Fly Fishing Blog by Alphonse Fishing Co™

ALPHONSE ISLAND FLY FISHING REPORT | 11 JAN-18 JAN

The Third week of January greeted our guests with some pleasant weather and some very nice tides allowing for a variety of fishing. The spring tides allowed these gentleman to make the most of surf walks, various ways to target Giant Trevally, milk fishing and bones allowing the results speak for themselves.

The return of Peter Rippin to Alphonse is always an extremely welcome one, although fishing took a backseat as he was here with the rest of his family, that didn’t hinder his ability to bag a few great quality fish. On one of his few full days fishing Peter set out with guide James Kirsten, with the main goal being enjoying the day out. They headed into the lagoon with the aim of catching a GT on a stingray. James began to pole down the west and they shortly came across a very happy mudding ray, which looked like it could have a geet on its back. James being unsure of this told Peter to get ready. As they got closer James was certain ‘he’ was there. Peter, knowing the plan, put in the perfect shot and in no time the fish peeled off the ray and inhaled the fly. The fish was landed and it equated to a GT of 66 cm. Later that day, Peter and James set off for a bonefish expedition. Conditions were perfect with water flushing out the various depressions with plenty bones following it. The boys bagged a few bones and on one of the last casts of the day Peter was greeted by a juvenile milk to complete his slam.

Later that week Peter and Dan set out on a Blue water expedition, with the aim of tackling a sailfish or a few wahoo. They each bagged a few wahoo, when Matt suddenly spotted a massive group of extremely happy milkfish. Matt positioned Suli, and the gentleman each received a fine specimen of milk.. Well done to Peter and Dan.

Johan had an incredible week, with St. Francois Atoll giving him ample opportunities to get the job done and that he did. His first notable catch of the week came on a surf walk from rat rays towards Beirut. According to his guide, Kyle, the triggers were wild. Johan had plenty of practice with tailing triggers before he managed to execute. Kyle spotted a tail in the distance and in fairly glassy conditions the men started their stalk. Johan made a perfect cast leading the trigger by half a rods length, one long strip and the fish pinned the fly. All hell broke loose and guide Kyle successfully netted the trigger, a beautiful 32 cm moustache trigger led to pure elation from the boys.

Later that week, Johan and Peter Mulholland, were guided by Sean on what can be classified as a ‘biblical’ surf walk. The gentleman jumped in at lollipop wreck and as soon as Johan grabbed his rod he spotted a geet with its back out the water. His quick reaction resulted in his first geet of the session. A fast turnaround from Johan was needed, as Sean spotted another fish swimming along the edge of the cut. Johan made the shot and executed the whole procedure with extreme prowess and converted his second GT of the session. It was now Peters turn and another GT was spotted by Sean, which was claimed to be a much better specimen. The boys approached the bow wake and Peter made a cast like a seasoned professional and instantly went tight. All hell broke loose and the fish headed straight for the surf, Sean screamed “put the brakes on” and that Peter did. The fish was landed and Peter shouted with pure excitement. He had just landed his first GT and it was a beautiful specimen of 82 cm. Johan made short work, which was now muscle memory, of another geet, taking his tally up to three for the afternoon. What a session for the boys, congratulations to Johan and Peter.

Mike Holick had an exceptional few days on St. Francois after arriving from Cosmo. After a frustrating few days with the triggers, Mike managed to bag his first moustache trigger to start off the day. The day got even better when Mike and his guide Kyle found a happy group of milkfish on the east. It didn’t take mike long to hook his first milk, which they fought until it unfortunately got eaten by a shark at the boat. It was time for round two and it didn’t take mike long to get stuck into his second milk of the session, which was a slightly smaller specimen which he made light work of. Kyle netted the fish and while the gentleman were celebrating the fish wangled its way out of the net and the leader snapped, with no photo to show for it. Mike was now discouraged after landing two milks with no photographic evidence. Kyle encouraged mike to have a few more throws, after a quick drink of water, and he was quickly tight on fish number three. After around 25 minutes the milk was landed. The fish measured 95 cm being the biggest of the week. Mike also managed a beautiful 91 cm GT being the biggest GT of the week. A massive well done to mike on an amazing few days of fishing.

We look forward to another exciting week with some new guests ready to test themselves against our fish, stay tuned for next week’s report.

Tight lines, Blue Safari Fly Fishing

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