As usually in January the weather shifted all the time between not so bad and simply awful. Those shifts were unpredictable and came in quick succession, often enough within an hour, so fishing here was rather for the tough. On New Years Day the weather was still good but a couple of trolling trips turned out not too successful. Next day and until the 6th it was really very windy and wet. Still Greg & Andre did two popping trips on TopWater, losing a big GT and getting a couple of juveniles. Brandon meanwhile and a very seaworthy guest even went to the Drop Off catching Dorado and Wahoo on the troll, but also jigged successfully for Groupers and Ruby Snappers with jigs of 400-500g in 2-3kn of current. Nice job but sadly he never got the fotos from the guest. On the 7th conditions were okay for a half day GT popping as a warmup for my Swiss friend Simon and his cool buddy Fabio, so with Mervin we went. Simon got this reasonable GT early while Fabio unfortunately got reefed by an obviously bigger one. About half a dozen more were raised but these just followed without attacking and dropped down. Still not a bad start of their stint.

Two days later we all ventured to the Drop Off. Jigging was cool with half a dozen Doggies and Amberjacks each plus loads of other stuff like Yellowspotted Trevallies, Bludger Kingfish, Jobfish, Groupers and more. Not to forget that big Rainbow Runner by Mervin. Three Yellowfin Tuna also caught on jigs, and for a short while they were up and responsive to topwater lures. Think we got 6 or 7 more that way. All small though so we did not bother to take pics of those. Sharks were the usual nuisance at times but thankfully not throughout. The NW wind picked up along the hours with some rain so the return crossing was a very wet affair, but all in all we had a pretty perfect day.

Next few days again were not tempting to go out to say the least, so only on the 13th we went again, and that day on the Drop Off went sort of weird. Arriving at a perfect high tide a Yellowspotted Trevally, a Black Jack and a Doggie came up no time. We didn`t bother to take pics expecting more and better fish to come but it all crumpled via just Jobfish and tiny Bonitos to a plain dead bite from about 9:30am onwards. By 11 we headed onto the deep to find Tuna to cast at during low tide but to no findings. Back at the Drop for more jigging with the rising tide, again instantly 0.75 Doggies (a half and a head were what the Sharks left us) plus another Black Jack and YST were caught about instantly. And then it went plain dead again. No matter where Mervin checked, the sonar revealed all the countless spots were full of fish but they would just not eat. What can you do?

As the next afternoon my friends were leaving for Mahe it was just a half day trolling that morning. The sea was flat, the wind gone, and the sea as dead as the bite for a good two hours except for a bunch of Dolphins. I already feared for a total blank unless we would change area but Mervin insisted to comb that area as those Dolphins should mean food somewhere. And of course he was right: a little away, there were schools of Mackerel everywhere and the strikes came one after the other: lots of Bonitos which became sort of annoying and else around a dozen Wahoos. A few hundred meters off that area nothing at all would happen and the only fish caught outside of that hotspot very late was that Dorado. Tiny but Fabio`s target fish so he was happy. The Sail for Simon gave a brief take but then was off. Guess one just can not have everything. The days with my friends were great and a big Thank You to Mervin and his crew Winsely for maximum effort (as usual actually) along our four trips.

The following morning Mervin went trolling with another guest. The Marlin`s state was beyond release but the Sailfish swam away happily after the quick pic. My Swiss friends felt they should have stayed and fished with Mervin another, or rather this particular day.

Next day I tagged along with him and a new group from Latvia for Drop Off jigging. Very nice chaps but rather unexperienced and somewhat underequipped for that sort of game, and the tough conditions of a very strong current in around 15kn of wind did not help. Neither that the wind started to pick up further into the plus 20kn range. Still they caught some fish on the shallows and a few more trolling back as cruising home in those conditions was simply impossible.

For their second trip they had to wait 5 days due to the again unfriendly conditions but it was well worth it as you can see. Even a rare NE Drop Off GT was in the mix. Shame I couldn`t come that time.

The morning of the 26th offered all pleasant weather, and Drop Off jigging for Mervin and guests went nicely. But the return trip was really bad as they had to steer into that storm front passing over Praslin around noon and heading straight to where they were. If Mervin complains about the conditions it must have really been just short of hell.

Wise decision to fish inside the next day as the same pattern occurred, though not as bad. Very nice GT. 

And on the 29th in reasonable weather it was all Drop Off with good stuff again.

It was not only Mervin fishing but he was the most active. Sandro spent a week at Bird Island but no infos surfaced yet. Probably a group that wants to keep the results under the blanket for their own brand or product marketing again. And currently he is fishing up there again. Brandon had a number of trips with decent catches trolling and jigging but sadly I never got any pics to show you. Greg & Andre of course did their usual inshore trips. Bits of trolling produced the usual and this Barracuda in the mix. 

Fly fishing from their boat was of course also on a few times and such a Bluefin Trevally caught that way is nice and pretty.

Last but not least the conditions this morning triggered me to check the flat on the other side of the island with the fly rod. Was actually murkier and windier than expected, and only about half an hour of sunshine during the two hours spent there were neither ideal. But was lucky with two small Permit.

And this Silver Silago came on top. As close to a Bonefish as I got for a while.

Would have happily swapped these three fish for that Permit in the 50cm range that passed by, but it wasn`t interested in my little crab pattern. So while the start into the new year`s fishing was not exactly overwhelming and somewhat limited by the usual January weather, I find it still pretty solid all in all.

Rather little to report this time: as usually we saw very few tourists here until Christmas and it was actually wise of them to stay away as the weather was really awful most of the time. The 3rd was still just fishable and the ride to the northern Drop Off with Mervin on GameChanger and Maldives angler Abdalla was actually not too bad in the morning. But that is all the good to tell about that day actually, as the wind started to come up strong and on top a hefty current ran at a bad angle. Thus the usual depths once could hardly fish and as they did not produce we worked the shallower areas. Not too good there also and the poor chap on top lost most of his fish either to dropped hooks or the lousy Sharks. Still he was happy with the day and plans to come back. Which I hope he does to get a taste of what the jigging here should be.

That day also Greg & Andre fished a bit, for a few hours around Praslin doing this and that with some success.

By the next day the weather really turned sour due to the season`s first cyclone in the south,  which as usually brought us lots of rain and northerly winds above 20knots with much stronger gusts. The mess prevailed for a full two weeks apart from a pleasant and inexplicable day on the 10th when they again had fun trolling.

And a bit of jigging produced this massive Golden Trevally.

Only a few days before Christmas the weather got somewhat better but still far from nice to fish. Lesser rain and also wind at times but any rain front brought it up strong again. Totally unpredictable conditions thus, even just for a few hours, so hardly anybody was tempted to give it a try. Only exception was again a guest with Greg & Andre who got this GT on the 21st.

The predicted calmer period just after Christmas did not really materialize so the boats doing there usual trolling trips endured proper rock´n´roll. Brandon even ventured to the Drop off on Faith but finding nothing there at all, they trolled back and got Dorados, Wahoos and a Sail. Most welcome that the trolling fish are inside so even half days produce nicely with such mixed bags of fish, the usual Bonitos of course and the odd Yellowfin in between. So pretty solid on that end and worthwhile going - if one is really seaworthy. So much from here for this year, thank you for following and a happy & healthy 2025 to you all!

For the preceeding reports check the archive.