St Brandon Blog: 16 – 26 April 2024
Our third week of the season saw us welcome our good friends from Austria for another back to back, 14 day fishing experience on St Brandon’s. The week started off with a lot of rain and high winds, making the fishing conditions a bit tough to start off with. however This did not deter the anglers as spirits were high and they were all looking forward to finding good numbers of bonefish, Indo-Pacific Permit and any trevally species the Atoll has to offer. This week saw us fishing the back end of the neaps as they head into spring tides. This meant the bulk of the fishing would be taking place around island flats and high spots moving back to the shallow areas later in the week.
The conditions meant that the bonefish were a bit shy during the first couple of days with the high winds and rain also making it tough to both see and present to fish. As soon as the weather cleared a bit and the wind calmed down we started seeing the fish doing their thing around the flats and the islands. The week saw a lot of the bone fishing happening in knee to mid thigh depth with the odd fish seen tailing in shallower water around higher lying areas. There were multiple Bones caught ranging between 5 lb – 7lb with the biggest fish caught the week by Michael weighing in at 8lb on the dot.
The higher water during the middle parts of the day meant that the islands, coral ridges and high lying flats and sand bars fished well for permit. As the light improved it made it somewhat easier to spot the fish, but the permit proved to stay step ahead of the anglers, proving to be very technical. There were many good casts made at happy fish but the guests could not convert as many as they would have liked. On the third day of the week however, Alex connected with a stunning Permit of 5lb during his afternoon session.
With the increase of water movement due to the stronger spring tide, there were more trevally species seen hunting around the coral ridges and islands. There were multiple Bluefin caught ranging from 40cm-70cm in length.This week also saw our first golden trevally landed for the season with Alex landing a strong 6lb fish. A few big GT’s were spotted around the atoll during the week and Klaus made the most of his opportunity, landing a 74cm GT on one of the western sand spits.
As this group’s first week draws to an end it sees the tides moving from springs into neaps. This will definitely excite the anglers because going forward we will have more time wading the flats in ankle deep water looking for tailing bones. The water temps were good throughout the week with all the rain and wind cooling down the flats. If the cold water sticks around we can expect an action packed week to come.
Our catch tally for the week:
- Bonefish- 96
- Indo-Pacific Permit- 1
- GTs- 1
- Bluefin Trevally-6
- Golden Trevally- 1
Yours in fishing,
The St Brandon’s 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 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.
