St Brandon’s 9 – 18 Dec 2013

The final week of the 2013 season has arrived and with it a boat full of eager anglers from South Africa, Canada and the USA all itching to experience St B for the first time.

No sooner had we stepped onto the flats Francois made his first cast and landed a good Bluefin Trevally. Raimer followed suit and landed his first flats caught GT, a black beauty of 107 cm. Congrats guys! These two continued the assault and landed a Golden Trevally and some Bonefish up to 9lbs. The rest of the group had their way with good numbers of Bonefish and as well as some good shots at Permit. It seemed as if some cooler water had made it’s way back onto the flats…. our hopes for the rest of the week were high.

After getting the casting arms loose after the first day, Brian was into the action. After an epic tussle with his rod bent over and the reel screaming Brian landed a magnificent GT of 121 cm fish. What truly special fish, one which will no doubt stay with him for the rest of his life. Later that day team Canada landed some cracking Bluefin, whilst on the other side of the atoll, Francois was back in action and landed his first GT, a fish of 92 cm. That afternoon Raimer and Francois took full advantage of the superb fishing on offer and doubled up on some Yellow Dot Trevally. More shots at Permit continued to appear, sadly though it was not meant to be just yet. All in all, another epic day out on the water with some impressive fish being landed.

Early on day 3 and Dave was into his first GT. Unfortunately after some heart breaking tackle failure the fish swam off prematurely. But with the Permit being around in good numbers it wouldn’t be long until someone hooked one. Dave hooked the first of the trip but lady luck was not convinced we were ready for her and the hook pulled shortly after the hook up. Devastation!

Day 4  – Tom and Larry had their way with the Bones. There were good size shoals around and they made hay whilst the sun shone! Larry even managed to sneak a 10 lb. Golden Trevally was feeding in amongst one of the shoals.

Francois continued his streak and landed some cracking Bones, with one hitting the 10lbs mark. He didn’t stop there either. After lunch he landed a gorgeous albs Permit….Not a big fish but a special one for sure! Dillie on the other hand had hooked 2 but they too managed to evade the final capture. In any case, the Grand Slam was on and we went for it full throttle. As luck would have it though, Jean stuck the eager GT, A pretty fish of 88 cm fish! So although not technically an individual Grand Slam, the family members had combined to share a truly special feat.

The final day of the trip and of the season had arrived and with it the last chance to get that prized fish before cleaning the gear. Tom and Larry found themselves in Bonefish. Raimer landed a good Yellow Dot and a 9lb. Bone. Jean picked out his Bonefish and landed a 10 lbs just before the clouds rolled in….What a fish and way to do it!

So all in all it was definitely not a bad way to end the season. A decent number of Bones, 4 GTs, a Permit, 2x 10lbs Bones, along many Bluefin, Goldens, Greenspots and some Yellow dots. As we slowly started sorting out and packing away the gear for our trip back home, we reflected back on an amazing season out in St. Brandon’s. Although troubled by warmer water through some of the weeks, St Brandon’s proved itself yet again to a truly world class fishery. We had been tested but had come out on top. Best of all we had found some new really exciting areas to head back to when we return in March 2014.

From all the guides at St. Brandon’s, a big thank you to all our guests

Until next year.

Brad & St B Guide Team