St Brandon’s Blog: 31 Oct – 9 Nov 2015

After a fairly smooth crossing, we woke up to some windy and challenging conditions on day one. The wind however helped to keep the water cool with some of the anglers capitalizing on some epic skinny water Bones that just love these conditions. There were also encounters with some feeding Permit, some of which managed to tail on the fly without us getting a hook set. Tim Lee notched up some large Bluefin Trevally and as such we opened with a pretty good first day out.

Day two was a very different day with the wind settling right down. There was some warm water around in the morning, with the Bones proving very skittish. There were good numbers of Permit around though, with tales of fish eating but coming unstuck early on in the fight relived as we enjoyed dinner on the back deck later that evening. Encounters of GT’s in the surf zone were also experience, sadly though we had no real takers. The afternoon saw some cool water returning and with it some good Bonefish and Permit fishing was enjoyed by all.

The weather really improved on day three, with everyone waking up to sunny skies and a gentle breeze. Unlike many venues, a lack of wind can make the fishing tricky mainly due to the flats. But despite a lack of fireworks, our anglers still managed to notch up good numbers of Bones, a really awesome double from team Argentina earning them a 9 1/2lb and 8lb fish at the same time. The GT’s continued to make an appearance, but sadly we could just not get a conversion. Still a very enjoyable day out and by world standards a very good day of fishing!

Day four saw some unusually calm and sunny weather, and with it an increase in feeding urgency from all the species of fish we encountered. Two anglers joined the revered 10lb club, Nick Lee with a cracking fish on Wave Garrick, and Daniel with a fatty from Julies. Carlos, who was fishing with Chase sadly managed to loose a small Permit at the net, something that might not seem to much of a tragedy for Carlos (he has landed 84 Atlantic Permit to date) but devastating to his guide who had lost too many for comfort this season! Some of the guests experienced some mudding Golden Trevally, unfortunately the flies were constantly stolen by pesky 6-7lb Bones! Where else is a 6lb Bonefish classed as pesky????

Day five was a cracker, with good fishing experienced by all the guests, including multiple encounters with some of St Brandon’s large GT’s. Carlos and Sebastian, along with their guide James, staked out on a large white sand flat at a perfect water level. Oddly enough no GT’s presented themselves, however two large happy Permit, that seemingly had this place to themselves made for some exciting fishing. Some tense moments ensued, including Carlos connecting with one of the fish briefly only to have it come off. Incredibly the fish went right back to feeding and a few casts later Carlos’s extensive Permit experience saw him land Permit number 85 and his very first Indo-Pacific! High fives all round and an epic moment during some perfect conditions.

A change of weather on day six saw some less than stellar conditions return, but with this came the amazing Bonefishing that St Brandon’s is so famous for! All in all a great week was had by all, with just enough GT encounters to plant the seed of obsession, team Argentina particularly inspired to come back and tussle with one or two of St Brandon’s beast Trevally.

Until next week

The St Brandon’s Guide Team