Alphonse and St Francois atolls continue to amaze on the fishing front; with their added leisure opportunities, it has become a perfect destination for a family holiday and an unforgettable fishing trip. This season was quite easily one of the very best we have seen, starting off with incredible permit fishing while the Southeast wind still blew. The magnificent catches did not stop there, seeing some spectacular fish coming to hand over the course of the last nine months. Let us take a dive into some of the season’s noteworthy catches and statistics, giving you a great view of the phenomenal fishing to still be hand on Alphonse.
Alphonse’s signature species showed true to form, with a total of 4616 bonefish being caught. While this number is slightly lower than in other years, it is attributed to the increased catches of the other popular species. In particular, permit and GTs with 69 and 482 fish being caught, respectively. While no match to Farquhar, a solid 20 GTs over a meter were landed this season, with the biggest being 128cm, which was the biggest GT across all of our destinations this season. Both the triggerfish and milkfish were also not shy, with 127 and 61 caught, respectively. An incredible 26 flats slams were achieved, and two super slams, which is close to a record for any destination.
Ghosts of the Flats, Bonefish
The bone fishery on Alphonse is undoubtedly one of the best fisheries in the world, and it continuously proves itself year in and year out. Countless guests landed their first bonefish with us, but what is more remarkable is that almost all our guests go on to catch 20+ bonefish in a day. Some notable fish include two bonefish measuring 66cm caught, by long-term returning guest Brian. Art took the bonefish of the season though catching an impressive 68cm fish.
The Golden Nugget, Indo-Pacific Permit
As mentioned earlier, the permit was in abundance at the start of the season. Justin landed four permit in our opening week, the biggest being 67cm. Neale also managed to land himself one after hunting them for many years. Dudley also took advantage of the great permit fishing at the start of the season and equalled Justin on the top spot for biggest permit of the season. The Kurschat family also made permit fishing look easy over the Christmas period landing four amongst themselves.
Tactical Triggerfish
As most people are aware, trigger fishing is not for the feint-hearted, and our anglers on Alphonse rose to the challenge this season, landing a remarkable amount as well as some very notable specimens and sessions.
Starting with our female anglers, Ashely and Logan both landed lovely Moustache triggerfish measuring 53 and 45 cm, respectively. Logan also added another spectacular 47cm Yellowmargin to her triggerfish tally. The race for the biggest Yellowmargin was on from early in the season, with Noah landing a hefty 51cm fish; Swifty also rose to the occasion, landing 51 and 52cm fish, respectively. The biggest Yellowmargin goes to Alan, though, with a spectacular fish of 54cm. Swifty did not stop at his two impressive Yellowmargin, though, and went on to target some moustaches and successfully landed three impressive fish measuring 51,52 and 53 cm. Tom, a long-term returning angler, also had a bone to pick with some triggerfish this season, landing a total of 8 during his stay, with the biggest measuring 51cm. Chris took the honours for the biggest moustache triggerfish of the season on Alphonse and all our other destinations with an astounding 56cm fish.
Ginormous Giant Trevally
Alphonse has never been well known for its GT fishing, but there is some change being seen with more fish being caught each season. The first of our notable Gt catches goes to Sarah who join her dad on the boat to try land her first GT. She landed it alright and It was an incredible fish of 100cm, truly a special fish. Last but not least though, long term guest Mike has been on the hunt for a very big GT for many years and this year he finally accomplished his quest landing an incredible specimen of 128cm and the GT of the season across all our destinations.
Massive Milkfish
Alphonse accounts for 90% of the worlds landed milkfish and this season showed exactly why with some phenomenal catches during our Christmas period. Gary Neil got in on the cation and landed himself a lovely fish of 105cm after a length 55minute fight. Nikita landed a phenomenal 110 cm fish. John took the honours for milk fisherman of the season, though, landing one every day for five consecutive days, with his largest coming in at a spectacular 111cm. Lots of milkfish often resulted in lost flats slams, and this season, there was no shortage of them. Well done to all those anglers who ticked this massive achievement off.
Incredible Angling, Flat Slams
The most note-worthy weeks were from three anglers, starting with a big congratulations to Reade and Julian for landing the two super flats slams this season. Achieving these is by no means an easy feat, but it is a phenomenal accomplishment! Lastly, to Niall, who didn’t land a slam but had a spectacular week: landing multiple GTs, two hefty moustache triggerfish measuring 47 and 45 cm, and a stunning 55cm permit.
Cheers, that’s a wrap. Thank you and well done to all of our anglers this season, it was an absolute pleasure hosting and meeting you all. I am sure many of you have already re booked for another unforgettable experience but to those of you who haven’t don’t miss out.
Until next time, tightlines and many happy days of fishing from the Blue Safari Fly Fishing team.
