As much anticipated the Southeast behaved orderly showing signs of faltering along the month but not without a fight. On the 1st it was a bit calm so Mervin took the chance to try his new Center Console Gamechanger perfectly set up for popping and jigging for the first time.

Of course he could not resist to take a couple of rods which was a good decision as you can see. Sailfish are still plenty out there and the jigging just on the plateau only a few miles off Praslin produced another hookup of what also must have been such Doggie but it came away. 

After that the weather turned sort of sour again for several days with not only strong wind but also lots of rain delaying my scheduled boat service at the yard and subsequently any ideas of going fishing myself. The service eventually was conducted in an a bit drier window but the weather all in all remained uncalculable. That did not stop Sandro (Frenzy) and his guests from fishing two days in a visible mess and it paid off with three Sailfish and a bunch of other catches on top.

The day after they went again in then much nicer weather getting another Sailfish.

Other predators were also active. Such Barracuda on the troll is not a regular but still not an uncommon catch.

And Wahoos like this one could literally only be avoided if putting no lure in the water.

That was confirmed by Greg fishing with guests on Amberjack ending up with several of these.

The last week until a few days ago rather little happened again here. Only partly due to the weather but Mervin still had to finetune some aspects of his boat and Sandro had gone with his boat along a liveaboard to fish the northern atolls for a week. Speaking to him upon return a couple of days ago I learned that the jigging had been excellent in numbers of Doggies, Amberjacks and other fish. Even a few GTs were in the mix which are rather rare around the  particular destination. Unusal also that these as well as some other fish look exceptionally skinny. On top the Tuna to cast at were around and fish of up to 40kg caught.

Else Brandon fished on the 17th with a Russian group that chartered both their boats to fish for Marlin. Along that first of their days both boats made contact with the object for desire but no luck: on Unreel with him skippering they pulled the hook on a Blue he estimated at 150kg early morning but got Sailfish, Wahoos and Dorados along the day. The new boat Fayth skippered by Ivanio got a bigger one on but it broke everything and they also got a Sailfish to partly make up for that.

Sandro then went for a half day the following Saturday again getting a Sail and 4 Wahoos on top. The next morning I headed to Mahe and onto a catamaran for a week with a group of Swedish anglers to fish an Outer Island atoll in the south. It was a memorable trip in many ways and not all of them were good. Despite returning a day early due to some glitches time since was just too short to do the whole course of events justice here and now. As on top the whole footage is with the Swedes and has not reached me yet that story will have to wait until the next edition. 

So yesterday still all buggered and quite bruised in various places I just checked around briefly what had been happening on Praslin during my absence. Did turn out it wasn`t much. Mervin due to an infection on a foot wound had to keep away from the water, Sandro had one trip last week ending up with a small Marlin but the footage is still with the ´guests, and Greg & Andre did bits of their light tackle fishing which provided various catches to their guests.

A few of the other boats fishing only occasionally also went  trolling with solid catches but all in all the charter situation was well below what the chaps are used to at this time of the year. Apart from Sandro`s week the jigging and popping groups so far have been a no-show and while we should be seeing some next month the usually fully booked pro boats for that stuff still have days available in November. No wonder though when considering that several of their core markets have violent conflicts at their garden fences or are even involved. Sad times. Once again.

For the preceeding reports check the archive.