Our opening week of the 2019/2020 St Brandon’s season welcomed a small group of guests to this remote and pristine environment as two of the original group, unfortunately, had to cancel at the last minute (they were sorely missed). After a quick tackle setup ensuring all our guest’s gear was in good order for the next morning, we settled in for the night with an overwhelming feeling of excitement for the start of the season.
The Bonefishing lived up to our expectations with a couple great fish coming to hand, the biggest fish reaching the 7.5lb mark which was hooked and landed by Alex. Our guests experienced what makes St Brandon’s so special with various walk and stalk scenarios playing out; from Bonefish accessing the flats in water so shallow that their whole backs were exposed, to large schools of fish in deeper water. We all appreciated the tremendous show and experience these fish provided us during the week.
The abundance of Indo-Pacific Permit that this atoll hosts is of special proportions and often delivers an opportunity to cast to trophy fish on any given day. From skinny water tailing fish on the flats and storm ridges to schools of fish cruising along lagoon edges and islands, the numbers often encountered is mind blowing. This week we managed to craft a couple great opportunities which resulted in hook-ups; however, we were dealt with some bad luck at inopportune moments which resulted in these notoriously difficult fish evading our eager hands. The sight of exposed golden sickles gives even the most experienced of anglers a few sleepless nights, these fish are certainly the holy grail of saltwater fly fishing.
The various Trevally species of St Brandon’s were encountered in decent numbers which resulted in Igor managing to land a good Bluefin and Greenspot Trevally. Unfortunately, the brutish large GTs that frequent St Brandon’s flats managed get the better of us as well and although we weren’t able to get any to hand we had shots at some real monsters. Encouraging still was the numbers seen and we hope to get a few to hand in the coming weeks.
All in all, we as a guide group and our guests enjoyed what was a fun week of fishing. Considering the challenging weather we were dealt we still managed to land a couple memorable fish and make special memories on some of the most beautiful flats on the planet.
Till next week,
Peter
