St Brandon’s Blog: 2 – 11 November 2010
The first trip of our 2010/2011 season kicked off with a super bunch of guys from Hawaii, Alaska and California. As you can imagine they were champing at the bit to get stuck into some quality fishing after their long journeys. Our first session saw us shaking off the cob webs and fishing a falling tide for Bonefish. The group had the opportunity to lean into some superb single and doubles as well as large shoals of good sized fish. Dick Gushman also opened the species count with a Barracuda that smashed his fly right against the shore of Isle Paul. It was great to be back!
That afternoon set the pace for the rest of the week. The guys (a group of really well travelled anglers) seemed super impressed at the sheer size and quantity of the Bones, but at the same time were obviously appreciating the rawness of our location. Complete isolation with abundant fish and birdlife, oh and of course the thousands of Bones which greedily pounced on their flies with reckless abandon. Now that’s fishing worth travelling for!
Bonefish weren’t the only fish around. During the week we were able to offer the guys numerous chances at Permit. On the second day Ivan Ramirez subtly pealed away from his guide and fishing partner while they were targeting single Bones feeding in skinny water. I saw this talented angler stalk and later send a great cast onto a feeding Permit….the result….one Permit landed. Later on in the week he would go on to catch an even larger fish. Well done Ivan.
The Trevally species were also present and in particular we landed some superb Bluefin. A couple of very large GT’s (Giant Trevally) were seen cruising the flats but these gangsters sadly evaded our flies. There were a couple very close calls, one of which was where Kelly Nice had a shot at some real bruisers. They followed the fly within spitting distance and then sadly veered off.
Making clients happy is the most rewarding part of our work. The satisfaction is however multiplied, when a well travelled and experienced group like this leaves saying they had a great trip, with great photos to show for it.
Cheers
James