Alphonse Island Fishing Company (AIFC) offers the rare opportunity to stalk bonefish, trevally, trigger fish, permit and more while wading the flats of uninhabited Alphonse, Bojitier and St. Francois Islands. Alphonse Island now offers single room accommodations and is the only outfitter with access to world renowned St. Francois Lagoon. The experienced guides, luxury accommodations, and excellent fishing make Alphonse Island an extremely popular destination.
Farquhar Atoll is the most southerly atoll in the Seychelles chain. Formally too far south to be accessed by mother ship, FlyCastaway has established a land-based operation on Farquhar. Onshore, Farquhar is best known for both its Giant Trevally and Bonefish populations, however there’s quality fishing for Indo-Pacific Permit, Triggerfish, Barracuda, Milkfish, Bumphead Parrotfish & various other Trevally species. In addition the close proximity to deeper water allows for “offshore” fishing from the skiffs and anglers can come into contact with Grouper, GT’s, Dogtooth Tuna, Yellowfin Tuna, Wahoo, Sailfish and even Marlin on occasions. Accommodations are in an existing lodge building on the Atoll with 5 fully air-conditioned double occupancy rooms and a central lounge.
Desroches Island Fly Fishing Adventures is a new land-based fishing operation in the Seychelles. Anglers are accommodated in the existing and luxurious villas of Desroches Island Resort. The resort is the perfect place to bring a non-fishing companion and still offers great Seychelles fishing. The flats fishing occurs on near by St. Joseph’s and Poivre Atoll’s for bonefish, trevally, milkfish and Indo-Pacific permit. Desroches also affords anglers access to a variety of reef and offshore species.
St. Brandon’s Atoll, Mauritius is possibly the best bonefishery in the world based on numbers, size, and willingness to eat a fly. St. Brandon’s Atoll (also know as Cargados Carajos Shoals) is a collection of 50 small islands with a total landmass of less than 1-mile some 200 miles off the cost of Mauritius, a small island Republic just east of Madagascar. In addition to the bonefishing, there’s a mix of trevally, including some of the biggest GT’s and more Indo-pacific permit are caught here than anywhere in the Indian Ocean. St Brandon’s Atoll is a remote location with a limited 12-week season. Since the mother ship accommodates 8 anglers per week, Mauritius offers exclusivity in addition to the world-class bonefishing in a remote location.
Other Locations in Africa
In addition to the fishing in the Seychelles and Mauritius, FlyCastaway offers 2 excellent Tigerfish destinations: Panyame Camp in Mozambique and the Mnyera & Ruhudji Rivers in Tanzania. Tigerfish are a voracious predator fish that can grow to more than 20 lbs and that make powerful runs and acrobatic jumps when hooked. The Payame Camp offers a diverse delta flood plain fishery where anglers can catch lots of Tigerfish on the fly. The Mnyera & Ruhudji Rivers in Tanzania offer the best chance for trophy Tigerfish.
St. Brandon’s Atoll, Mauritius is possibly the best bonefishery in the world based on numbers, size, and willingness to eat a fly. St. Brandon’s Atoll (also know as Cargados Carajos Shoals) is a collection of 50 small islands with a total landmass of less than 1-mile some 200 miles off the cost of Mauritius, a small island Republic just east of Madagascar. In addition to the bonefishing, there’s a mix of trevally, including some of the biggest GT’s and more Indo-pacific permit are caught here than anywhere in the Indian Ocean. St Brandon’s Atoll is a remote location with a limited 12-week season. Since the mother ship accommodates 8 anglers per week, Mauritius offers exclusivity in addition to the world-class bonefishing in a remote location.
Other Locations in Africa
In addition to the fishing in the Seychelles and Mauritius, FlyCastaway offers 2 excellent Tigerfish destinations: Panyame Camp in Mozambique and the Mnyera & Ruhudji Rivers in Tanzania. Tigerfish are a voracious predator fish that can grow to more than 20 lbs and that make powerful runs and acrobatic jumps when hooked. The Payame Camp offers a diverse delta flood plain fishery where anglers can catch lots of Tigerfish on the fly. The Mnyera & Ruhudji Rivers in Tanzania offer the best chance for trophy Tigerfish.
Christmas Island is still one of the most prolific bonefish destinations anywhere, especially for anglers interested in pure wading. The fishery has recovered, close to the incredible numbers of bonefish that made Christmas Island famous in the 1970’s and 1980’s, since conservation mandates were put in place. The new regulations on commerical fishing and an energized local fly fishing guide culture, have breathed new life into this top saltwater fly fishing destination. Christmas Island is blessed with thousands of acres of shallow water, white sand and coral flats covered with cruising bonefish in the 2-6 pound range and the chance to hook a double-digit fish. The atoll is very close to the equator, so there is little variation in the weather from month to month. The bonefishing on Christmas Island is consistent year round, making it an exciting and rewarding bonefishing destination for both beginner and experienced anglers.
While you can spend a whole trip stalking bonefish on foot, usually over solid, white-bottomed flats, there is also variety in the fishing. Golden, Bluefin, Striped and Giant Trevally (up to 100 lbs), Triggerfish, Milkfish, Tuna, Wahoo, and even Sailfish can be caught during your stay. More recently, the Giant Trevally, or GT’s for short, have become a favorite species among fly anglers. GT’s can reach 60+ lbs and will attack a fly with reckless abandon, so don’t forget to bring a 12-weight!
Guests stay at The Captain Cook Hotel. Seven night/seven day packages originate in Honolulu, Hawaii. This is truly a year round fishery with very little temperature fluctuation, given its proximity to the Equator. For detailed information click here.
New Bonefishing Destination in the Indian Ocean
St. Brandon’s Atoll, Mauritius is an exciting new bonefishing destination that has quickly become one of the top locations to land numbers of bonefish over 10 pounds. In addition to the bonefishing, Mauritius offers possibly the best Indo-pacific permit fishing anywhere in the world, and a mix of trevally, including GT’s up to 100 pounds. St Brandon’s Atoll is a remote location with a limited 12-week season. Since the mothership accommodates 8 anglers per week, Mauritius offers exclusivity in addition to the world-class bonefishing in a remote location.
Gerhard Laubscher of FlyCastaway is visiting Angler Adventures in Connecticut next week and giving a couple of presentations about FlyCastaway’s cutting edge fishing operations on St. Brandon’s Atoll, Mauritius and Farquhar Atoll, Seychelles. Both destinations offer spectacular fisheries that get almost no fishing pressure due to their remote locations and are priced like rare commodities, adding exclusivity to both destinations attributes (Farquhar prices at $7,500 US and St. Brandon’s prices at 6,500 Euro).
To get started, here’s the guides report from the April 4 – 11, 2012 week at Farquhar that included one of our clients, Steve Gross, who was looking to tally up as many species as possible.
Like a tide eager to begin its initial surge, our new group of guests arrived on the shores of Farquhar champing at the bit to explore the multitude of flats and species Farquhar has on offer. After our customary quick briefing and some hasty rigging of tackle, the group which consisted of 9 men and one hard core fisherwoman set out to get a brief taste of what was in store for the rest of the week. The weather was set to be stable …we were hoping for an absolute cracker!
Yves quickly enticed his first Trigger to eat the fly. Jeff joining the action as he got stuck into a Milky as they are still here and feeding hard! Clare quickly showed the boys she was here to do business by landing the first GT, sadly her Dad. Finally after countless attempts, Wayne O finally managed to land his Trigger, which has been eluding him for years. And it didn’t end there for Wayne as he recorded our first Farquhar Slam, that being GT, a Bone and a Trigger in one day. Now that’s some serious angling and bragging rights!
But back to the rest of the week, the Milkies were still hanging around and after and epic battle, Alex landed his first Milky, awesome fish Alex! His action didn’t stop there either, he also managed to land a GT and a Bone in the same day, quite an achievement. Good fishing was being experienced by all, although we did have a fair number of large GTs lost due to hooks pulling and lines breaking. Clare however had the pink touch (literally), and landed another good GT. Things were heating up and the pressure was on to get the desired species.
Ian subsequently also made his way in to the record book by landing all three of the species and Yves just failing to qualify by losing his GT. Wayne, Dean and Jeff had one truly memorable day whereby they landed 5 GTs, although Wayne did get smoked by a Yellowfin Tuna which tore off 300m of backing in less than 20 seconds late in afternoon!
2 Slams in two days. Let’s make it 4 in three days. Dean and Jeff decided they also wanted a taste of that action and had no trouble landing a Trigger, a Bone and a GT. Piece of cake, all in a day’s work at the office….these were the comments around the dining room table each evening. Steve continued his species count and landed a truly impressive Napoleon.
Last day out on the flats and Ian once again showed his metal landing a 98cm GT which was the largest of the week. Jeff and Wayne muscled in some Bumphead Parrotfish, whilst Steve braved “THE WALK” and reaped the rewards, landing Bones, Bluefin and two Blackfin Sharks. It was really good to have Steve out fishing with us after months of preparations and planning!
An amazing week of fishing with 4 Farquhar Slams, 15 GTs, 6 Triggers, 2 Napoleons, some Bumpheads, a Milkfish and countless Bluefin, Grouper and Snapper. That is what Farquhar is all about!
FlyCastaway has arrived in Connecticut and we’ve been enjoying spending some quality time with Gerhard and hearing him speak about the fishing programs. You may not have heard, but St Brandon’s has been described as the finest bonefishing in the world. We know it’s a tall order to fill, since there are excellent fisheries like North Riding Point, that produce quality numbers of double digit bonefish each year. An excerpt from a FlyCastaway’s description of the May 11 – 20, 2012 trip to St. Brandon’s.
The week started off with an absolute bang, the neap tides meant we had ample time to fish some of our Bonefish hotspots and we literally climbed into the monsters St Brandon’s has become renowned for. Simply put, the fishing was off the charts! Each day at least one team would return home with an image of a weighed double digit Bonefish. For those not in the know, most dedicated saltwater anglers will go his entire lifetime without ever holding a 10lb fish….and we were doing it on a daily basis. By the end of the week we racked up no less than ten fish, which weighed over the 10lb mark, two of which were eleven pounds!
The average size was equally impressive, and when guys started putting their noses up at eight pounders we had to give them a little pep talk. Something along the lines of “each fish is special” and “you don’t know when you’ll get this opportunity again”. Added to this we had some scary good sight fishing for these hogs as they tailed in water no deeper than our gravel guards …
The “schooling” bonefish are in the 6 – 7 pound class, one or two 4-pound bonefish may be the smallest bonefish you’ll see, and there are bones there pushing 14-pounds. Oh, the fishing is 100% wading and there are only 8 anglers fishing these flats every other week over two 3-month seasons each year. If you love bonefishing, this might just be having your cake and eating it too!
