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
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.
