St Brandon Blog: 23 April – 3 May 2024

The cooler water from the previous week continued into the fourth week of our season. The flats were teaming with life and our prevailing south easterly wind seemed to keep the fish happy. This week sees the tides moving out of springs into neap tides, allowing for more time on the flats targeting skinny water bonefish and tailing Indo-Pacific Permit.

The Bonefishing kicked off with many fish seen around the shallower sections of the Atoll. Although there were fewer fish seen in ankle deep water, areas with a depth below the knees made for some exciting opportunities at beautiful singles and double feeding scenarios. Micheal upgraded on his 8lb fish from the previous week landing the first double digit bone of the week which tipped the scales at just over the magical 10lb mark. The big bones were around during the week with our average fish being between 6.5lb-8lb and some fish exceeding the 9lb mark. As the week progressed and we moved into the neap tides, more big bones were seen on the flats which made for some exciting angling opportunities for our guests.

There was once again multiple Permit seen on the flats and around the islands although they proved to be quite tricky as it seemed as they were simply ignoring the flies that were presented to them. The guests had some good opportunities at tailing and feeding fish throughout the week. Michael made the most of a really great shot landing his fist Indo-Pacific Permit, a fish that had been on his bucket list for a while. He was over the moon when his 7lb fish came to hand. On the fourth day of the week, Stefan hooked into a beautiful 10.5lb permit, the excitement was through the roof as the fish slid into the net. On the last day of the week, Alex upgraded on his fish from the previous week landing a solid Permit pushing the scale just over the 12lb mark.

The Trevally fishing was a bit on the slower end this week with the tides slowing down and less water moving around. There were still multiple big Bluefin around the surf zones and the coral ridges, but they too seemed to be more focused on the baitfish than the guest’s flies. Stephan managed to get a couple of nice bluefins during the first couple of days of the week ranging from 50cm – 65cm in length. The atoll’s large GT’s were seen around a few of the southern sand spits but unfortunately the shots proved a little too tough to convert.

With our neap tides coming to an end this week and our next week starting with springs we hope to see some more Trevally around the islands, as well as some more Permit and Bonefish action on the flats. The temperatures on the flats continue to stay optimal with our prevailing south easterly winds keeping the water cool.

Our catch tally for the week: