Providence Blog: 28 Nov – 5 Dec 2023
For the seventh week of the Providence October-December season, we welcomed back some new and old faces, along with great friend Tony who was staying on for his second week. A team of 5 from South Africa, including Andy, Andrew, Mark, Hilton and George joined us, whilst Dan and Charles from the USA made their first trip to Providence and Marco returned for another crack at what the atoll has to offer.
We rose on the first day to almost no wind and bright blue skies, an absolute relief given the conditions we experienced the week prior. Hilton got off the mark early with his first GTs of the trip and the guys got stuck into some excellent Bommie bashing to stretch the lines and see what their gear was made of. Andrew managed to get a GT for himself, but the rod of the day was Tony who made up for the terrible weather the week before. He landed 5 GTs, 2 over a meter (107 cm and a 103 cm) as well as a fish of 97 cm. It is an excellent example of making it count when it matters. Well done, Tony.
We had the same beautiful weather on the second day including some severe heat. There was zero wind but amazing blue skies. Tony landed a nice GT, whilst the team of Hilton and George landed a GT each for the day. Andrew landed a beautiful GT of 93 cm in a big drainage and Mark simultaneously hooked a giant Bluefin, making a great double-up of the photo. The trio of Charles, Dan, and Marco got 6 GTs to the boat between, during which Charles landed 3 and Dan landed his first of 101 cm. Well done Dan! Charles landed an exceptional fish of 109 cm as well.
We went to a completely different weather conditions on the third day: gloomy grey skies and all-day rain awaited us. We waded out into the gloom with high spirits. Andy landed his first triggerfish on his first trip to the Seychelles, an excellent achievement that can often take many trips to achieve. Andrew landed a beautiful sailfish and Marco landed another GT for the day.
On the fourth day, we hesitantly peeked out the window hoping that the weather had gone! To our joy we were back to beautiful blue skies and low winds. Tony kept his momentum going by landing a GT and a sailfish in the morning. Hilton also managed to bring a sail to hand, however George was the hot rod on his boat by landing 2 GTs before the end of the day. The ever-steady Marco landed yet another GT for the day, whilst Charles and Mark found a few bonefish and brought 6 to hand.
The 5th day held more incredible weather and the teams were well into the swing of things.
George caught his first trigger of the trip….well done George. Hilton and Andrew landed 1 GT each and Tony also kept his average up by getting yet another GT. The ever-consistent Marco landed two GTs out of a drainage, 1 of them measuring 90cm.
For the final day, it almost felt like the weather might be too nice in that warm water might play a part. The trio of Andrew, Hilton and Mark found some GTs, and Andrew cashed in by landing 3 by himself. Hilton also snagged one to bring his Prov trip to a successful close. Andy caught his second trigger for the trip. Well done. Tony did exceptionally well to land four triggers for the day, a personal record for himself. Well done, Tony. The trio of Charles, Dan and Marco landed 2 GTs and Charles and Marco landed their first triggers of the trip. Well done gents!
This brings the week’s tally to:
- GT – 32 ( 4 > 1m biggest 109cm)
- Bonefish – 6
- Triggerfish – 7
- Sailfish – 4
Till next week,
The FlyCastaway Guide Team
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Large schools of Bones were found in deeper water which provided consistent action, along with a few opportunities some really big fish. No less than two double digit fish came out, one fish just breaking the 10lbs mark and the other 10.5lbs. Really impressive fish! Congrats Allisandro!
Our Permit continued to present themselves and opportunities at some incredible sight fishing throughout the week. No less than 6 fish were hooked, but thanks to some incredible ill fortune all 6 opportunities slipped away.
On the Trevally front, we had one mightily impressive encounter, when during the course of day a shoal of about 20 GTs was spotted swimming with some Nurse sharks. Giles put in a great shot and went tight, eventually landing a 96cm Indian Ocean prize. Great fish Giles…congrats!
The cold water along with some welcomed low water brought the Bones back onto the flats. Good numbers of fish in the 8lbs range, along with a couple over 9lbs including angler Derrick’s 9,5lbs trophy provided some really exciting fishing. 
The permit were however very elusive this week, with only one being landed by Ryan.
The bonefish schooled up this week which made it a bit tougher to find them in skinny water and on the flats. We did however still manage to land some good fish, with Peter landing a beautiful fish of 9lbs. Well done Peter!
The trevally were still around in good numbers …most notably the Bluefin. Mike however managed to spot a school of GTs during one session and despite hooking up, it was the smaller fish measuring 85cm which got his fly first…oh what could have been!
The mornings provided some good bonefishing, with a couple of very nice fish caught. We unfortunately didn’t get any double-digit fish during the week but we got some double-ups on fish which is always fun.
The trevally tides were in full swing with many bluefin around keeping those rods bending and smiles all around. We managed to land one GT this week, with angler David hooking into a fish of 101cm which was landed after an intense 20 minute battle. Congrats Dave on an epic fish!
We enjoyed very good fishing for the different trevally species that call St Brandon home. The sand spits fished particularly well, with loads of sightings of large Bluefin and GTs smashing bait along their shorelines. Eugene found himself in the thick of the action here too, landing the one and only GT for the week, an incredibly strong fish that measured 100cm.
This week saw our guests enjoy the fly fishing experience St Brandon’s is most famous for; skinny water bonefishing. With cool water and loads of hungry bones around, our guests got stuck into the action from the moment their boots hit the white sand. Typical encounters included fishing for the bonefish while they tailed and worked their way up the gradual taper of the flats with the morning’s pushing tide. With productive fishing sessions enjoyed by everyone, we managed to rack up a very respectable catch tally for the week. As for the big fish, our standout catch on this front went to Trent when he hooked into a silver missile that not only ran him into the backing several times but also tipped the scales at 10 lbs! Great job, Trent!
Permit fishing is a cruel pursuit and although we had our shots, were only able to get 3 of these elusive creatures to hand for the week. Justin was the only fisherman this week who could convince the fish to pounce on a fly and he landed all 3 himself, 1 of which was a genuine trophy, weighing in at 15,5 lb! He managed to pick up this beauty while it followed a large stingray near a storm ridge. A very special catch late in the day. Well done Justin!
We experienced decent action on the trevally front as well, with favourable conditions in the way of good light and loads of baitfish found around the landmasses. This set us up nicely and we enjoyed several shots at large Giant Trevally. 1 of our anglers enjoyed all the spoils here, landing 2 beautiful fish, 1 of which stretched the measuring tape all the way to 105cm.
