St Brandon’s Blog: 12 – 21 April 2011
The start of the second part of our 2010/11 seasons had begun as we set out from Port Louis in a North Easterly direction for St Brandon’s. The sea was calm as the lures skipped behind the boat enticing numerous Wahoo, Dorado and a juvenile 100lbs Black Marlin. Ernst was quick into the harness and had the energetic fish at the boat in 15 minutes. The beautifully lit up fish was quickly released without even removing it from the water, hopefully to swim away and torment us at some stage in years to come.
This trip was to be a special one as we had two of our long time friends Jeremy & Earnest accompanied by good friends Tom and Mike. Though two of the teams’ immediate mission was just to catch as many Bones as possible the other two anglers made it their mission to catch the finicky Indo-Pacific Permit.
To say we had plenty of shots at Permit each day would be an understatement. Jeremy’s hunger to wear the Permit wig drove him to land his first two on day three and went on to get a “Slam” on day 4. There where daily stories from all the anglers of how Permit had followed the fly and on occasion where hooked and lost. The Bonefish where everywhere as normal including some really big fish as well, the biggest Bone measuring 33 inches and weighing 12lbs. The low tides associated with full moon meant that we had incredible tailing Bonefish sessions on the last hour of the drop. The novelty did however wear off as the guys swapped the desire for a silver flickering tail of a Bonefish for the golden sickle of the Permit. Everyone had developed a taste for Permit and their overwhelming rejection wasn’t helping. Ernst casting off both shoulders had the fish covered no matter which way they came from. Tom landed his first Permit (a 14lbs beauty) and Jeremy went on to capture three Permit for the trip. Mike specialized in species by landing some nice Bluefin and Yellow Dot Trevally. There where a few comical moments for instance when Tom was pulled off his feet by a huge Bonefish after getting a line wrap. The big GT’s where around from time to time but proved more cunning than the anglers. Often seen from a distance chasing Bonefish, sneaking up behind the anglers, following the fly and the hook pulling on contact seemed to be the order of the week. As normal they led us on a merry dance and unfortunately no GT’s where landed. The guys are however now hooked and will next try their luck at Farquhar Atoll next year.
The trip finished with a 24 hour sail back pausing to hook a couple Black Marlin and land a few Yellowfin Tuna for Sashimi. Thanks to Jeremy, Ernst, Tom and Mike for a super trip. We look forward to next time.