St Brandon’s 27 Nov – 6 Dec 2013

This week saw the much-anticipated return of a group of friends from Russia. To be honest this group who have been fishing with us for many years now, are one of the most enjoyable guys to fish with, enjoying the social element and camaraderie as much the fishing itself.

To begin with the crossing from Mauritius to St Brandon’s was one of the smoothest we can remember and its wasn’t long after we had left Port Louis before we hit the jackpot…a massive school of Dorado! It was an enormous shoal and brought about 10 mins of shear pandemonium as the teasers were cranked in and the flies sent out. Needless to say the fish jumped all over them and we ended up landing 11 fish in total. Great fun and a great way to start the trip!

Conditions on St Brandon’s on arrival were much the same as the crossing with warm temperatures and very little wind. Now for those of you who don’t know, one of the major reasons this venue produces Bonefishing of such a high standard is the constant supply of wind from the SE. This prevailing wind provides a constant supply of cold water onto the flats, which in turn allows the large numbers of Bones to feed almost at will. So whilst conditions currently may sound idyllic, we know the Bonefishing does become more tricky than usual. Regardless we were pumped to get our guys stuck into some good fish and so wasted no time in heading out.

In truth the first day and much of the week was pretty slow by St B standards as the wind never came, but the guys came off the water every evening in high spirits as they savored every aspect of the experience. That’s not to say we didn’t get any good fish. We still got stuck into good numbers of Bones of 7-8 lbs and one of 9.5lb but we had to work hard for them. Some really nice Bluefin and Goldens, together with two GTs also came out. And if one considers the GTs this week in general managed to get the better of us (broken rods… fly lines …and some bruised knuckles) things were certainly anything from dire. Add one times Permit and even in difficult conditions St Brandon’s still delivered the goods!

Obviously we’re always hoping for a cracking week such has been the consistency on St Brandon’s, but after taking a page out of our clients book, on reflection the experience as a whole was as enjoyable as any of the weeks prior even if the fishing was slightly slow.

In closing, thank you to Matvey and the guys for a great week…we cannot wait to see you on location again in the near future.

Cheers

Tim and the St Brandon’s Guide Team