St Brandon Blog: 24 September – 4 October 2024

Welcome to our 4th week of the season, where we welcomed a group from Westbank Anglers who arrived ready to spend two weeks with us on the atoll. 

The conditions we were dealt were slightly challenging at times, but we were back into the neap tides with a fair bit of wind, cloud and minimal rain. 

On the Bonefish front, we unfortunately only had sporadic glimpses of what St Brandon is known for i.e big skinny water tailing bones. For the most part they are still schooled up and holding in deeper sections, which is highly unusual for this time of the year. Our guests did however manage to get their presentations where they needed to be when some opportunities presented themselves, coaxing a fair number of bones to the net. Well done to Tench with the biggest of the week, a very respectable fish of 8,5lbs. 

The Permit fishing this week was however way more impressive, and despite the fact the total landed during their first week was 5, there were regular opportunities daily, both on the flats and around the islands. Congratulations to anglers Mike, Ben and JT on getting their yellow Permits,  who landed the biggest for the week. Three of the fish netted were over 10 lbs,Ben opening his Permit account on the first day with a beauty that pulled the scale to 15lbs, Mike with an incredible specimen of 16lbs the day after and JT’s respectable 10.5lbs prize.

On the Trevally front, we saw lots of Bluefin patrolling the flats and the coral ridges, but for some reason most wanted nothing to do with what we had to offer. We managed to connect with 5 however,  the average size ranging between 60cm and 70cm. We also ran into some large GT’s and hooked a couple, but unfortunately only none made it to hand. We are all very excited for the Trevally times that lie ahead and no doubt our numbers will improve as the season moves on and the weather warms up. 

To summarise, we only saw glimpses of what the fishery can produce but believe the group enjoyed their first week and were looking forward to their second. 

Until then 

The St Brandon guide team.

Our catch tally for the week was: 

Bonefish – 54

Permit – 5

Bluefin Trevally – 5