Return from Cosmoledo & Astove in the Seychelles

• A week ago I again found myself in the Seychelles heading out to the outer islands. After a day of meeting up at the Barbarons Hotel in Mahe, our merry band of ten fisherman and myself boarded the IDC charter flight out to Assumption Atoll. On arrival we were pleasantly surprised to find out that our vessel had been upgraded to the Sea Bird. At 300 tons and 9 en suite cabins she was extremely comfortable and a good start to the week! As we emerged from the interior of the aircraft into the blinding sunlight the Fly Castaway guides headed up by Arno Mathee were there to welcome us. After settling in on board and frantically assembling gear the party headed onto the beach for our first session. A great way to get the kit organised and the shoulders moving. Apart from Ian Hodge baiting a small lemon shark into nearly beaching itself the afternoon passed without incident.

• After my last trip in 2005 to these outer island I have been desperate to get back and explore this pristine fishery further. There is nothing that pulls quite as hard as a Giant Trevally! After eight months of preparing my kit and having in depth nerdy tackle conversations with those I would be travelling with we were finally here! This is one trip where making sure you have the right gear is absolutely necessary as the GT's destroy anything that is not up to scratch.



• On the first day I was not disappointed. After a relatively calm crossing from Assumption Atoll to Cosmoledo we headed straight round the corner of Menai island and almost immediately Phil Mellor hooked and landed his first GT.

• As the tide was very low in the afternoon we decided to do a little teasing of the edge of the drop off around the entrance to the South West Passage. With Brian on one side and Ian on the other (it was definitely handy having a coupe of lefties with Brian and Ian!) John threw the teaser out.... As the teaser flipped along the surface it suddenly disappeared in a hole in the water as a huge GT exploded onto it. The fish continued to follow it in, but Brian unfortunately had a tangle and could not make the cast. Good thing too as when this fish turned sideways it had to be the largest GT any of us had ever seen! Pushing 160cm the fish was well over 100lbs and charged towards the boat. It was not to be.. A little later after a double hook up and we had landed Ian's fish Brian managed to bring it along side the boat, It took both John and I to gently cradle it into the boat to carefully remove the fly, grab a quick shot and release it. What a fish! We estimated it at around the 100lb mark with a measure length of 135cm.

• Due to the large swell that was heading up from the depression in Madagascar we were limited slightly in terms of reaching the entire Atoll. The neap tide that is normally perfect for bonefish remained caught on the Atoll and became quite warm, driving the fish into deeper cleaner water. By the third day the tidal fluctuation was moving more vigorously and we bumped into a reasonable number of bonefish on the Menai Flat. After I finally hooked a real bus of about 10lbs the last loop of line jumped up around the rod but and the bone snapped me cleanly on 17lb leader.... Gutted.....



• That night Sea Bird motored over to Astove. This extraordinary Atoll has a drop of about 2km no more than 300 yards from the beach. This unique topography means that it is possible to bump into the pelagic species literally from the edge of the flat. That afternoon Ian Hodge, Phil Mellor and Brian Newton thought we would see what we could tempt in the blue water. Phil managed to hit a huge barracuda that did its best impression of a tarpon....spending some time on its tail, and while using a small pattern of teasers we raised a sailfish and also and small black marlin of about 250lbs.... all within 300 yards of the beach! Further persistence also teased up this fabulous dog toothed tuna that Phil also managed to hold on to. Poor Owen Jones had not been so lucky and his half an hour battle with a yellow fin tuna was brought abruptly to a close when something substantially larger bit it in half.. there is always a big fish in the sea!

• "The Pathfinders" (Phil and Claire Davis, Eric Roberts and Richard Meigh) in the mean time had been reeking havoc amongst the trigger fish and bonefish population along the ocean side flat. This area is particularly tricky to land fish in as there are small coral bonnets throughout and even the barest touch parts fish from fishermen. Eric managed to catch the largest Picasso trigger fish I have ever seen.

• Phil Davis however had been building up over the week to try for a large barracuda on the fly. He had even taken to wearing a flashy profile on a wire trace in the Velcro of his cap. While wandering along the beach with guide and guru Arno Mathee they found a large Barry the Cuda hunting in shallows... "Imagine hooking that 'cuda from the shore, in 2 feet of water, on a 15 foot cast, having that fish absolutely blow up. Several fantastic tarpon like jumps and 100 yards of line out of the reel in 10 seconds. Like fighting a sailfish from shore in 3 feet of water....."
  

• Mention must also be made of Claire Davis, Phil's daughter who at the tender age of 12 has now been to Cosmoledo twice and made the rest of us feel meek. Not only is she a fantastic fisher woman, she also is tough enough to cut it with the lads. She should be praised for showing the rest of us how it is done, and may be this trip is not as tough physically as we all thought.... or something.

• In summation, I have come back from this trip feeling slightly humbled. What did I manage to catch? I caught some great GT's, some really good sized bonefish, my first landed Moustache trigger fish...... and everything else I hooked smoked me...... I lost three GT's which were in the 60 - 80lbs size, I lost two blue fin trevally that were mid teens or more, and a coupled of bonefish in the double figure range... oww.... When counting the cost I think we destroyed 4 or 5 rods, had a good number of lines cut, and a number of other serious tackle failures. I am going back with more bigger gear! Who is coming????