Providence Blog: 19 – 26 March 2024
Perfect sunshine, soaring temperatures, and 100% humidity welcomed our third group of fishermen to Providence Atoll. Our 12 new guests, all from the United States, hosted by The Fly Shop out of Redding, California were newcomers to the Prov experience and over the moon to finally find themselves on her shores.
The first day of the fishing week was 1 of education. A new marine environment, with new species resulted in us having to spend a few hours couching and tweaking technique before we could get into the action proper. Pat managed to get his first Yellow Margin Triggerfish while Bob, convinced not 1 but 2 Yellow Margin Triggers to his fly as well as a feisty GT. What a way to start, Bob, well done! Evert, meanwhile, got stuck into the Bonefish landing his biggest ever of 9 lbs. and a little while later, he added a colourful Yellow Margin Triggerfish. Dick closed off the catch report with a single Bone.
Day 2 saw a delayed start due to a powerful squall with heavy wind and rain. The second the squall passed us we headed to the flats and enjoyed decent weather for the remainder of the day. The GTs made a good show of themselves with Mike G, Mike, Pat, Evert, Dick, and Bruce all tasting success on this front. Dave managed to land the only Bonefish for the day.
The third day brought with it tricky conditions in the way of dark cloud and little wind. The diminished visibility on the flats really made the fishing tough and only a single GT was caught for the day. Evert, the man of the moment caught a brute 93cm fish that was spotted sitting in ambush position in a small drainage channel. Evert made a great cast and before he could get through his first strip the GT rushed forward and engulfed his fly. Following an epic battle and with a bit of luck going his way, the fish was eventually landed! Great job, Evert!
Day 4 had us endure strong winds out of the southeast. Despite the challenging casting conditions, we still managed to convert several GTs for the day. Matt found himself in the right place, at the right time, and managed to land 2 GTs himself, while Mark pinned 2 hungry GTs from as many stingrays… His fish were found tailing next to the rays which is always a very exciting spectacle for both angler and guide. Dave and Tom added to the tally with a GT each and finally was Bruce’s impressive 93 cm catch, caught while it patrolled along a white sand beach. The fish ate his fly just a few inches from the shore and was certainly a moment of magic that Bruce will remember for a long time to come.
Day 5 was an absolute scorcher. No wind and incredible heat made fishing conditions difficult to say the least. Despite this we soldiered on and managed a handful of decent catches with both Bob and Mike managing to fool a GT each. Dennis added a splash of colour to the day’s catch report with the only Triggerfish brought to hand for the day. Though we experienced difficult fishing the seascapes we were treated too were exceptional… As has been said many times before, a day’s fishing sure does beat a day in the office!
The 6th and last day of the fishing week had us extra motivated to turn things around on the fishing front. All 4 boats headed across the atoll to the eastern side with high hopes of opportunities for the iconic species we so dearly wanted to catch. Mother nature however, had something else in mind for us and delivered a massive weather system by midmorning with incredibly dark clouds, rolling squalls, and periods of almost no wind. This made for exceptionally tricky fishing conditions, and this showed in our catch report with just 2 GTs landed for the day… 1 going to Bruce while the other fell to Dick.
All in all, the third week our season proved to be exceptionally challenging on the fishing front. A mix of hot water and difficult weather conditions culminated to produce the perfect storm so to speak… Nevertheless, we still thoroughly enjoyed exploring our favourite Seychelles fishery with our new friends and hope that they get a better set of circumstances the next time they visit us out here. As for our catch tally, we landed the following fish for the week:
- GTs – 19
- Triggerfish – 5
- Bonefish – 3
- Total tally of Grouper, Snapper, and others: 181
Till next week,
The FlyCastaway Guide Team
Ominous cloud banks and showers on the eastern horizon set the tone, weather wise, for the entire week. The first day nevertheless delivered exciting fly fishing for several of Providence’s iconic species… The GTs were out in full force, and we managed to land 11 for the day with the standout catch going to Joern when he was visited by a lunch time GT that wasted no time in grabbing a bit of lunch itself, charging the fly twice before eventually smashing the little brush fly. Joern’s beauty measured an impressive 102 cm, and was a wonderful way to get things going. Brummy, Steve, and James also enjoyed some hardcore action landing 6 between themselves when a large school of GTs were found with several sharks. Piers chipped in with a colourful Triggerfish and Peter M finally, after several years of fishing Providence, managed to land his first Bumphead Parrotfish, great job and well-deserved Peter! 
Day 3 and the weather took a turn for the worse. With little light and no wind, visibility on the flats was especially limited. Despite this we managed to catch a couple fish. Piers, Steve, James, and Peter M all landed a couple GTs. Fred, managed to land a feisty Triggerfish as well as a large Bumphead Parrotfish. Peter O added a GT and Triggerfish to the tally while his son, Jack, chipped in with a colourful Triggerfish to bring an exciting close to the day. 
The fifth day of the week delivered scratchy fishing with little returns. Peter M landed 2 GTs, Joern a single fish, while Peter O got stuck into the action on the Triggerfish front, this time landing a beautiful Yellow Margin. It was however Peter Mcleod’s day. As he waited on the edge of the atoll on the slack tide, he noticed a slight disturbance and the caught sight of the tip of a fin protruding just above the surface of the water. He quickly sent out a prospecting cast and before he could get through the third strip of his retrieve there was a massive explosion on his fly and he was tight. With line ripping off his reel in a blur and by the size of the wake caused by the fish as it tried with desperate determination to reach the open ocean everyone knew it was a giant. After a long battle the fish was eventually landed and pulled the measuring tape all the way to 113cm. A beautiful fish, and a deserved catch for Mr. Mcleod. Well done to everyone involved! 
The final day of the fishing week saw the weather continue in the same manor that had abused us for the entire week. The dark conditions and subsequent cool water on the flats however delivered incredible Bonefish fishing for the team of Peter Mcleod, Peter O, and Jack. The trio landed 23 large Bones between them for the day with the largest going to Jack when landed a massive 29-inch fish which put it in the region of 10 lbs.! A great catch for the young man! James, also landed a real beast of Bone, which was close to the 10 lb. mark while Gerry, Piers, and Joren landed the only GTs for the day. Piers, as you probably guessed it, landed another Triggerfish, this time an absolute bus of a Yellow Margin to close off the fishing for the week. 
Large schools of Bones were found in deeper water which provided consistent action, along with a few opportunities some really big fish. No less than two double digit fish came out, one fish just breaking the 10lbs mark and the other 10.5lbs. Really impressive fish! Congrats Allisandro!
Our Permit continued to present themselves and opportunities at some incredible sight fishing throughout the week. No less than 6 fish were hooked, but thanks to some incredible ill fortune all 6 opportunities slipped away.
On the Trevally front, we had one mightily impressive encounter, when during the course of day a shoal of about 20 GTs was spotted swimming with some Nurse sharks. Giles put in a great shot and went tight, eventually landing a 96cm Indian Ocean prize. Great fish Giles…congrats!
The cold water along with some welcomed low water brought the Bones back onto the flats. Good numbers of fish in the 8lbs range, along with a couple over 9lbs including angler Derrick’s 9,5lbs trophy provided some really exciting fishing. 
The permit were however very elusive this week, with only one being landed by Ryan.
The bonefish schooled up this week which made it a bit tougher to find them in skinny water and on the flats. We did however still manage to land some good fish, with Peter landing a beautiful fish of 9lbs. Well done Peter!
The trevally were still around in good numbers …most notably the Bluefin. Mike however managed to spot a school of GTs during one session and despite hooking up, it was the smaller fish measuring 85cm which got his fly first…oh what could have been!
The mornings provided some good bonefishing, with a couple of very nice fish caught. We unfortunately didn’t get any double-digit fish during the week but we got some double-ups on fish which is always fun.
The trevally tides were in full swing with many bluefin around keeping those rods bending and smiles all around. We managed to land one GT this week, with angler David hooking into a fish of 101cm which was landed after an intense 20 minute battle. Congrats Dave on an epic fish!
