Aardvark McLeod

We are pleased to announce that we will once again be running trips to Cosmoledo atoll in the outer islands of the Seychelles. All boats registered or licensed in Seychelles are permitted to travel anywhere in Seychelles Waters as long as the vessel has a valid port clearance to the area travelling and is recommended to have security personal on board at all times.  All of our Cosmoledo trips will have security on board and our live aboard operation will commence in October to this salt water Mecca.October to this saltwater Mecca. Having made my last trip nearly two years ago I am desperate to return to this paradise, and the lack of fishermen will have returned the fishery to a virgin state. There is nowhere on the planet where Giant Trevally are so numerous or the variety of species so prolific. After all the numerous trips to other atolls Cosmoledo has remained one of the premier saltwater fisheries in the world.

For those not familiar with Cosmoledo it is an atoll located approximately 600 miles south west of Mahe and 200 miles North of Madagascar in the far reaches of the Aldabra chain. The atoll itself is approximately 152 km². There are 16 individual islets and cays along the rim of the atoll, with Menai (in the west) and Wizard Island (in the southeast) being the largest. The cuts and channels between these islets provide an extraordinary habitat for giant trevally, blue fin trevally, permit, milkfish, trigger fish and numerous other spieces. The internal flats that lead down to the lagoon provide miles of pristine sand flats teeming with bonefish. Fishermen are broken up into parties of three and four with their guide, and move around the atoll targeting whatever species the group prefers. The overhanging coral cliffs are a fantastic hunting ground, and on the huge open flats it is possible to wade and sight fish to individuals.

The new vessel will be an upgrade from previous years in the form of the Neptune Warrior. The Neptune Warrior is owned by our partner Mike Mason from the Masons Travel family. She is a luxury motorised catamaran fully refitted in 2009 for exactly this purpose. Accommodation is in five spacious double cabins and with a draft of only 1.3 metres she can easily cruise inside the pristine lagoons of Seychelles’ outer island coral atolls. She is skippered by Francis Roucou previously of Indian Ocean Explorer who has been taking trips to Cosmoledo for eleven years. To reach the flats Neptune Warrior has two Orca 350 Aluminium tender boats which are 5.3 m long with a draft of only 8 inches and powered by Yamaha 85 hp engines. These trips will be fully guided with experienced fly fishing guides familiar with the atoll with one guide between three rods.

Neptune Warrior will be operating at Cosmoledo from 21st October - 10th December 2010 and then from 11th February - 1st April 2011. The cost will be approximately £5,200 per person based on double occupancy and nine fishermen including the internal charter flight to assumption atoll. It does not include international flights or hotel nights that may be necessary on Mahe. As you can imagine space will be at a premium so please contact us immediately if you are interested in experiencing this saltwater Nirvana.

Bill decided that he would fish with Owen today and they would try a little trolling off the edge of the reef -  a little dark side fishing. As I was fishing with Owen I had a boat to myself and Jesus as my guide. As there has always been some friendly rivalry between Jesus and myself we decided to have a fishing competition on the flats, and Ramon joined us. Ramon is the other owner of Sight Cast. The area that we decided to fish is a long way out around Mosquito Cay and a long beach flat that is one of my favourites called Carenero. After running for about 30 minutes we stopped at the beach flats around Espenqui just  for a quick check and picked up a couple of fish around the edge.  I saw an absolute monster cruising the edge of the beach which vanished at high speed as soon as I put a cast down on him. The fish had to be over 10lbs, and this was obviously his minnow quaffing point. It still never ceases to amaze me that these fish are so totally clued in to minnows.

We moved on to Mosquito Cay where the tide was well down on the flats and they were exceptionally skinny. To avoid detection Jesus and I waded around the outside edge of the flat where I also encountered a school of jacks, but could not get a cast out fast enough. The outer edge had one fish with its tail and back out of the water feeding right on the edge as is there won’t, and with the 7# I managed to present a fly quietly enough to get a hook up. Jesus was beginning to sweat! We could see there were no further fish on the edge, so we moved towards the beach where there is a deeper area leading up towards the mangroves. This has always been one of my very favourite flats, especially in tough conditions, and this was no exception. There were plenty of bones in the area, pushing water and tailing. They were however exceptionally spooky as it was extremely low tide, but I found  by using the ambush technique, i.e. casting the fly out a long way ahead of moving fish in the direction I anticipated them to be moving and letting the fly sink to the bottom. Then, as the fish are directly over the fly I just give it one small tweak which is normally enough to generate an aggressive strike. By doing this I managed to catch a further five bones, and Jesus picked up one near the mangroves.

After a quick lunch on the move we turned the prow of the boat towards Carenero. In some ways this is the best  til last. Every year I come here Carenero beach is one of my great favourites. It has a very large average size of fish and a high concentration of baitfish. It is the epitome of beach flat fishing with minnows. Here I changed from the small Christmas Island special I was using to a Burke’s Hot Flash Minnow that I prefer over the gummy minnow anytime. It has a lighter presentation and feels less like fishing with a rubber fish.  As it has a high bank it is possible to walk along the top, spot the fish and then scurry down and cast at them.  Just beyond the small habitation we came across a small pod of enormous bonefish, none of them under 8lbs. They were chomping on a fish carcass about 3 feet from the beach edge. Unfortunately they had no intention of taking a fly, so we moved on. Just up on the corner the pelicans were smashing into minnows so I fired of a few blind shots in their direction. Almost immediately I hooked up as the fly was hit by a freight train and the fish charged off towards the deep water. There was simply nothing I could do about as I watched line peeling off the reel. I began to pump the rod but by this time I was well into the backing. Then everything went slack…. I reeled in and found my leader had been trashed on the coral. Sniff…

Then I was in the money… Fish would cruise by, I cast and stripped and they would rise in the water column and absolutely hammer the fly. Phenomenal.. I landed a further 6 fish, all over 4 lbs and the largest at 7 ½ lbs on the boga grip…. I was absolutely shattered by the time we finished the session. Jesus had picked up a further couple of fish as well. Finally tally was 13 bones and a bar jack to me and 5 bones for Jesus… shame…. Getting back to the lodge the days tally was a 42 bones, 1 horse eyed jack, 1 bar jack, 3 pompano, 1 barracuda with Owen catching his personal best of an 8 lbs fish on the Ocean side pancake flats along with one of 5 lbs. In the evening we had our yearly guides casting competition that Jesus finally won! He had been trying desperately to win for the last three years.

To summarise this has been one of the best weeks we have had in years. Totals for the week were some 242 bonefish, 51 others. Although it may not be the largest totals we have had in the past there were some excellent catches of permit, jacks, barracuda, pompano and numerous other species. We also had some exceptional fishing on the pancakes which even though is testing was the main reason everyone came. It is technical bonefishing, but extremely rewarding, and a number of us acheived large fish off the pancake flats. Most opted to try and catch fish on those flats rather than get numbers elsewhere proving the spirit of the trip.

At this point though we realised that there was an extremely slim possibility of us actually being able to leave Venezuela on our scheduled flights due to the Volcano in Iceland. By the looks of things we maybe here a little while….

The dawn raid on the bay this morning again failed to hook any tarpon, but Bonito Boy Phil Mellor managed another fantastic Bonito of about 8 lbs which gave him an excellent fight. Again the tarpon were present, rolling all amongst the pelicans and gulls mobbing the sardines. My fishing partner for the day was Graham Birkett and our guide was Darwin. Having fished the pancakes for the last few mornings I decided to make along run out to the south east side of the archipelago to a huge sand flat down there. We saddled up for the long walk across this flat, Darwin packing some extra water.

Almost immediately I saw a pair of fish scooting away from us and slung out a cast with a small Christmas Island the one of them obligingly took to get me off the mark for the morning.  The walk was long and unfortunately there were not the quantities of fish we expected, although I did catch a further three fish off the flat, each one hoovering up the Christmas Island special off the sand.

There was hardly a breath of wind today and the heat was quite literally searing. After a quick discussion with Darwin we motored back the way we had come down the east side of the archipelago to a fantastic ocean side flat I have had great fishing on. The water is iridescent blue straight off the ocean and the first flat the fish encounter when coming out of deep water. As such it normally has large fish on it when at the right stage of tide. As we arrived a large permit dashed across the flat for deeper water much to my annoyance. Graham, Darwin and I wandered across the flat a little way before deciding there really was not enough water on it to do any good. As we turned back towards the boat, joy of joys just off the edge a large black sickle tail was waving at us as permit dipped down and tailed. Now if there is one fish that can totally throw me and turn me into a quivering wreck it is Kermit the Permit. Graham graciously told me to take the shot as he had caught on the day before. The fish was in deeper water and obviously of substantial size as its whole tail was in the air in a foot and a half of water. I threw my flats pack across my shoulders and Darwin and I ventured into the deeper water to try and get above the fish.  The permit continued feeding and we managed to get above it as I peeled line off the reel. My heart was hammering as I began to cast the large simram out to the patch the fish was feeding on.  The fly landed and drifted slowly into the feeding permit…… I gave the fly a couple of long slow strips…. the tail went down… and nothing happened. The permit had not spooked, but just vanished… well that is just permit fishing. We moved up to the end of the flat and I actually got two further shots at permit before we moved on.

Heading back across the inner lagoon Jardi our boatman threw Grahams plug out the back and trolled as we had our lunch.  Just after we finished sandwiches the reel began to scream as a large barracuda hit the lure hard. I ran to the back of the boat, grabbed the rod out and passed it to Graham to fight. He managed to bring the cuda quite close to the boat and we could see it was a big fish between 20 – 30lbs. Unfortunately not long after a couple of further runs the split ring pulled apart and the Cuda was gone. Gutting…
The pancake flats were going to be tough, we knew that. The tide was on slack water, and as soon as we arrived we saw tailing fish. Darwin took Graham round one side and I wandered down the other. Graham cast to pair of tailing fish downwind of him which immediately erupted in cloud of spray. I then had a similar experience with a school of fish swimming around me as I sat on the flat trying not to spook them. This continued for a while as oddly enough the fish would spook but not leave the flat. Often the cast would go out well in front, wait for the fish to come over the flat, a couple of twitches and they would just ignore it. What was particularly frustrating as the fish continued to tail in front of us so they were feeding. I can only imagine they were clued into one particular food source which we were not matching. On the next flat finally Graham managed to hook one, a real achievement. He quickly landed it after two or three powerful runs. A lovely bone of about 4 ½ lbs. We tried one more pancake (incidentally these were three pancake flats that I had never fished before) and Graham manage one more where I failed miserably. I had three fish on those flats that came and ate the fly but each time I failed to hook up and could not understand it. Finally I checked the fly and found the hook tip had been bent inwards on the coral.. that will teach me.

 The day had been a tough one due to the complete lack of wind and we have all got a bit fried. The tally was only 23 bones to day, one of which was a stunning 8lber of the pancakes by Mike Timms, and 15 other species including some good Cuda, pompano, snapper, and Ian Hutchinson got smoked by a Wahoo on the outer edge of the reef. Even though numbers were down many said it was one of the most intense days fishing they had had so far and really enjoyed the challenge of catching fish on the pancakes. Even taking one or two was a real achievement.

As the tarpon are around in numbers currently in the bay Phil, Ian and I decided to have a crack early this morning, but rather than casting off the dock I organised to have a boat to take us out at 0530. Alex our boatman arrived at the appointed hour and we motor a little way out into the bay before anchoring up. Despite the early hour the pelicans and gulls were crashing all over the place and tarpon rolled among them, lazily sucking in mouthfuls of minnows. We fished until 0700 in which time Ian hit one tarpon  and I caught an 8lbs Horse Eyed jack on a 9# which was really good fun. The fish ran out under the ropes and we had to pass the rod under many of them before finally the fish hit clear water and I could apply some proper pressure.  It never ceases to amaze me how powerful they are. It was a little frustrating though in that there were large tarpon rolling everywhere and we could not hook them. I put this down to the huge quantity of bait in the harbour so they hardly have to put much effort into feeding.

After breakfast I headed off with my boat partner Mike Timms for the day. Chris Yrazabel joined us and our guide was Callito who is an old friend. We began the day on the pancake flats as normal, and they proved to be particularly tricky today. There are over 200 pancake flats, but we all have our favourites. Even my favourites this morning we tough with the fish almost spooking themselves. For a lighter presentation I decided to fish with a 6# today and I feel I got as near to dry fly fishing for bonefish as possible. I spotted a single fish finning its way uptide and as I moved into position I began to strip off line. I had gone light on purpose and had a 16 ft leader tapered to 8lbs point and a tiny shrimp pattern with rubber legs on a size 12. I dropped down on my knees, and the line sang out of the rings and dropped the fly inches from the tailing fish. It immediately lunged forward and tailed as I strip struck and tightened on the fish. As half of its body was out of the water it went nuts careering across the flat before vanishing of the edge of the flat taking my entire fly line with it. Not quite what I was expecting and a bit of a rude wake up call. The 6# bucked viciously, but I have to say at no time did I feel out of control and I had the fish back on the flat in no time. It turned out to be a cracker of about 5 ½ lbs. I slipped the barbless hook from the corner of its mouth before gently returning it. For me this was an achievement and what I truly love about fishing these pancake flats. When the fish are in this kind of mood it is imperative to remain low and have a light presentation. Sometimes it helps to lead the fish a good few feet so that you are effectively ambushing them. Mike fishing with Callito hooked and landed a lovely 6lber followed by a smaller fish of about 3 lbs, so we were off to a good start.

Our happy little crew bounced from Pancake to pancake spooking some and catching a few more and as he light became increasingly difficult Chris told us he was taking us to lunch. He took us to the lobster restaurant  on Augustine Cay where we had some of the best lobster I have had in a long time while sitting on benches with sand about our feet. The fired snapper was also outstanding and it took us a little while to get going again. I did not fancy more pancake flats in the afternoon as the light was too high and going against the wind so I suggested we head over to Francisqui so mike could experience a little beach fishing with minnows which he had not done yet. The north side of Francisqui is open to the ocean so often has some very large fish cruising its margins. I left Mike with Callito and wandered round the corner as Mike hooked into a couple more fish spotted by the eagle eyed Callito.  After patrolling the beach for 20 minutes or so I rounded the corner of the island to find a stunning flat sheltered from the wind. It had about a foot of flat calm water on it and I could see small groups of bones cruising around with their dorsal fins and tails in the air. I love finding fish in this condition and did my best o sneak up on them. I waded out as quietly as possible, flanked by a white heron with the same thought in its mind.

The first pod I managed to get to very kindly ate my bonefish bitters before I decided to yank the fly out of the fishes mouth with a trout style strike. After a self reprimand I located another single set of fins and proceeded in that direction. The line flew true, the fly landed with a small plop about five inches from its head. I let the fly sink and then gave it one small strip. The fish turned and greedily engulfed it. This time I stripped struck and the fish was on. This one took off like a small submarine ripping the line across the flat in a wide arc making a tearing noise as I clear the line and then the reel made a tortured scream as it took up the fight. I was fishing with a 7# at this point and the rod danced its merry jig as line continued to peel of line and first hundred yards of backing. I truly love this game. After a couple more tearing runs I brought him to hand and weighed him on the boga grip. 6 ½ lbs. In the words of my friend Henry Gilbey….. Awesome!

I wandered back to the boat and Jesus and I motored round to pick up Mike and Callito who had a found a school of fish hanging off the edge of the beach and were giving them a hard time. We had just enough time to check the lagoon a the end of the runway before heading home, and Mike picked up a lovely fish tailing on that small flat, again of 5lbs. They are never small in there. What was unusual was that the fish actually attacked Mike’s fly, and Enrico Pugalaisy construction . It actually almost came out of the water as it pounced on it. Very exciting to watch.

On returning to the lodge and doing the tally in the evening it transpired that Graham Birkett had missed a grand slam by a whisker. He caught a lovely permit of about 8 lbs, and bunch of bones and had been smashed to peices on the coral by a tarpon of about 20 lbs. The fish had wrapped itself around a coral outcrop, and despite the guide swimming out and releasing it the back parted. Nevertheless a permit is a permit is a permit as they say. Score was 47 bonefish, my horse eyed jack, 1 Bonito by Phil rapidly becoming the Bonito boy, and another cracking needlefish of about 3 lbs.

A number if us woke up early this morning and headed down to the dock to see what was happening about 0600. The usual pelican activity was abundant and apart from the giant bonefish that cruise around down there hovering up minnows there were also the odd tarpon rolling. Ian Hutchinson hooked one good fish that released him after a short tussle, and our little band headed back to the Posada for some scrambled eggs and bacon. The weather was a little overcast today with high cloud twinned with hazy light, it was going to be tough to see.

I fished with Ian Hutchinson today with Rapheal again and our first stop was an edge down at Isla Larga. At first glance it did not look much, a rough coral edge with lined with mangrove. Alex our boatman immediately spotted some tailing fish along the edge, but the time we had organised ourselves and slipped over the side of the boat they were gone. One on to the edge Rapheal led us through the mangroves into a stunning ocean side lagoon with crystal clear water totally sheltered from the wind. It was the kind of fishing one dreams about, wading through a sand bottomed area with glass like water. Ian hooked one that tore of down his edge making him work for his line which he promptly landed, kissed and then returned. Ian is a fish kisser for his sins. I then came group of bonefish were making their way down the edge of the mangrove, feeding as they went and sticking a tail in the air every so often. I had switched to a weighted Christmas Island special to match the deeper water and cast it up to an area about three feet in front of them. As they neared I gave it one short strip and the lead fish made a B line for before hovering it up and charging into some weed before kindly returning my fly to me only slightly molested. “Boooo” I heard from across the water (the banter was to be particularly harsh today.) I made up for it by landing a further three in quick succession and Ian loosing another, but it was a good start to the day.

The light became very bad, so we headed to the pancakes to make the most of the tides. Wading across the first I saw a truly massive double figure bonefish that had to be well into double figures which I did an extremely good job of scaring before landing another of his smaller brethren. The tides were moving into slack water after lunch, so Rapheal and I made a plan to head over to Crasqui, try the lagoon a the back or the beach on the front. Half way over there we passed a white sand flat which i spotted a massive Barracuda of 30 lbs or so sunning itself. After quick 180 degree turn all three of us slipped over the side to see if we could not persuade it to eat a fly. Ian slightly struggled with the 10 weight directly into the wind and passed the rod to me. I put the fly passed his nose a couple of time but only succeeded in spooking it… seemed to be a common theme today. Still, it was good to see it on the open flat.

The tide was really too big for Crasqui lagoon, but we still saw a few tailing fish… which I also spooked. Rapheal moved on the beach flat along Crasqui to have a crack at the minnow feeding bones amongst the diving pelicans. This is still the only place in the world I know where bonefish attack minnow patterns off a beach among the diving pelicans. Ian landed a lovely fish that absolutely hammered his hotflash Minnow, and I had 5 or 6 that swirled, followed, chased, and then failed to eat. Finally we tried out luck in the lagoon at the end of the runway on Gran Roques. This again is an ocean side lagoon completely crystal clear, and last year produced some very large fish for me. Ian and Rapheal moved down one side and I the other and after only moving twenty yards or so I saw massive tail waving below me. I cast a long line and dropped a large bonefish bitters right on its head and the fish immediately pounced on the fly. This fish was between 6 and 8 lbs and charged towards the safety of the deeper water while simultaneously spitting my fly back at me with enough force that the fly landed at my feet!  Summed up my day really!

Luckily the others had better luck with the group landing a further 48 bonefish. Geoff Haslam had a 5 lbs bonefish bitten clean in two by a Cuda, and Bill Thomson had spent an hour chasing a Permit that his guide Darwin estimated at between 35 – 40lbs, simply huge! Some large bones had been lost today, and it appears I was not the only one having similar luck.

Weather was cracking first thing this morning, and as usual most members of the party struggled with the time difference and many were up and about early. Phil Mellor led the dawn raid on the dock and was greeted by the site of tarpon rolling in the bay and also schools of jacks tearing into the bait fish there.  After scaring a few fish they headed back for breakfast.

I fished with John Thornton today for his second day out on flats ever, and Chris Yrazabel joined us. Our guide for the day was Darwin. We headed directly for the pancake flats for which the tide and light were absolutely perfect, an incoming pushing tide as low tide had only been an hour or two before hand. There was a light breeze on our backs as we stepped onto the first of the pancakes and we were immediately greeted by the sight of waving tails glistening in the morning sun. John and Darwin hooked into a fish almost immediately, and Chris and I moved down the windward side taking alternate shots. As I moved towards the bottom side of the flat my attention was grabbed by some fish flashing off the edge of the flat. Thinking they might be jacks I headed over to investigate only to discover that it was a school of large bonefish actually busting on bait fish! They were rolling as a school chasing minnows out of the water. To say it is unique is an understatement, and I have only ever seen it a handful of times before and only know of it happening here.

What followed on was pancake paradise. With the incoming tide pushing through until high tide at 1500 we had some of the best action I have seen on the pancakes in a number of years. We encountered some huge schools of fish and after hooking a few out we would then move onto the next flat. On the Horse Show Pancake I hooked one tailing fish on a small bonefish bitters and obligingly led the school over to Chris where he immediately hooked another. His fish tore down the left hand side of the flat scattering others as it went. All three of us had plenty of action all morning, and as we headed over the conch shack for lunch to meet Bill Thomson, John had had 5, I had 5 and Chris had 4, the biggest being 6lbs or so. I enjoy going to the conch shack for lunch as it gives the opportunity to get out of the sun for a while and enjoy the surroundings. While we waited for Bill to arrive I wandered round the back to see if there was anything doing and found a school of maybe one hundred fish at the top asleep in the waves and enjoying the sun. Against the waves they were almost green in colour. I managed to nick one out of the back by casting straight into the wind which is always satisfying before joining the others for lunch. The afternoon session was tougher as the tide was slack making the fish much spooking, but Darwin did an excellent job and showed us plenty more opportunities before John and I decided we had done well and were ready to head home.

Back at Acuarela and some of Mimo’s fine homemade pizza I tallied up the days catch. Everyone had a cracking day and the total was 51 bones, 1 8lbs snook by Mike Timms, One lost Tarpon from Tim Aldiss, 1 jack of 15 lbs by Geoff Haslam, I Bonito by Phil Mellor, 1 bar jack by Ian Hutchinson that nearly spooled him on a 7 weight and a 3 lbs needle fish. Not a bad day all in all and spirits were high at dinner.

I am back on Los Roques in Venezuela for my annual hosted bonefishing trip, and it is lovely to be back on the island amongst old friends. The journey out on Lufthansa was very painless, and after a brief stop in La Guairá for the night we flew over to the islands on the LTA flight and once again I find myself amongst the pelicans, minnows and a bonefish. This year everyone was out the door after breakfast in record time as most of the group fishing this week are old hands and experienced fishermen.

I fished with Phil Mellor today and our guide was Rapheal. The weather was a little cloudy with patchy sun and being the last boat out we headed straight over to the main channel to the back of Augustine Cay to a fantastic little flat. Immediately we saw a few fish and Phil headed off towards a coral outcropping with Rapheal as I waded towards the mangroves. Immediately they saw a few cruising against the edge and made a few cast, but Phil failed to connect.   A large rain cloud appeared and proceeded to dump some warm rain on us, and almost immediately Phil turned, saw a fish tailing in the rain and connected. The rod bucked and the fish tore down the coral edge with Phil holding his rod high to keep the leader away from the coral. After a brief struggle he landed his first fish of the trip, a cracking 6 lber.

We carried on walking down the edge towards the small shacks that the lobster fisherman use here and just on the other side the two of them came across a snapper carcass that was being eaten by a group of bones well into double figures. Phil cast out his large gotcha and one instant pounced before tearing of under the boats. Despite Phil sticking his rod under the water to try to remain connected the pressure was too much and the fish kindly released him. This is the same Vicinity that Tim Aldiss caught his 14 lber last year, and there always some huge resident fish in the vicinity, attracted no doubt by the lobster detritus.
We moved to the pancakes and Phil and I both picked up a fish or two from some giant schools there weighing in at about 3 – 4 lbs. With the tide being slack thought the fish were very nervous and would not settle.

By this stage the tide was nearly full and becoming increasingly slack, and while having lunch on the move we moved round the back of Espenqui for a long walk over the hard flats here. These flats are absolutely solid under food, but the water was just too hot and apart from the odd fish moving at speed we saw very little. I have done this on a number of occasions and it is always boom or bust…. and in this instance I knew it was going to be a bust… After rehydrating on the boat Rapheal and I plotted to spend the last hour or so on the pancakes as the tide was just on the turn.

The first pancake flat we waded the sun was right in our eyes with the wind at our backs and we stepped on every fish before we could see them. There were plenty of fish about though as they waved their tails at us in salute closely followed by giving us the fin! I then turned round to Rapheal and said that we would do the next one in reverse into the wind. Now it was as if someone had turned on the lights and the entire flat was lit up. Granted casting directly into the wind presented more of a challenge, but by using a high back cast and keeping a low forecast it is possible to tuck the line under the wind and I immediately spotted three cruisers heading towards me. I punched line straight up about 15 yards and dropped the fly on a sandy spot as they came on. When the fish was a foot away I gave it one small tweak and the fish instantly turned and snaffled my size 12 bonefish bitters. Well, he was not expecting that and charged up the flat instantly stripping me down to about 80 yards of backing before heading off the edge into deep water. Incredibly exciting and exactly why I love it here. Although it felt huge it turned out to be again only about 4 lbs on the boga grip.

Phil and I then were treated to a show that I have only witnessed on a handful of occasions. As the light dropped the entire pancake was covered on waving tails jogging in the evening light. We just did not know which way to cast as we were just surrounded with tailing fish. The trouble was very time you cast at one you lined another bunch that spooked, and even though Phil only hooked up one more it was a delight to behold. Time to head home.. a perfect end to the first day.

Arriving back at the lodge I did a quick head count and everyone had got off the starting blocks satisfactorily. I was especially pleased that John Thornton landed his first three bonefish ever, and was still in a state about having been nearly stripped of all his backing by his first fish. In total the group landed over 40 fish for the first day and we settled in for our first outstanding dinner from Mimo. Can’t wait until tomorrow!

FlyCastaway, a company that specializes in finding new and remote destinations, as well as organising glitch free mothership operations in these areas, has once again found a gem of a flats fishing destination in the Indian Ocean. St Brandon’s (Cargados Carajos Shoals) is a group of over 50 small islands, coral ridges and vast sand flats which is cut by three major passes and extends 50 km from north to south. Situated 268 nautical miles north-east of Mauritius’s main island this area is rich in fish stocks, flora and fauna. The magnificent condition of the coral and the lobster infested outer reefs is proof that other than a small population of Creole natives who live on Raphael Island in the north this area has had very little human interference.

After a long wait since FlyCastaway’s first visit 5 years ago, the red tape has finally been cleared to legally allow international foreigners to visit the area. This exclusive deal allows for FlyCastaway to use the luxurious MY Gryphon for live aboard trips to St Brandon’s. Their 96 ft motor yacht is based out of Port Louis and boasts a top speed of 13 knots, has stabilizers, a large indoor and outdoor living area as well as a fully rigged game fishing aft deck.

There are 12 daily international flights into Mauritius and the airport is 45minutes away from Port Louis, which is the capital. Once everyone has settled into their cabins, the fully rigged and stocked Gryphon departs in a north-easterly direction along the Maskereina ridge on a 24 hour motor for St Brandon. The trip is a pleasant one as the stabilizers steady the roll and time flies as the card games and DVD’s are paused thanks to the occasional sound of screaming reels. On arriving at St Brandon’s no time is wasted as the guides put their vast Indian Ocean experience and planning into practice as you venture out to spend your days exploring the multitude of pure white sand flats and broken coral islands, all of which are infested with naive bonefish.

This will most certainly be the most spectacular bonefishing you will ever encounter as on most tides anglers can expect to see shoals of these shallow water speedsters as well as enormous singles and doubles. On FlyCastaway’s recent exploratory they landed Bonefish of up to 87cm fork length and weighing 15lbs. This fishery is also extremely well balanced and offers anglers a variety of species to choose from as there is plenty of Indo-Pacific Permit, a host of Trevally species including Bluefin, Golden, Yellow Dot, Green Spot and Giant Trevally of over 100lbs in weight.

The first part of the season runs from early October until mid December and the second part from early April until the end of May. As St Brandon is situated in the cyclonic belt it’s wisely rested from the end of December until late in May, which falls in the cyclone season. From June through to September the strong winter south-east monsoon winds blow incessantly which brings cold water onto the flats and makes fly fishing an unpleasant experience. For more information on this amazing St Brandon’s fly fishing experience that is destined to be one of your best, please feel free to contact us.

Peter Baxendale has just returned from his ninth trip to Cuba visiting Cayo Largo. His party had six boats and the nine assorted rods had collectively been to this popular destination 44 times before. I think that probably gives you an idea of how good the all round package is!

The majority of the team flew out on the Virgin Atlantic service which in our opinion beats both Air France and Iberia hands down. The only rod flying Iberia was not allowed aboard the first flight from Heathrow because the scruffy bit of paper that purports to be a Tourist Visa said “Gatwick” on it. Iberia would not even let him fly to Madrid and then try to get on the connecting flight to Havana – as if the Cubans are remotely interested which airport you left from in the UK. Anyhow he arrived safely albeit 24 hours late. Our collective experience of Air France and Iberia has not been good in the past- with cancelled flights, lost luggage and unhelpful staff.

On arrival at Jose Marti in Havana we were collected by the lovely Marlene and whisked off to the Parque Central Hotel in the heart of the old town where we had two nights to acclimatize. The Parque Central is good, clean and is now pretty much like any other western hotel in the world. Personally I prefer the Saratoga as it is newer, smaller and the food is slightly better. However it was overbooked so the Parque Central did us proud. Havana was as vibrant as ever, full of charm and character and the locals were as resilient as always. Visits to the Partagas factory and the Floridita and various other Hemingway drinking haunts kept the team suitably amused. The fading Spanish colonial architecture (388 years of Spanish rule) never ceases to amaze one and it was good to see that the odd building was under re-construction.

An early start saw us on Cayo Largo by 0845 on the Friday – the pick up and 35 minute flight going without hitch. By the time Mauro the Camp Manager had greeted us like long lost friends and the luggage appearing meant we were safely in Hotel Reception by 0915. The ever helpful Alexander was fortunately on the front desk and he let us have four out of the eight bedrooms immediately. The other four had to wait until early afternoon but this was no real hardship as a good lunch in the beach restaurant overlooking the azure sea and white sand nicely softened the blow. The afternoon was spent on the beach or by the pool and booking the different restaurants the Sol Club Hotel has to offer for the forthcoming week. It is sensible to try and eat in as many different facilities as one can over the week.  

The fishing started in earnest on the Sunday morning although we had the usual extensive and helpful briefing from Mauro the previous day. The fishing is split into six different zones and three boats will go to a particular area each day. The first day saw us on areas 3 and 4 which meant it was possible for a couple of boats to visit the excellent restaurant for a lobster lunch and a couple of cervezas! We were back in action by 1415 so barely lost any fishing. The morning had been quite windy but the afternoon saw it drop thus making the different species easier to spot. The six boats gathered back at the Marina around 1730 and the rods tucked into a pasta number along with beer and soft drinks whilst discussing how everyone had faired and what flies were working the best etc. It transpired that the day had gone pretty well with one boat having caught 10 bones, jumped a tarpon, landed a barracuda and a couple of snapper. This was to be the pattern over the next five days with some rods doing better than others on one day and vice versa the following.

The beauty of Cayo Largo is the variety of species you can target. We ended up with two Super Grand Slams, one Grand Slam with the week totalling 2 snook, 4 permit, 10 tarpon, 177 bonefish, 24 barracuda, 9 jack crevalle, 21 snapper, 1 box fish, 1 shark and 676 Mohitos. The tarpon were a good size with one of 100 lbs, one of 80 lbs and another of 70 lbs. One of the permit was a bruising 20 lbs and took at least forty minutes to land. I have never seen so many permit on Cayo Largo before – we all had plenty of opportunities - casting at schools and at the heads of Stingrays but we were let down by our own ineptitude and the frustrating habits of this ultimate quarry! The bonefish were of a good size too with the average probably around the 3-4 lb mark with a fair few of up to 8 lbs or so. There is no point mucking about with 8lb leaders you need to be bold and go for at least 12 lbs and preferably 16 lbs. We all had problems with Seagur fluorocarbon snapping - even brand new reels of 12.4 lbs that had never seen the light of day. Interestingly the guides’ preferred leader material was Rio. A plethora of flies were utilized with all sorts of exotic sounding names - all I know is that I fared best with anything that had rubber legs! One of the Super Grand Slams was achieved by Robert J with the same Skittal Shrimp- although he did change leaders for the tarpon which was just as well as it turned out to be 40 lbs and not the 20 lber he thought it was! Robert was on his eighth visit and it is rare for him and guide William not to achieve a Slam of some description. On the whole the guides speak good English and were relatively patient with some of us visually challenged rods who cannot read a clock! They are great company, hard working and enjoy a good laugh. The important thing is to let them know on day one what you want to pursue and they will try and deliver during the week. The new management has made some tremendous up grades to the programme and the whole trip logistically went like clockwork.

The Sol Club is genuinely comfortable although it is getting a little ragged around some of it’s’ edges. However the rooms are spacious with air conditioning, a fridge and all en suite facilities. There is an excellent laundry service too. The staff are most helpful and they are genuinely pleased to see one back year after year. My only small gripe is that the food is not to every one’s liking in the main restaurant and the local vino is seriously moderate. However one has to remember that one is there for the fishing and not the cuisine and fine wines. But to compensate one has to remember the Mohitos made my Mario and his colleagues in the bar are amongst the finest in all Cuba (and they are free!).

A number of the party have taken themselves off to Belize and other destinations for a change. We have found bigger tarpon and more permit but much smaller bonefish and to be quite honest these other destinations just do not have the variety that Cayo Largo has to offer as a land based operation. Short of heading off to the Seychelles we reckon Cayo Largo offers the best sensibly priced all round package. I sent a quick email to the group three days after our return suggesting dates for 2010 and letting them know about tides and moon etc and it appears we are now already oversubscribed on that particular week. With Obama supposedly opening up communications with the Cuban Government I don’t think the fishing will be flooded from the US for a while yet.  

All things considered the party, ranging in age from 28 to 59, had a fabulous trip and cannot wait to go back for more of the same in 2010. Many thanks to Mauro and his team of guides.

The rain was already falling as we left the dock, and I knew this was going to be difficult. The last day I was to fish with Tim Aldiss the giant bonefish catcher, and my old friend Cayito the guide. Cayito has the eyes of a hawk, and as is one of the most senior guides on Los Roques. On grey overcast days like today interspersed with rain one way around difficult light conditions is to find flats with white sand bottom as it is still then possible to spot fish at a distance. We ran for 30 minutes in the lashing rain (Rain jackets are essential on any saltwater fishing trip) down the West side towards the lighthouse channel to a large open white sand flat. Cayito’s eyes proved no exception here and despite the flat light we came up on a school of bonefish holed up near the edge of the beach. Tim had first cast and immediately hooked up as the school competed for the fly, but unfortunately the fish cam off. I whirled round and managed to shoot off a cast into the wind and nicked one fish out the back.

The light was still not good and we continued round the bay before we found a few tails waving gently as they fed on crustaceans in a weed bed. Under Cayito’s watchful he marked out the fish to Tim who was struggling to see them. He gave him a reference and Tim put the cast down with prefect precision. Cayito indicated when to start his retrieve and shortly afterwards the rod flew up and the fish screamed across the flat. We managed to produce a couple more before heading off to have lunch in the boat. After lunch the tide was dropping rapidly and our options became more tricky with the low light conditions. The next flat we stopped on can only be described as the long walk. As the tide was very low we could actually wade across the inner part of the lagoon that we did for most of the afternoon. The fish would suddenly appear out of know where and require a rapid shot. Tim and I both managed a couple more fish although we must have walked for about 3 miles before finally arriving back at the boat. The last afternoon was somewhat running away from us, so in a large ditch effort to find some tailing fish Cayito took us to one of the ocean side flats of hard coral. Sure enough as we found fish tailing and finning across the flat. This required some serious stealth, and the best way to approach them was to wade around the edge of the flat in the deeper water. Nevertheless I found it frustrating as every time I put a cast out to a tailing fish I would spook the rest of the school that I could not see in the glare and flat light. Tim was again firing on all cylinders under Cayito’s eagle like eyes and picked up two fish in quick succession, a great achievement in such skinny water.

I was just about giving up when I saw something large come onto the flat some way off below me. It was throwing up one hell of a bow wave as it came careening across the flat. I picked up the line and fired off one cast that miraculously landed the fly one foot in front of the bow wave. My heart was in my mouth as gave the bonefish bitters one small tweak and the bow wave was right on top of the fly. The line went tight, the 7 weight gave a vicious buck and line screamed out across the flat. Before I knew it I had 50 yards of backing out and was desperately keeping the rod held high above my head to prevent being cut on the coral. After some serious pumping I managed to turn the fish and make some line back. Eventually I brought to hand a fantastic bonefish of about 6 lbs. What a cracking way to finish off the trip, and the beer on the way home tasted that much sweeter!

That evening we held our annual guides casting competition which I always enjoy. The fishermen always enjoy this event as it is a chance for them to see how well their guides can perform and also to heckle them for all the abuse they have received during the week. Hower hung onto his title from last year winning with a fabulous cast of 44 yards. Weel done!