In my now one and a half decades here I can not remember such a pleasant February as far as the weather is concerned: (rather too) little rain, but in the first line wind mostly in the 10-12kn range and rather rarely so much higher that it hampered fishing or even made it impossible. One of these brief exceptions came right along the first couple of days. But by the 3rd it was okay so Jan from Germany started his quest for a Seychelles GT with Greg & Andre. Sadly along 4 half days until the 14th he had no luck with these raising only very few and missing a big one. Not due to any lack of effort or fishing skill as I witnessed on two of the trips. Very strange that the Geets were so inactive over such a long spell, or it was just a ton of bad luck. Still he caught a number of presentable other fish, and while wondering what might have been wrong with the target fish we hope he was not too disappointed. You wont`t be able to tell from his face as he asked to remain unrecognizable which of course we respect.

Meanwhile Mervin trolled the Drop for Marlin on the 6th and reported 3 of those that all threw the lure plus 5 Wahoos caught. Next day it was 2 raises but no hookup. And on the 9th trolling again, but just a half day around the islands and with another guest, fortune turned with a Marlin plus 2 Sails released. Add the 5 Dorados and 6 Wahoos for an action loaded morning.

This day was obviously highly productive as the boat Delfino also did very well with a Yellowfin Tuna in the 20kg range, Dorados and Wahoos plus a Sailfish.

On the 11th it was day one of Drop Off fishings for returner Markus, his brother Roland and their buddy Michael from Austria, so with Mervin we went. Jigging bite was good right upon arrival but slowed gradually towards the late morning low tide. Casting and trolling a bit until the water rose again produced nothing at all but with the tide the jigging bite came back nicely. Just one very small Doggie, but some quality fish beyond and a good variety. Fun start in perfect weather with the really relaxed and cool group.

Two days later they went again to find the jigging somewhat slower but not bad. A very good Amberjack was in the mix as well as a Wahoo, but the fish of the day was surely that Thresher Shark which they fought in turn til they had it up. While I don`t like Sharks on the end of a fishing line much, I regretted not to have been there to see this beautiful one.

Having had an obligation onshore that day it was just a bit of fly fishing in the morning for me, and thus much smaller fish to deal with. That Permit though was actually not as miniscule as it looks on the pic at close to a foot length. Caught a couple more of those and had a shot at a clearly better tailing fish but spooked it. Was quite relieved to see it was a Golden Trevally which I would not have minded catching, but not the big Permit I am craving for.

Also that day and the following one Brandon had been jigging the Drop. Like along the previous days the bite slowed drastically from 10am onwards, but nevertheless they caught some decent fish.

On the 15th I went again with Mervin and the Markus group in a rather rough sea and finding over 2 knots of current at the Drop Off didn`t help the case. Once more the anyways rather slow bite died around 10am for hours and the Sharks taxed them heavily. Bit of trolling around low tide produced a Wahoo, and then we were entered and thoroughly searched by the Coast Guard. Quite a show as they were standing masked and fully armed on their big patrol vessel and then sent 4 on board by a dinghi while the surveillance plane circled us. But it turned out that Mervin and crew knew most of them from childhood days so all was rather relaxed eventually. After that with the rising tide the jigging bite returned for a short while until we had to leave and Mervin shone with two decent Amberjacks on a small PE4 outfit. 

Their last trip on the 17th was extremely tough. Some 17kn of wind from north and a strong current heading NE at the Drop Off made controlled jigging nearly impossible for them. Bite was not too good on top, and the lousy Sharks took about every reasonable fish. Mervin got a nice Dorado on popper and by 11am we trolled back getting one more. We jigged for the last 3hrs off the Sisters and only shortly after getting there we saw Sandro and Brandon also already speeding home. Our jigging inside at least produced some nice fish. Even as after their good first day fishing quality gradually went downhill trip by trip, the all relaxed and pleasant chaps were very happy with their week. Which is the most important thing. 

Later I spoke to Brandon about those nasty conditions and was surprised to learn that they only went home early as the guests were tired from their travel. Until then they had enjoyed jigging to some degree and despite the current: no Shark trouble at all and subsequently some decent fish caught. Well done! 

Brandon also mentioned their other boat Unreel had good trolling with a Sailfish among the usual smaller gamefish. Similar result for Bertrand meantime btw. So it looks we were a little cursed that day. On the afternoon of the 20th the wind dropped to nothing until the next morning and then picked up from the east. That change did the fishing no harm though as Brandon proved with some more jigging catches.

Also the trolling boats continued to do well with mixed bags of the odd Tuna, plenty Dorados and especially Wahoos like this massive one by Greg & Andre.

And some Saifish are of course around as always, this one they also caught and of course released.

Most unusual for this time of the year that the wind even came from southeast for good parts of these two days. Sunday then saw the first of 3 scheduled trips for Austrian returner Christian and his girlfriend Luzia with Mervin: half day GT popping as a warm-up. Things looked sort of dim after 2 proper GTs dropped the  poppers seconds into the fight, a couple more misses and 2 Sharks released. Then came a baby GT and at long last nearly at noon already the mission was accomplished properly. Well fished and a new GT pb with this good size specimen.

The day before I received the following pic from a regular guest and friend who got it from another chap, whose buddy caught that GT from shore here on Praslin. I know the spot (which I regularly recommend to shore anglers btw) so can confirm it was really here. This is the very first big GT from shore on Praslin that I got aware of in my 15 years on the island. Of course there have been plenty anglers informing me that they caught a `pretty big GT´ but the pictures always revealed the common but of course still decent Brassy Trevallies in the 5-10kg range. This one is a proper GT though without doubt. Congrats to the angler, and as I don`t know him and neither got the pic with his permission to show him, I covered his face. But I thought you should see that foto as the catch is so special.

On the 25th then I joined Christian and Luzia for their second trip, so with Mervin we went to the Drop Off in prefect weather conditions. First drop of jigs, first fish instantly, it all looked set for a great day. But then things went the wrong way step by step: any bigger fish but those you see below was taken by Sharks, the bite slowed and completely died towards low tide again, but this time with the later again rising tide it did not come back. Despite 3 anglers jigging hard I think it was half a dozen fish caught between 10am and 3pm. Some days even here the best weather, boat, skipper and gear and the spots visibly full of fish on the sonar don`t guarantee a great day. Nothing doing.

But how quickly things change: Yesterday Brandon had great jigging at the Drop with a steady bite and loads of fish of which these are just a small selection. They lost a +50kg Doggie close to the boat on top. Most stunning though that they had literally no Shark troubles with just a single of many Amberjacks taxed. 

So far we thus really can not complain here even as the fishing had some ups and downs. But charters were plenty and the weather was really decent for a February. Remains to be seen what the next month brings but at this moment it all feels good.

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.

For the preceeding reports check the archive.