which to date is the biggest fish of our season so far!
All in all, a great week of fishing despite some challenging conditions.
- Bonefish x 74 (2 over 10lbs)
- Permit x 12
- Bluefin Trevally x 8 (2 over 80cm)
- Golden Trevally x 2
- GT’s x 4 (1 of over 100 cm)
-
- DCIM100GOPROGOPR0037.JPG
-
- OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
-
- OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
-
- OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
On the Bonefish front, our guests enjoyed a few sessions of early morning skinny water fishing. And although we would have hoped for higher numbers, some special fish still came to hand. Kevin saw a silver shadow slowly making its way down the bank, its tail breaking the surface of the ankle-deep water as it scoured the shallows. He sent the fly in and after two short strips the fish was on. It tore off in the opposite direction like all big fish but after a well-managed tussle a beautiful 10lbs fish came to hand. Congrats Kevin!
The Permit fishing continues to impress, with our guests enjoying some great moments throughout the week casting at tailing fish. One such moment occurred when CJ & Dougal spotted a Permit tailing its way along marl ridge. Dougal made a pin point cast, fed the fish expertly and after his fish made a determined fight he landed a beautiful 12lbs specimen. This brought his tally for the trip up to 6…terrific! 
An influx of Goatfish congregating around the sand spits and islands attracted higher numbers of GT’s and Bluefin trevally. Multiple fish were hooked but sadly only a handful of Bluefin Trevally made it to hand, with tackle failure unfortunately occurring more than we would like.
Due to the height of the water we experienced we unfortunately didn’t see the best of the skinny water bonefishing the atoll can produce on week one. That however didn’t stop us from landing some incredible specimens. One angler was fortunate enough to bring a 12.5lbs beauty to the net…congratulations Patricio that is truly special catch!
The tricky water height for Bones did however prove the ideal level for many of the atoll’s stingrays and with them many of the atoll’s resident permit. Our guests were treated to some of the finest wade fishing for Permit you could wish for. In total, a total of 14 permit for the week, most of which were hooked off the back of stingray. Dougal, who is an extremely seasoned permit fisherman managed to land 4 permit during week one, the largest a truly impressive specimen which weighed 18lbs. To top it off, he also ticked off his 100th permit landed on fly…..congratulations Dougal!
The trevally were also out and about, with fish seen either free swimming or on the back of nurse sharks. Patrick managed to convert one such opportunity, his first GT on fly eventually measuring an impressive 104cm. Congratulations Pat!
In terms of the Bonefishing, we were straight into the swing of things with some world class skinny water tailing fish…on certain occasions there seemed to be fish as far as the eye could see. Some fantastic fish were landed, with good numbers of fish between 4-8lbs and seven fish over 9lbs coming to our nets. A special mention must however go out to Pete who landed landing a gorgeous specimen of 9.5 lbs…congrats on a very special fish Pete!
The atoll treated us to some phenomenal skinny water bonefishing! Tailing Bones in ankle deep water made it easy to spot these silver bullets feeding across the flats and our guests enjoyed some classic walk and stalk fishing. Multiple bonefish were caught over the 8lbs mark, with Darren landing a hefty specimen of 9 lbs.
