Fly Fishing Blog by Alphonse Fishing Co™

ALPHONSE ISLAND FISHING NEWS | 09 – 22 JULY 2022

Our first week of the explorer season saw just one angler, one of our long-time fishing buddies and return guests, Nick Evans. The island was faced with some testing weather, which in turn made for some tough fishing conditions – but in true Alphonse Fishing Co. style, we still went out and gave it our all!

This time of year gives our anglers a great chance at catching their dream fish as the atoll has been rested, there are limited anglers fishing, and the SE trade winds cool the surface temperature of the water, so the fish are out feeding in full force!

Nick spent 2 weeks with us and had 6 days of fishing booked. We were off to a great start on the first day landing dozen bonefish in the early hours of the morning whilst looking everywhere for that lurking GT… who out of nowhere appeared on the edge of the flats, clearly on the hunt. Nick managed to drop his 9 wt and made his first shot at the GT. First cast, first strip, and the geet hit the fly at 100 mph! Nick went to battle with this geet, and after a good fight, he landed his first geet for the trip measuring in at 91 cm!

Holding off for a day or two for the weather to play ball, we headed out again, and Nick managed to land six bonefish in quick succession – the biggest being a whopping 73 cm!

Remembering the fight with the GT a few days earlier, we searched for more; with the tide pushing and lots of bait around, we knew we were in the right spot.

Walking the edge of the flats, we stumbled upon a shoal of four monster geets – all well over a meter. Nick put his cast out, and the fish weren’t responding to the fly we had used for his previous GT, so a quick change of feathers and the next cast… boom, bam, the GT smashed the fly with no hesitation! The fish ran straight for multiple coral bommies, and we somehow got extremely lucky that he just missed them every time. After several minutes of intense battle, we were thrown another curveball, a visit from a big and hungry lemon shark, contesting Nick for his well-earned geet. The size was on our side; he managed to get away with the GT being big and fast. We admittedly also splashed the water and shouted at the shark, but don’t quote us on the efficiency of this method! We landed him shortly after this, the GT was a recapture, and he measured in at 108 cm! This was Nick’s first GT over a metre and the biggest he has ever landed – the fish of a lifetime for himself and many anglers!

After two days of fishing and 2 great geets landed, we went for the hat-trick on the third day. With the wind blowing and rain falling, it was no easy task, but nevertheless, Nick managed to hook into another beautiful GT of 88 cm.

Luckily for them, with the wind-up, the GTs were able to evade us the last couple of days. Nick’s last few days on the island were full of bones, taking his bonefish tally up to an impressive 70 for the total of his trip, the biggest being 69 cm and a couple at 60 cm.

All in all a spectacular week here on Alphonse with a very happy guest and a ton of great memories. Stay tuned for next week’s catch report.

Tight lines,
From Alphonse Fishing Co.

TOTAL CATCH STATS THIS WEEK:

Bonefish 70
Giant Trevally 3
Bluefin Trevally 1

EXPLORE OUR FLY FISHING SPECIES

Fly fishing tips, facts, flies, tides, rods & more

• Bonefish
• Indo-Pacific permit
• Triggerfish
• Yellowfin tuna
• Milkfish
• Bluefin trevally
• Barracuda
• Giant trevally
• Wahoo

EXPLORE OUR SALTWATER FLY FISHING DESTINATIONS

• Alphonse Atoll
• Astove Atoll
• Cosmoledo Atoll
• Farquhar Atoll
• Poivre Atoll