Despite some challenging weather on Alphonse and Farquhar the beginning of February has heralded some great fishing in these remarkable saltwater destinations. Here’s the early February fishing news from the Seychelles.
Alphonse Island – 3rd to 10th February
The weather played a significant role in this week’s fishing with a massive cold front moving slowly through the area. Sunday through Tuesday afternoon saw a lot of rain and nearly 100% cloud cover, making sight fishing extremely difficult. The rest of the week was scattered with periods of heavy rain, clouds and a wildly fluctuating barometer. There was the odd ray of sunshine however and the guests and guides made those gaps count.
The triggers were fairly plentiful on the coral fingers and even with the tides and weather against us, a few nice fish were landed. Daniel, a first-time guest from Argentina, made the most of his stay and nabbed two triggers in one day, as well as a GT whilst walking Milky Way finger. All this in the space of an hour and a half. He was also lucky enough to get a few shots at GTs on the Western flats on his first day and was one of the few who managed to land a GT in the poor conditions, talk about taking your chances.
A couple of annual guests on their 17th trip to Alphonse also ground out a few GTs which were hard to come by. Most GTs were found near the surf on the dropping tides but opportunities were still few and far between. Only the most patient and determined anglers were rewarded and in the winds, the shots had to be pinpointed. Nonetheless, nine fish were landed on the flats during the course of the week and at least six were lost near the boat.
The bonefishing on Alphonse is described by many as some of the best in the world, and this week it put on a show. The bones turned up in their droves on the dropping tides and hung around for a while on the white sand. With the heavy cloud cover sight fishing them was tough even in skinny water, but casting at the shadows still produced the goods. It’s not uncommon to land a ton of bones on Alphonse, but over 300 fish in five days is a special week by any standard.
If you would like more information and availability on Alphonse Island, please contact Charlotte Chilcott or Peter McLeod or call us on +44 1980 847389. Alternatively click HERE if you would like us to contact you.
Cosmoledo Atoll – 2nd to 9th February
Another great week on Cosmoledo with plenty of Seychelles fishing news to shout about! The full moon spring tides brought a lot of fish through the surf and onto the flats. The skiffs fishing both within the lagoon and in the surf zone all saw large numbers of fish throughout the duration of the day. The week was focused on surf walks, and we were blessed with the perfect wind and light conditions to do so.
The majority of the giant trevally numbers were produced on the numerous surf walks throughout the week, predominantly during the start of the pushing tide in the surf zone.
Ed Shugrue was fortunate enough to land himself his first flats slam. A super slam on the flats of Cosmo on his first day of fishing here this week. Ed bagged himself a bonefish, giant trevally, yellowmargin triggerfish and a beautiful permit all within a relatively small area. Big congratulations to Ed for his outstanding achievement.
Henry Gasiorowoski, Van Sternbergh, James Slipper, John Sullivan and Paul Hudson all managed to capture their very first giant trevally on Cosmo and walked away with a couple more to end their week.
Carlton Goldthwait landed himself the biggest giant trevally of the week with a 90cm fish caught on a popper off coral heads in South West channel. A great fish caught in a difficult area.
Richard Mulcahy had a phenomenal surf walk session on his last day and landed a total of eight giant trevally in the surf within a couple of hours, on the pushing tide.
If you would like more information and availability on Cosmoledo, please contact Charlotte Chilcott or Peter McLeod or call us on +44 1980 847389. Alternatively click HERE if you would like us to contact you.
Farquhar Atoll – 1st to 8th February
Although the guests arrived in some unfavourable weather conditions, positive attitudes all round meant we have some great fishing news to report.
The week had a number of repeat guests who had their eyes set on catching a bumphead parrotfish and Farquhar did not disappoint. Day one had Piers Westerman landing his first bumpy as well as a GT. Stuart Webb, on his first trip to Farquhar after guiding Cosmoledo for many years, also went out with the goal of catching his first bumpy and managed a beautiful fish of 105cm. Joel Sather along with his wife, Alysha Underwood, each managed to land their very first GT on their first trip to Seychelles which also doubled as their honeymoon. A perfect way to start the week.
Calvin Rautenbach also on his first trip to Seychelles managed a great GT of 87cm, this fish was also his first significantly sized GT caught on fly. Piers got himself another GT for the week.
The following day was one for the memory book with Joel landing a bumped parrotfish and a 61cm bonefish, both were incredible catches. Stu went out and managed a beautiful golden trevally over 70cm, a special catch on the flats. The weather still wasn’t playing ball but again this didn’t affect the catch stats as the guides went out with the intent of getting the guests onto fish each and every day.
Stuart got the biggest GT of the week measuring 97cm and on the same day got a 55cm yellowmargin trigger, only the third of the season on Farquhar. Joel got his hands on his biggest GT of 87cm after losing a fish that was estimated at 130cm plus. Laurent Dobler, on his third trip to Farquhar, landed two GTs and finally got himself the much-desired bumpy he was after, a great fish at 110cm.
If you would like more information and availability on Farquhar, please contact Charlotte Chilcott or Peter McLeod or call us on +44 1980 847389. Alternatively click HERE if you would like us to contact you.