Providence Blog: 18 – 25 October 2022

The opening week of our Oct- Dec 2022 Providence fly fishing season saw us welcome a mix of new and familiar faces to kick things off for our end of year stint on the wildest atoll in Seychelles.

The first day began with a bang as the group got stuck into the GTs from the outset. There were 8 GTs landed for the day with Helmut leading the pack with 6 of them. The triggerfish were also out in good numbers and the guests enjoyed great tailing trigger action. Nicolai and Grigory landed 1 each, Vladimir Jr 2, and Vladimir Snr tallying 4 triggers to his name. The day came to an end with some of the group experiencing fantastic bone fishing which capped off a diverse opening day on the flats.

Day 2 saw some weather move in, providing mostly overcast conditions. This did not affect the fishing too much as we saw another 10 GTs landed for the day, Helmut again in the thick of the action with 4 fish. There were great numbers of large bones around, and again our guests managed to land a good number during the morning tide.

The third day saw our guests really capitalize on the favorable tides and weather conditions. Vladimir Snr and Vladimir Jr both continued to enjoy their fishing this week and landed 2 triggerfish each. Justin went one better by landing 3 triggers, while Nicolai also got in on the trigger action with 1. There were good numbers of bones around yet again with several larger specimens brought to hand, the catch for the day going to Chris with his 9,5lb bone which ran him deep into backing on a few occasions. Along with the tailing species showing up in good numbers were the GTs. Our group managed to bring a total of 17 to hand on day 3 with Grigory and Helmut leading the pack landing 4 each, Nicolai and Chris both landed 3, while Sasha landed 2. The action didn’t stop on the flats and group continued the fun prospecting the Prov’s coral gardens for various grouper and snapper species. Helmet landed the most notable catch during this session with a large napoleon wrasse to cap off a productive day on Providence.

The fourth day saw our guests land 19 GTs between them as they all really got into their groove. Justin landed 6 during the day while Helmut and Chris both managed 5 each. Nicolai also got in on the GT action landing 2 of his own. There was some phenomenal trigger fishing on the flats with 7 fish landed and a whole bunch more hooked. Vladimir Snr enjoyed a special day with 4 triggers landed in quick succession.

The fifth day saw us experience slightly bigger tides. The larger tidal variance and water draining off the flats saw us encounter large schools of feeding milkfish in the deeper water just off the flats. Chris and Nicolai both capitalized by hooking and landing one a piece. Nicolai’s fish was a special one as it was one of the bigger specimens that we have seen in recent seasons, and it put up an immense fight at close quarters. The fishing around the larger coral heads was very productive on the high tide, which saw some of our guests land a multitude of interesting reef species. Some notable catches from this session of fishing were 2 napoleon wrasse landed by Maxim and Vladimir Jr, respectively. These impressive fish tested the anglers and their gear to the extreme but in the end there were smiles all round. We also saw large schools of bumphead parrotfish on the flats and Grigory opened the account for the season with the first bumpie landed. There were good numbers of GTs patrolling the flats too which resulted in Vladimir Jnr landing the first GT over the fabled 100cm mark for the season. An immensely powerful 105cm fish caught on a large turtle grass flat, well done Valdimir!

We experienced dark overcast weather on the final day of the week making the fishing rather challenging. We changed our tactics and set about searching for bow waking fish. Justin landed 2 GTs while the standout catch for the day went to Andrey who managed to tame a monster bumpie of 106cm. This fish put up an immense fight which eventually ended with his prized catch firmly in the net, surrounded by smiles and loud celebration. A wonderful way to end a very productive opening week.