If you’ve ever fished for triggerfish, you would have quickly realised that it’s a love/hate relationship. Not many fish can be quite as infuriating as triggers, but it’s their character and their honey badger like attitude that keeps us coming back for more. In the Seychelles the trigger fishing can be otherworldly or terrible and knowing a few basics for targeting triggers can be the difference between pulling your hair out and/or revelling in your accomplishments at the end of the day.
Tides:
People often argue which tides are best between neap and springs for fishing in general and the same applies for triggers. It really all depends on what the conditions are on the day and unfortunately this is where we all rely on luck. Neap tides are great for targeting triggers almost the whole day if the wind holds up and the light is good, albeit it would be deep water fishing for a large portion of the day with heavy weighted flies. There is usually some window for walking turtle grass flats for triggers during the neap low, which can be especially productive for larger yellow margins. On the contrary, the spring tides offer the opportunity on walking the surf and the edges of flats. The only downside to fishing the spring tide is that the window for fishing triggers can be short, as the tide starts pushing it is usually over relatively quickly. If the weather is a bit ominous and gloomy then the surf can still offer good opportunity on springs compared to neaps because one can fish for tailing triggers, which are obviously much easier to see.
Flies:
Flies for triggers are actually not all that complicated. Anything buggy in appearance and anything that resembles a sea critter of any sort, even if it doesn’t imitate an actual living creature, but something that looks like it would potentially crawl around on the ocean floor is fair game. Guides often tie various patterns every time they tie, to keep the triggers guessing. Despite this, there are patterns that have stood the test of time and seem to just keep working. For most trigger flies, size 6-2 hooks with weed guards are recommended. As mentioned before, heavy flies (3-4.5 mm dumbbells) are required for deep water triggers, especially on neaps, but heavy flies are often required in the surf too, due to the constant wave action that moves the fly about. If you use a light fly in the surf zone when there is a bit of a surge you will soon realise why fishing triggers can be so infuriating. The opposite is true when it comes to fishing calm and shallow water, you will need something light, either bead chain flies or flies with light dumbbells/beads (1.5-3 mm).
Essential to any trigger fly box, shrimps of any kind are often picked first by guides for their realistic profile and versatile range of uses. A shrimp fly is often eaten before it hits the floor, but can also be left on the sea floor and stripped slowly to entice slightly less willing triggers. Spawning shrimps, squimps, strong arms and EP shrimps are a go-to, but really anything that resembles a shrimp will work. Flexo crabs are subject to many a nibble from hungry triggers and almost any colour combination could be used, but most popular seem to be orange, snake skin, white and tan flexos. New 3D moulded crab bodies work just as well, if not better. Curtly tails are used in many trigger flies to create extra movement to catch their attention. Curly tail shrimps, hamburgers and even curly tails on the end of flexo crab often warrant a bite. A few older patterns still work just as well today like merkins, rolling box crabs, Velcro crabs, etc.
Leader and other gear:
If you’re fishing a large sandy or turtle grass flat with no corals nearby you can use fluorocarbon leader as light as 15 lb and if you’re fishing deep water with coral nearby you can use as heavy as 30 lb or slightly more. Anything in between is good too, but a good all round leader for most spots would be around 25 lb. Keeping in mind that triggers will do anything they can to bury themselves deep in a coral once hooked, so depending on where you are fishing you may need to pull the fish away from structure, this is where stronger leaders help and the terrain ultimately decides light or heavy to go. In terms of rods, anything between 8 and 10 weight is good, the ability to present the fly accurately is key and should be considered when picking rods.
How to actually catch a trigger:
If you’re using a heavy fly in deep water, you will want to lead the fish by about a rod length at least and let the fly sink a while. Casting slightly past a trigger (about 2 to 3 feet) is important as it will allow you more time to keep the fly in the water and will hopefully entice the fish into eating further way from you, limiting the chance of spooking the fish. If you’re fishing the surf, whether with a light or a heavy fly, you will need to cast within a 3 foot radius of the fish to make sure that it sees the fly as the sound of the wave action will dissipate the sound of the fly landing and the fish won’t see the fly if it is too far off or is being washed away by surge. Fishing up on the shallow flats would require the same 3 ft radius cast. As long as the fish is still tailing and the fly lands softly you have a good chance. Once the fly is in the water and provided the fish has not taken off, start to strip with long, slow strips to begin with until the fly is close to the trigger. Wait for the fish to face the fly before moving it again, but keep the strips slow and long. If the fish moves towards the fly and starts pinning it down, whatever you do, don’t set the hook right away as the fish will likely not have eaten the fly completely and will spook. Keep stripping and pausing until you feel the weight of the fish on the line and then slowly strip until the line is relatively tight before setting. The set should be a short, but sharp strip set with the rod down and pointed at the fly. If the fly comes out of the trigger’s mouth, it will likely go for it again, provided it hasn’t been set too hard. A trigger encounter often results in several attempts to set the hook before actually finding purchase.
Most importantly don’t be surprised if you do everything right and the fish gives you the middle fin anyways. That’s trigger fishing. Just keep at it and eventually persistence will pay off.
