St Brandon’s Blog: 17-27 Oct 2017

St Brandon’s Blog: 17-27 Oct 2017

We normally like to get our new groups into some great Bonefishing on the first couple of days, however Day 1 strangely produced some tricky fishing for them. Despite seeing decent numbers something obviously had made them spooky, which made getting close to them tougher than usual. We did however manage to get the guys into some good Permit and Bluefin Trevally action, most guests getting shots at both species. Jim capitalised on one of the shots and landed a small but fin perfect Permit. The fish of the day however went to one of the David’s when he landed our first trophy Permit for the week, a gorgeous 11,5lb fish. Congratulations David!!!

The tricky Bonefishing continued into Day 2, the fish still way spookier than the norm. The water on the flats has warmed up a bit due to the calm conditions and the abundance of Trevally species present no doubt putting our Bones on high alert. This did however present great opportunities for Permit and GTs, together with some of the finest Bluefin Trevally fishing you can imagine!

Strong winds greeted us as we headed out on Day 3, which certainly cooled the water down a bit. As such the Bonefishing improved, the slight chop on the water and extra oxygen providing more favorable conditions. Around forty Bones were landed between the guys, the fish averaging 5-6lb. Things were looking up!

Conditions on Day 4 continued to improve and our guests enjoyed an excellent all round day out. There was some particularly strong Bluefin Trevally fishing, David landing a brute of a fish which measured 72cm. Good number of Permit were also encountered, especially over the high tide and together with the thirty or so Bonefish landed capped off a truly pleasant day out.

The excellent Bluefin and Bonefish fishing continued into Day 5, along with some great opportunities at the atoll’s infamous Indio Pacifc Permit. Charles capitalized on one of these chances when he landed his first ever Permit. Well done Charles!

Day 6 saw good numbers of GTs around which is always exciting to experience first hand. The Bonefishing too continued to improve, over average in size and the numbers going up which kept our anglers enthused. The Bluefin Trevally fishing this season has been nothing short of spectacular, David’s 77cm brute the puck of the fish coming to hand. Jim who was busy with his third week on the atoll opted to take a rest day, but during a brief walk around the lodge island he managed to land two Indo’s, the first a reputable 7 lb fish and the second a gorgeous 12 lb gem. Outstanding Jim!

The Bones were well and truly out on the last day, with over 45 fish in the 6lb range landed by the guys. Tyson landed his largest Bonefish to date, a chunky and solid 7,5lb fish whilst David landed our largest Bonefish for the trip when his 8lb slab of silver eventually slid into the net.  The Bluefin fishing was on fire, these electric blue bolts of speed smashing into balls of bait in all the likely hotspots. It was frenetic! Don hooked a very large Bluefin, however as it began to tire a massive shark appeared and swallowed it whole. Hard luck there Don.

It was a tricky Bonefish week by St Brandon’s high standards, but one which still showed some remarkable angling moments including four Permit and some pretty incredible Bluefin Trevally.

Until next week

The St Brandon’s Guide Team