Bluefin Trevally - FlyCastaway

Providence Blog: 5 – 12 Dec 2023

Before we knew it, the final week of the Providence October – December 2023 season was here.
Fate would have it that we welcomed back our friends from AOS, Alex and Stephan. They were hosting a full house of guests from Austria, Marco was staying on for another week and our friend from South Africa, Peter, joined the group. A few first-timers to the salt and some guests on their 10th trip to the Seychelles. We were set to finish the week and season strong.

On the first day, we had some patchy light and low winds. Manuel, Gernot, and Chris’s team got straight into the action when they came across a mob of nurse sharks with about 200 GTs with them. Chris and Manuel landed a few GTs immediately, but the day went to Gernot, who landed his first GT and 3 others, including a 112cm. Well done Gernot The husband and wife team of Klaus V and Christina teamed up with Peter. Peter got off the mark early with an excellent GT on a crab. They all landed 1 bonefish each, and Christina got a sizeable yellow margin trigger to hand. Klaus V also landed a nice-sized Napoleon. The new team of Freddy, Klaus and Lucas landed their first GTs for the trip. Alex, Stephan, and Marco also got into the gents and brought 6 to hand. Bring the first day to a close with 17 GTs landed and signs of good things to come.

Sadly, as we often experience on the atoll, the weather can change on a dime, and we woke on the second day to 360 degree glare and rain all day. The teams thus set out to find a few bonefish; Lukas and Klaus landed their first 2 bones each, whilst Freddy caught his first and five more for the day, plus landed his first ever sailfish. Well done gents! Christina and Peter landed the only 2 GTs for the day.

We rose to beautiful weather on day three and set out to try to make up for the previous day’s bad light. Freddy, Klaus, and Lukas kept their momentum going with 1 each and 5 more bonefish. Peter, Christina, and their husband Klaus landed 8 bonefish—five for Peter, 2 for Klaus, and 1 for Christina. Alex, Stephan, and Marco found five lovely bones in the morning, and Stephan landed the first and only bumpy for the week. But the day’s fish went to Marco, who hooked and landed a GT measuring 114cm after a stressful fight involving some coral heads and a few swims. Well done, Marco!

On the 4th day, we had much of the same momentum. The teams kept the GT tally steadily ticking over with many more memorable catches. The trio of Alex, Stephan, and Marco landed 8 GTs, but the most memorable was 1 of Stephan’s fish that ate spectacularly after a long follow-in; the fish also measured 97cm—well done gents! Klaus, Freddy and Lukas also landed 5 GTs, 2 for Freddy and Klaus and one for Lukas, including a nice GT caught by Klaus V. This brought the day’s tally to 13 more GTs.

For the 5th and second to last day of the season, it looked like we would have excellent light and low winds. Peter got off the mark first with an absolute cracker of a fish, which after a short chase and another swim, the fish measuring 115cm was landed. His fishing partners Klaus V and Christina sadly ost a bumpy each shortly after. The other teams used the light well and caught many more GTs. Freddy, big Klaus and Lukas landed 7 GTs between them. The trio of Alex, Stephan and Marco matched this number. Emanuel, Chris and Gernot landed four more, whilst Chris ended the day off with a sailfish. Well done to everyone!

The season’s final day was here and thankfully the weather was going to play fair. We set off with blue skies and high hopes. Big Klaus landed his final GT for the trip which was spotted sitting in a white hole. Marco, Stephan, Klaus V and Peter also finished with a final GT each for their trip. Gernot and Manuel also landed a fish each, but it was Gernot who topped the teams with a second fish in the afternoon. Well done to all on a great week fo fishing and fun to close out our season!

This brings the week tally and the season to a close as follows:

GT – 63 (3 > 112cm)
Bonefish – 33
Bumphead Parrotfish – 1
Triggerfish – 1
Sailfish – 2
Napoleon – 2
Other – 112

Till next season,

The FlyCastaway Guide Team

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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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Providence Blog: 21 – 28 Nov 2023

We welcomed a near full boat of return guests, some from South Africa and some from New Zealand, along with Tony who was about to start a 2-week stint with us.

After an early dinner and a good rest, all the guests rose on the first day to storms, rain, and almost no light. The teams headed onto the flats to look for bonefish and other tailing species. Despite the conditions, Chris M got off the board with his first GT of the week with the rest of the group enduring a torrid time on the flats due to the weather. Eventually after a massive storm we all scampered back to the safety of the Dugong in the early evening.

We had great hope that would be the last of the weather, but the second day held much of the same. With the tides still okay for a few bonefish, we tried to make do with what we had. Chris M landed another GT while Tony added a perfect GT of 92 cm to the tally. The boat grouping of Charles, Richard, and Craig found a few bonefish, it was however Charles who enjoyed the bulk of the action landing 5 bones, 2 Napoleons, and a barracuda. Richard meanwhile joined a unique club, the Bills and Bones Club, landing his first of each. Well done guys!

By the third day, we had become low light and strong wind specialists. Craig, Rich and Charles continued to enjoy the bonefishing despite the weather hammering us relentlessly. Craig managed to finally land his first GT as well as a powerful Napoleon. The father & son team of Chris and James managed 2 bones, a special moment shared between the pair as this was James’s first-ever experience with a bonefish. He later added a GT to his catch tally for the day. Tony found a triggerfish somewhere in the haze and did very well to land it while his boat partner David landed another Napoleon.

We finally rose on the fourth day to what looked like a little bit of a break in the weather, with some patches of blue sky showing up amongst the clouds. Tony and David did very well; Tony landed a GT in a channel of 85 cm and later he landed a speedy sailfish. Chris W, Chris C, and Pete managed to land 1 GT each for the day while Richard finally got the monkey off his back when he landed his first GT of the trip. Well done Rich!

The fifth day saw us battle the wind, rain and lack of light once again. Restricted to a few white sand flats available to us we managed to scratch out the odd opportunity for the iconic species we were after. Catches of note included Chris W’s 2 GTs, a handful of bonefish for Tony and David as well as a big dogtooth tuna landed offshore.

Before we knew it it was the final day of the fishing week and we finally had some pleasant weather consisting of manageable wind and patchy sunlight. Chris C was the rod of the day landing a beautiful 101 cm GT. His fish was encountered as it attempted to cross a shallow area on an isolated flat. With a full quarter of its body exposed, Chris’s fly went down and the fish rooster tailed 10 meters in a second to smash it. A lengthy battle ensued and eventually the fish was landed – A tremendous fish for the week despite everything thrown at the group! Chris C’s success didn’t stop there, he along with his fishing buddies Chris W and Pete got stuck into 3 enormous grouper, culminating in an awesome triple, a massive Napoleon wrasse, an even bigger saddleback grouper and a large bohar snapper. Later, Pete would add yet another trophy Napoleon to his tally for the day. Special stuff guys, well done. Chris W then, in the dying moments of the last fishing day managed to hook a sailfish that actually spooled him. With the fishing gods on his side, the knot to the reel spool held strong just long enough to gain some line on the fish and then eventually land it. What a way to end the fishing week!

Week 6 goes down as one of the tougher weeks we’ve encountered. Hats off to the guides and guests for hanging in there, all while laughing, joking and fishing hard every single day.

The week’s catch tally was:

GT – 14 (biggest 101cm)
Sailfish – 4
Bonefish -12
Triggerfish = 1
Total number of other fish species landed – 143

Yours in fishing,

The FlyCastaway Guide Team

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Providence Blog: 7 – 14 Nov 2023

For the fourth week of the Providence season, we welcomed a mix of seasoned guests and first-time Indian ocean fishermen to the Maya’s Dougong. Julius and Rob stayed on for a second week to see what they could find, while Mike, a seasoned Providence guest, joined Mark and James as first-time anglers to the Indian Ocean. We were also excited to welcome back the Mako Reel team of Justin and Matt who made up a two-ball while Vladimir and Gregory, both seasoned anglers finished off our roster of guests for the week.

The first day of week 4 started with a bang for both Mark and Mike. The pair managed to land their first GT and several bonefish. Julius, now entirely in the swing of things, got his first Providence Slam consisting of a GT, bonefish, and triggerfish. Well done, Julius! Matt and Justin got stuck into the GTs, landing 12 for the day and 2 bones and a triggerfish, resulting in a Providence slam for Justin. Gregory and Vladimir landed 3 GTs, a trigger, and 1 milkfish.

On the second day, we woke to beautiful weather, clear skies, and almost no wind. Mike kept the momentum going by landing 4 GTs. Gregory landed his second GT of the trip as well as a large yellowmargin triggerfish. Justin chipped in with a huge trigger, while Julius did the same adding another trigger and a bonefish to his trip’s catch tally.

On the third morning, we rose to yet of the same weather-wise with low winds and good sunlight. The team of Justin and Matt did incredibly well to land 1 milkfish and 1 sailfish each for the day. Vladimir got himself a beautiful GT of 95 cm with several bones while Gregory added a lovely triggerfish to the catch tally. Rob and Julius landed 3 GT’s, 2 milkfish and a triggerfish.

On the fourth day, Julius and Rob got off the mark in spectacular fashion, with a GT double…..the fish measuring 107cm and 101 cm respectively. This incredible achievement was made even better by 2 more GTs for the day. The cherry on top of Julius’s day was a speedy sailfish he managed to get to hand in the dying moments of day 4. An absolute cracker of a day shared between father and son. Well done guys! Meanwhile, elsewhere on the atoll, Mark managed to get another GT and Justin and Matt’s team added 3 more milkfish to the score, as well as 1 bumpy and 1 GT… A busy day on the flats indeed!

The fifth day saw us deal with tricky conditions in the way of weather, with strong wind and rain making for incredibly tough fly fishing scenarios. Thus, Justin and Matt were the only team to catch any of Providence’s iconic fish, each landing a single GT for the day.

The final day of the fishing week saw Justin and Matt keep their good momentum going. Justin landed an outstanding catch in the way of a 60 kg dogtooth tuna as well as a fantastic GT of 98 cm. Rob and Julius managed to land a couple GTs, 1 triggerfish, and sadly, lost a sailfish. The trio of James, Mark, and Mike managed one each for the final day.

Our catch tally for the 4th week of the season was:

• GTs – 43 (2 of 100cm)

• Triggerfish – 9

• Sailfish – 3

• Bonefish – 14

• Bumphead Parrotfish – 1

• Milkfish – 8

• Total number of other fish caught – 155

Till next week,

The FlyCastaway Guide Team

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St Brandon Blog: 13 – 23 Nov 2023

Our 11th and final week of the season saw us back into the neap tides with our last group of 7 guests. Fishing conditions were sadly far from easy, persistent cloud cover and unusually high water making things complicated. Thats said, St Brandon is an incredible fishery and so there is always good fishing to be had if you know where to look.

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!

Our last week of the season’s catch tally was:

Bonefish – 108
Permit – 0
Bluefin Trevally – 17
GT – 1

Until next season!

The FlyCastaway Guide Team

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St Brandon Blog: 6 – 16 Nov 2023

Welcome to our 10th week of the season! We were back into the spring tides with lots of cold water moving onto the atoll, but again next to no wind for the week which made things challenging at times.

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 GT fishing was also pretty tough, with one smaller fish of 75cm coming to hand, but we did enjoy some good Golden & Bluefin action at times.

All in all, not the most productive fishing week unfortunately for our guests, but we feel the lack of wind was the major culprit here.

Our catch tally for the week was:

Bonefish – 100
Permit – 1
GTs – 1
Bluefin Trevally – 4
Golden Trevally – 3

Till next week,

The FlyCastaway Guide Team

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St Brandon Blog: 30 Oct – 9 Nov 2023

Our 9th week brought us back to the neap tides with a slightly higher water level and less current throughout the week. Unfortunately we had little to no wind the entire week, which kept the warm water on the flats for most of the week which made the fishing challenging at times.

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!

Jim, who was busy with his third week with us, was in full Permit hunting mode. His sights clearly set in, he landed another 5 during his final week with us, including another 14lbs fish. Congrats Jim on some great angling!

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!

Our catch tally for the week was:

Bonefish – 104
Permit – 6
GT -1
Bluefin – 6

Yours in fishing,

The FlyCastaway Guide Team

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St Brandon Blog: 23 Oct – 2 November 2023

Our 8th week on the atoll and we were back into the spring tides which provided some early morning skinny water and midday highs. We had 6 clients this week with 3 boats exploring the atoll.

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 permit were around this week around the western sand spits, with Jim managing to land 3 permit in one day and topping it off with a big fish of 14,5 lbs, all before 12pm. Well done Jim on a great day of fishing.

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!

Our catch tally for the week was:

Bonefish – 55
Permit – 4
GT – 1
Bluefin Trevally – 27

Till next week,
The FlyCastaway Team

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St Brandons Blog: 16 – 26 Oct 2023

Our 7th week of fly fishing on St Brandon’s saw us treated to a change in tide cycle and picture-perfect conditions. With a smaller tidal range to deal with, we were afforded the opportunity to explore some of the lesser-frequented areas found throughout the atoll and this is how it went.

Conditions for the week: Clear skies and very little wind.

Our guests got straight into the action on the bonefishing front, landing loads of large bones under various fly fishing scenarios. The standout catch went to Eugene, who left his best for the last day of the week when he managed to land a massive bonefish that tipped the scale at the 10 lb mark. An impressive catch, well done Eugene.

Most of the Indo-Pacific Permit encounters we had this week were had while the fish tailed behind and next to stingrays, as they moved slowly across the flats. Ben struck gold when he managed to hook into his personal best permit, weighing an impressive 14 lbs. A fantastic catch Ben, well done!

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.

Our catch tally for the week was:

Bonefish – 81 (1 of 10 lbs)
Permit – 3 (1 of 14lbs)
Bluefin – 10
GT – 1 (100 cm)

Till next time,

The FlyCastaway Team

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St Brandons Blog: 9 – 19 Oct 2023

Welcome to the report from our 6th week of the season. Our lucky group of anglers from the previous week had another 7 days on the flats to look forward to as they had all booked a 2-week back-to-back stay with us. With a bigger tidal range and clear blue skies predicted in the weather report, we felt excited to get out there and show them more of water the atoll can deliver

Week 6 conditions: Spring tides, clear skies, and little wind.

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.