Fly Fishing Blog by Alphonse Fishing Co™

ALPHONSE ISLAND FLY FISHING REPORT | 22 FEB – 01 MAR

The final week of February 2025 was a truly elite week of fishing on Alphonse and St Francois Atolls. The weather report accurately predicted gentle north-west winds and bright sunshine, making for excellent flats fishing conditions. The great weather was complimented by some massive spring tides which brought the fish onto the bite offshore, in the surf and on the flats. Our anglers had a great time on the flats as there was non-stop action throughout the days with a variety of species on offer.

We have been very fortunate this season to have consistent shoals of milkfish feeding in the mornings on the dropping tide. This week was no exception and on some of the days there appeared to be thousands of milkfish feeding all around St Francois. When you see this many fish feeding on the surface and know how strong and acrobatic the fight can be, its hard to leave them alone and so we had a number of guests who went after milks every day. Angler Aleksei Noskov could not hold himself back and found plenty of success going after milks. His largest specimen landed was a giant 101 cm fish, our biggest of the week, and in addition to this monster he also landed a 92 cm, a 94 cm and a 95 cm milkfish – some incredible fishing Aleksei! Angler Sergey Alexsandrov also got in on the action, landing four milks for the week with his biggest being a 97 cm beast. Mark Holme managed two milkfish for the week, with his biggest reaching an incredible 100 cm. John Ravenberg has had his troubles with milks over the years but he not only managed his first ever milk this time around, landing a beauty of 91 cms! This fish was caught on the way to a flats slam consisting of a 66 cm GT and some bones – very well fished John! Paul Range also combined a milkfish with a yellowmargin triggerfish, a moustache triggerfish and some bones to secure a flats slam – excellent stuff Paul!

The GTs were on a different level this week, and the guides were finding them in great sizes and numbers which made for some serious excitement amongst the guests. A few of the anglers had extremely memorable days, one of which was Collin Kingsnorth, who managed to land four GTs in one day, two of them each measured 93cm! Some awesome fish there Collin! Mark Holme was also in for a treat on his final day. He started the morning off with a decent milkfish before hitting the flats where he managed an incredible five GTs for the day, the biggest of the five fish were 92 cm and 97 cm, congratulations Mark! Well done to Aleksei on his two GTs for the week, Matt for his two GTs, John with three for the week as well as Rob, David, Bill and William who all recorded GT catches for the week!

The triggers were around but fairly difficult this week. Massive Congratulations to Paul Range who claimed the biggest yellowmargin of the week at 49 cm, and further congrats to his father Oscar who got a massive moustache trigger of 53 cm – an amazing fish! Angler Alex Siems was with us last week and had one more day of fishing on the Sunday. Eager to get after a big geet, his guide took him to lollipop’s wreck where a group of Surgeon fish were seen looking nervous just behind the surf. Suddenly a huge geet was seen sitting just beneath the surgeons, and luckily Alex was armed with his 12-weight rod and a massive fly. The fish did not take much convincing, and absolutely hammered the fly before surging off into the surf and onto the flats. The fight was chaotic, with the fish moving in and out of the surf and threatening to swim into the shipwreck itself. Eventually it was landed on the flats and measured a massive 112 cm! An incredible fish Alex, congratulations to you!

Angler Paul Range stayed for one extra day after his week of fishing, and it might have been one of the best things that could have possibly happened to him. After a morning session targeting permit, his guide took them to look for a big geet on one of the shallow drop offs, just outside Rattray’s Channel. Paul missed an opportunity at one big fish, but his guide, Matt, remained confident that another good one would come their way. Just a few moments later, Matt spotted a massive dark fish coming straight towards the boat, Paul spotted it as well, and was astounded at the size of the fish. Paul made a perfect cast to the left of the fish which lit up after just one strip, and then a huge explosion of white water when the giant ate the fly. The monster peeled a ton of line before eventually just holding underneath the boat, the fish using its girth and weight to keep it down. After about 20 minutes of a brutal fight, the fish came to the surface and it was netted. The fish was enormous, and measured a staggering 125 cm – our new biggest GT of the season and a true fish of a lifetime for Paul, massive congratulations to you!

Tight lines, Blue Safari Fly Fishing

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