Providence Blog: 26 Nov – 3 Dec 2019

Providence Blog: 26 Nov – 3 Dec 2019

Despite dark stormy skies we began our fishing week in style with a total of 12 GTs landed on Day 1. Igor, Rob, Steve and Chris all managed to open their accounts with the fish of the day going to Rob. His fish was fooled into eating the fly while he waited on a turtle grass finger in a large lagoon, after a quick presentation the fish inhaled the fly and following an intense fight the fish was brought to hand, measuring 108cm, well done Rob! A special mention for Steve whose first GT on fly broke the meter mark, well done Steve. The large green tails of the Bumphead Parrotfish were seen waving their way across the flats resulting in several great opportunities in front of these green giants. Igor converted his chance and landed a fin perfect Bumpie to end day 1.

The second morning brought with it difficult conditions with strong winds and heavy rain for most of the day. Despite the tough conditions, it turned out to be an incredible day of GT fishing with 30 fish landed. Chris, Alex, Peter, Serhiy, Slava, Igor and Vadim all landed fish. The standout catch for the day went to Slava who managed to successfully steer it out of a coral garden and land a monster of 120cm, a fish of a lifetime. Igor also managed to land a brute coming in at 118cm. Vadim managed to the tame a proverbial unicorn of the flats landing a Napoleon Wrasse of a meter off the edge of a turtle grass pancake, well done!

Day 3 continued in similar fashion with less than ideal weather conditions and yet still fantastic fishing on the GT front with 28 fish landed. Rob, Vadim, Slava, Igor, Nataliya, Alex, Chris and Peter got into the action. Alex, Chris, Peter, Vadim and Rob all managed to land fish over the meter mark with the fish of the day belonging to Alex, who managed to fool his brute 111cm fish while waiting in ambush on a sandbar. Serhiy managed to land the first Triggerfish of the week, hooking and landing an energetic Yellow Margin Triggerfish.

The fourth day saw a continuation of the prevailing heavy cloud cover and rolling squalls. With the GT fishing slowing down ever so slightly, 19 fish were landed. Igor, Nataliya, Serhiy and Chris all got GTs to hand while Rob managed to land another fish over the meter mark. After working hard through the first half of the week, Serhiy managed to hook and land a truly memorable GT of 127cm which was hooked while waiting patiently on the incoming tide. Slava got into the action yet again, after swimming through some deeper water he got onto an isolated turtle grass pancake and saw the blue tail of a Napoleon Wrasse waving on the edge. After presenting the fly the fish wasted no time and inhaled his baitfish imitation, he somehow managed to keep the fish from the coral and landed a trophy Napoleon of 100cm on foot on the flats, a very special catch!

Day 5 brought with it an increase in the intensity of the weather with a stiff south easterly wind blowing and large banks of rolling squalls. A total of 5 GTs were landed for the day with Vadim, Nataliya, Serhiy, Alex and Chris all getting fish to hand. With the bumpier seas the Sailfish once again presented themselves and Rob and Vadim managed to land our first Sailfish for the week.

Day 6 and another tough weather day with the wind picking up dramatically overnight. The boats headed out to the midway sections of the atoll. A total of 3 GTs were landed by Serhiy, Vadim and Slava. Rob managed to find himself drifting onto a large school of feeding Milkfish and didn’t hesitate to land the first Milkfish of the week. Steve had a stellar day landing his first Sailfish on fly and then a 115cm Dogtooth Tuna that was successfully teased in on the Sailfish teaser. After seeing the fish at the back of the boat he shot out the cast and the Dogtooth Tuna smashed the fly, well done Steve! Vadim rounded off his week by landing the second Yellow Margin Triggerfish for the week. With that we concluded an incredible week of fishing, despite the tough weather conditions we were still able to land a number of very special fish.

Our tally for the week was as follows: