Wildfly ~ South Africa's home of Fly Fishing

"All the romance of trout fishing exists in the mind of the angler and is in no way shared by the fish." Harold F. Blaisdell

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The Fishing Report

The Archive: Rio Azul, Imbabala Safari Lodge, Chile, New Zealand, Lake Tanganyika, Bassas da India, Des Roches Island, Farquar aboard the MV Illusions, Barotse Tiger Camp, Chawalo, Neptune Warrior - Trident Tested, Ngwezi Houseboat - Okavango,

Neptune Warrior - Trident Tested

Before you embark on any expedition you would do well to spend as much time researching and planning your trip as you do intend fishing. Too many anglers leap at the first chance to fish some unexplored stretch of water without really looking into the destination let alone the logistics behind the adventure.

Because the harsh reality is, that in order for the multitude of species that we seek to thrive, man and all his trappings cannot be in permanent residence, which means that you have to be prepared to sacrifice some creature comforts in your pursuit of fishing memories. That is unless you are fortunate enough to be ensconced on the Neptune Warrior. To encounter an operation that basis every single move it makes on certainties, coupled with a back up plan for every contingency means that all you have to do is worry about which fly to tie or rod to use.

The brain child of Mike Mason, this luxury vessel is equipped for the discerning angler, with no expense spared on facilities.

Over the last few years we’ve enjoyed many a salt water excursion under the Captaincy of Warrick and he has cemented our belief in his ability to find the fish that inhabit the warm currents around any Archipelago. Of course the reputation of vessel and destination had the lads on their best behavior prior to selection, resulting in some colorful characters joining us for the maiden voyage, in the form of Colin Hardie, John Geils and Derek Cuthbert.

The thing about fishing the flats of any island is exactly that…they need to be flat!

Under the right conditions there is nothing more exciting to walk or wade through………the glare of the sun is for once your allie, exposing the daily routine of every organism looking for a free meal. So casting to something that you can see will almost guarantee an enquiry.

The Emperor’s would feature significantly in any population census undertaken around the flats of the Seychelles as the initial skirmish was to reveal and having your fly harassed on the first cast will cause any man’s hopes to soar.

Even the intrepid Xplorer John Geils was only too pleased to have his rod flexing from this tenacious resident.

Unbridled excitement is hard to mask, even for the man renowned for his composure in high stakes hustling, as Colin Hardie had his line stripped from his hand, landing a magnificent bonefish of about 7 lbs.

The three spot pompano or wave garrick is one of the quickest fish out the starting blocks if you are playing near the shore break and even on a 9wt you question whether it’s not something a little bigger on the end of your line. In fact they made such an impression on Brad, that he was reluctant to move away from the action.

But it was evident that the first day in battle was going to be all about species….not that we could identify all of them. and it didn’t stop any of us from keeping our lines taught and reveling in the aquarium in which we were pillaging.

Shadows are what you chase when walking the flats, looking for movement as opposed to actual fish…..bright light being the key to spotting their impression. But it became clear that the fair weather was to be a brief interlude as the seasonal wind change unloaded some unwanted baggage and whipped up the flats. With the tides going into springs on the low we trekked out to the shore break to see if any trevallies were patrolling.

And that’s when John, with most of the credit due to his spotters, threw his semper at two dark shapes to his right. A 12wt rod is an absolute must if you want to fight any decent sized specimen around coral structure…as was clear from his no holds barred approach in landing a Ferdy or Blue Kingfish of about 12 pounds.

Having really just thrown into any likely hole we decided that we were going to try and target the ghost of the flats a.k.a the bonefish but naturally first had to find them…..easier said than done when you’ve got 15 square kilometers of water to cover. Contrary to public perception these fish do not litter the beaches of Seychelles and are deserving of their nickname.

But when walking in this marine wonderland you are continually distracted by the inhabitants who find your presence inquisitive, and if you are exceptionally fortunate you get to witness the annual migration of the leatherbacks that leave you in awe of their achievement.

The shoals of mullet milling around the sand flats had us guessing until their tell tale shape came into focus…..with the overcast conditions compounding the spotting problem and the South East monsoon wind was unrelenting, giving everyone some casting challenges.

But around the fringes of the mullet, we would occasionally see a fish leap from the water with the exact profile of the bones that we were hunting….naturally we had never seen this behavior, so put it down to skittish mullet…..but Derek couldn’t resist the urge to cast at the fish that was obviously taunting him. You never stop learning from the fish we stalk and having witnessed first hand this unusual behavior, every breaching fish became the target to throw at……and literally as soon as the fly hit the water, he got to claim his first bonefish on fly.

And then Brad having tormented the inshore species with his chartreuse clouser, just decided to throw it at the next set of fins that broke the water. The fish must have been demented…who ever heard of a crustacean feeder who specializes in burrowing for their meals…attacking a clouser

Premature exclamations….if only it were possible to contain oneself until after you have the fish in hand………..with multiple runs into the backing, the fly had naturally loosened and just a fraction too much pressure and all your left holding is the target for your fellow anglers derisive shots.

Hardie was by now finding his groove, hooking into another bone that took him for run around the block………….but these fish don’t give up without a fight…..and on occasion they get the upper hand……..which is never easy to take on the chin.

Although Geils has fished many a flat for the ghost, he’d be the first to admit that the specimens that we stumbled across this day were bigger than most and as ready as they were to take your fly so were they to evade capture.

The movement of water naturally dictates the direction of the game fish, so with the sand flats too deep to effectively wade, we perched ourselves on the rocky south point of the Atoll and really proceeded to decimate the snapper, as well as the diverse specimens that congregate around any structure.

But jumping baitfish signaled that once again the kings were joining the part and with only my 9wt armed with the sure thing, I put a testing cast onto the turtle grass and was fortunate enough to take a small Ferdy of 8 pounds

I’m a great believer in quitting while you’re ahead and considering the shear number of species that we had under our belt, no one argued when time was called and we retired to the comforts of our floating hotel. The Neptune Warrior is the ideal mother ship to explore any Atoll in the Indian Ocean, equipped with every modern convenience and airconed, on suite cabins you truly feel after your sumptuous meal that it’s hard to imagine exploring new fishing grounds in any other manor.

Watch out for our new excursions around Seychelles aboard The Neptune Warrior.