An Island season (May – September) to remember, we welcomed seasoned anglers hunting for permit, familiar faces from the Marine season and multiple new anglers to the Blue Safari community. The island season brought crystal clear days and brilliant fishing, with guests essentially having the flats to themselves. Every year we welcome more and more guests during this period and look forward to many more in the years to come. The fishing is what brings anglers to this very special atoll group, and it produced some exceptional days on the flat.
The Alphonse group is known as one of the top destinations in the world to catch bonefish, and this season provided exactly that, with well over a thousand landed by our anglers. The cool water from the Southeast winds often pushes larger size class fish onto the flats, and our guests took advantage. Of the many noteworthy fish caught, some stood out, Arnold landed 27 fish in a single session, River landed a cannon 67cm bonefish, with Bruce equally landing a special fish of 65cm.
First timers Chris and Merissa, Blaze, and a string of other visitors all celebrated their first bonefish on the flats. The season closed out in style in September, when two anglers, Richard and Dian, with Dian matching the season’s best with a trophy 67cm bonefish, one of 40 landed across his four days on the water, while Richard put together an incredible 25-fish session. From bonefish Sundays to ticking that last species off in a slam, the bonefish of St Francois and Alphonse are ever present and ever willing!
A hot topic in the Seychelles as always, the GT’s, and they show up over the last few months, some noteworthy specimens included an 87cm fish by Alex landed amongst some gnarly coral heads. Gavin landed an exceptional and very well deserved 105cm fish in the Cosmic Lagoon. Chris had an absolute bumper of a day, landing three fish and one of them stretching to 110cm! Lance, Mark, David, Johan, Damien and Francesco all added fish of their own, Francesco landing a respectable fish of 92cm and Damien one of 85cm.
Dan banking a 96cm Giant Trevally in the surf, Duke opened his Alphonse account with an 86cm GT before adding two more, and Bryan, Rene and Vincent all landing personal bests, Bryan’s 94cm fish among the standouts. By season’s end, giant trevally had been landed on the white sand flats, in the surf, off cruising rays and deep in the lagoon. An exceptional season for GT’s and not what we are used to seeing so well done to all the anglers on some exceptional fishing!
The Island season has become a popular time of year to target the elusive golden creature that roams our flats and drives anglers mad. Permit thrive on the cooler water that the southeast wind pushes over the flats during the season. Our guests took full advantage this season, with Ivan’s account of two fish from a bonefish shoal, the first of which was his first. Jim and Alex also had the privilege of landing their first. Morgan had an epic day on the well known Tam Tam flats, hooking and landing a stunning 67cm permit after a tense 21 minute fight, a true fish of a lifetime. Adam equally got stuck in and landed three fish of his own, while Chris and Enrico also landed two of their own. David and Duke continued the exceptional fishing later into the season and landed their firsts. Exceptional angling and an incredibly healthy permit fishery led to some special fish landed this season, and we are sure these memories will last a lifetime!
The triggerfish can be even more finicky than normal during this season, they did, as always show up and create many frustrated anglers. James opened his account in style with a cannon 57cm yellowmargin, while Alexy added a 36cm moustache the same week. Morgan equally got stuck in and landed a yellowmargin. Stefano and Bruce took to the fingers of St Francois in search of some, and after a couple of shots and triggers being triggers they both landed a moustache triggerfish each. Lance and Enrico, also got in on the action, with them both landing yellow margins, Enrico’s being a first and one he has been after for quite some time! Dan and Bryan closed out the season in style with two lovely moustache triggerfish coming in at 42cm and 43cm respectively.
There are few places in the world to consistently catch milkfish, and May is often a great month for them, with the change of season. This season proved just that, Alex landed his very first milkfish before Simon battled a supercharged milkfish to the net. Morgan and Gavin found the perfect feeding school off Bijoutier, both anglers landing fish from it. The fish then moved into the lagoon midway through the season and created some exceptional days of fishing, with Adam, Bradley, Francesco and Graham all landing fish throughout their respective weeks. Adam capping one of his days with a flats slam consisting of a Milkfish, GT, Bonefish!
While the above species often steal the show, there are many others that provide our guests with entertainment and are often extremely noteworthy! Alex banked two batfish in May, along with Ralph, who opened his fortnight’s account with batfish landed on a bluebottle imitation. The bluewater scene continued on from the exception Marine season we had, with Jim hooking a black marlin on fly, unfortunately, the fight only lasted for 1o minutes before the hook pulled. The day was, however, saved with two beautiful sailfish landed. Lance landed an outstanding 147cm barracuda. A couple anglers took to the bluewater midway through the season, and a total of nine wahoo, a tuna and a sailfish were landed amongst the team.
The island season is becoming a popular time to join us, despite the windier conditions, the fishing continues to produce. A total of 1020 bonefish, 43 GT’s, 14 Milkfish, 11 permit, 11 triggerfish and a couple bat fish, it was a season to remember for our anglers. From bonefish Sundays to marlin, big GT’s and the elusive permit, we had an exceptional run of fishing over the last few months, closing out the season in September with a bumper bonefish week to remember. Whether you landed your very first bonefish or fish of a lifetime, we hope you left with stories worth retelling, and we look forward to welcoming you back to the flats again soon.