St. Brandon's Atoll Client Trip Report

Words written by Yellow Dog Client Rod W. 

After 38 hours of travel I finally arrived at the hotel in Port Louis, Mauritius.  My roommate, Pete had arrived earlier in the day and recommended a local Thirsty Fox pale ale when we arrived at the bar.  We reminisced about our trip here 10 years ago wondering if the fishing would be as spectacular as we remembered.  You see, although we had some rainy days, we had the best week of casting to bonefish either of us had ever had. Not overly big numbers but just overly big fish. 

There were differences, though. 10 years ago it was a liveaboard, it was in May, and were there for a week.  This trip was the first week of the season in October, with a room on land, and will fish for 14 days this time.  Both of us were excited to fish with Flycastaway again.  Always top rate guides laser focused on the fishing.  Sipping the last of my beer I couldn’t wait to see what St B offers. 

The next morning was a contrast to 10 years ago.  Instead of the 95 foot, wide beamed Gryphon, our group was hitching a ride on a fishing boat that carries local catches back from St. Brandon to Mauritius.  64 ft long with a 15ft beam.  It was like a cork on the sea. There were four berths forward but the rest of us laid on the mats placed over the fish bins on the main deck. 

Once out off the lee of the Island we rocked and rolled for 28 hours to our final destination all the while testing the efficacy of the ubiquitous scopolamine patches.  The theme song from Gilligan’s Island sampled repeatedly through my brain.  This is the penance one must pay to fish this beautiful remote atoll. 

Once we arrived at Rafael Island we were greeted by our four phenomenal Flycastaway guides, all from South Africa. Milan, Erich, Big Jarryd, and Little Jarod were just as excited as us to get this season underway.  They helped us with our gear and over a few beers relived the spring season with lots of permit shots and a bonefish over 17 lbs adding to our anticipation. 

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Once fishing we found the conditions challenging with strong  winds and off and on and clouds for much of our two weeks.  The tides and wind often left us with less than optimal water levels for bonefish.  The great news was it was ideal for Permit giving us all many shots each day. 

For the two weeks our group landed 11 Indo-Pacific Permit! Lee got three and led the group.  I was proud to be among three others with two to hand.  Don’t get me wrong about the bonefish. There were plenty of fish caught and in spite of the fish being unusually spook,  a number of fish over 8 lbs were landed and I personally saw a massive fish in the upper teens that spooked when I led him by over 10 feet! 

Two special days were when John and Shaun dove for lobsters and when Pete and I went fishing for squid; both times the chef made great use of them in the kitchen. 

The trip home gave us time to commiserate and draw some comparisons to our first trip.  The first time was a special time for bones and all but one angler landed fish over 10 lbs!  Was it the time of year?  Tides?  Who really knows.  What I can say is that the Permit fishing was extra special this time. There is nothing like tailing permit to make the heart race and we saw them on a regular basis each day.

We had a great time meeting new friends and experiencing 16 days off the grid in, arguably, one of the world’s most remote and productive big bonefish and permit fishery.