Fly Fishing Bumphead Parrotfish - Alphonse Fishing Company

Bumphead Parrotfish
Key Facts
The Search
Best Gear & Flies
Tides & Tips

Fly Fishing: The Bumphead Parrotfish

The allure of targeting a Bumphead Parrot fish or Bumpies has brought many an angler to the Seychelles. Farquhar and Providence are two of the very few destinations where flyfishers can actively target Bumphead Parrotfish on the flats. These strangely brilliant and alien looking fish are sought after amongst the world’s fly fishers due to their sheer size, dogged fighting abilities and rarity.

KEY FACTS ABOUT BUMPHEAD PARROTFISH

Bumphead Parrotfish Diet Omnivorous
Bumphead Parrotfish Avg length 80 cm TL
Bumphead Parrotfish Avg Weight 15-20 Kgs

The Search for Bumphead Parrotfish

These emerald submarines are often found in large shoals tailing on turtle grass flats or in shallow coral reef margins. Preferring neap tidal cycles, allowing for extended periods of feeding on the flats.

Best Gear and Flies to Target Bumphead Parrotfish

When targeting these fish, you need to trust your gear and hooks! Using a nine or ten weight rod will allow you to do this, providing enough backbone to pull these extremely hard fighters. These are three flies that will always be in our guides’ fly boxes.

Alphlexo Crab Fly

The Alphlexo Crab Fly is a very realistic crab-like pattern. It also has a relatively solid and rigid structure to further fascinate the triggerfish once it has been pounced on. A general rule of thumb is to use olive or tan colours when fishing darker bottoms and white or lighter colours when fishing over sandy bottoms.
Spawning Shrimp Fly

The Spawning Shrimp fly has been around for ages for a reason – it works! It can be tied in various colours and weights. A Spawning Shrimp tied with lightweight bead chain eyes is ideal for super shallow tailing triggers. This also makes for a more delicate presentation when targeting these skittish fish.
Kraken Crab Fly

The Kraken Crab Fly doesn’t imitate a specific creature but rather an array of different crustaceans found in and around turtle grass, coral patches, and white sand. Common colours are olive, dark brown, tan, and white. The rule of thumb is to fish a dark fly over a dark bottom and lighter colours over lighter bottoms.

Best Tides For Bumphead Parrotfish

Bumphead Parrotfish are not afraid of shallow water. This makes them extremely desirable to fly fishers, and the allure of targeting feeding and tailing fish is always appealing.

Targeting them directly over and around the Neap Tide cycle is often desired due to the slower movement of water and the depth allowing them to feed for extended periods on the flats. The Spring Tide cycle is less favourable as the water drops off and races back onto the flats too quickly, making your window of opportunity to target them very short.

MAKING THE CATCH

Bumphead Parrotfish are notorious for feeding in large shoals of up to 50 fish, whilst not particularly skittish, once the shoal spooks it can be difficult to target them again.
There are three things you need to catch one of these:
A Stealthy, Quiet Approach: Know your casting capabilities, if you are in range, stop and make the cast. Getting unnecessarily close will most likely spook the fish.
Make Your First Cast Count: Presentation is key with this species, too far and they won't eat and too close or on top of them, will spook the whole shoal. An accurate cast and time for the fly to sink into the zone is required.
A Bucket Load of Luck: Following all the rules, doesn’t guarantee you a Bumpie. They can be incredibly tricky and frustrating at times. Ignoring flies or flies getting stuck in turtle grass, they will definitely test your skills.