It was not the greatest of all Octobers here though this was not due to unfriendly weather. Was still somewhat rough along the first week though so hardly any fishing done except for a Marlin caught by Sandro on Frenzy and a very big one lost by Brandon on Unreel as the kid fishing couldn`t handle it. Mervin had been in the Amirantes on a cat and said conditions had been really bad. A return a day early speaks for itself. But then it got calm and pleasant and a Drop Off trip on the 9th for German Big Game novices Heiko and Annett form Germany with Brandon on Unreel was pretty cool. We started very slow with no knock along nearly 3hrs of trolling and just a few average fish jigging for an hour. But then a bit outside the Drop and trolling again it looked like waves breaking on a reef for a long stretch far away. Impossible on several hundred meters of depth and indeed we found the Tuna boiling all over the place. It was massive action, see the little video clip here. As they were feeding on just finger size baifish it was not easy to hook them on trolling lures but we got six on along the hours of which three came same time. Nice bit of mess and we all had to help as these fish, all just under 40kg (weighed later), gave the beginners hell.

It was simply fascinating to see these massive torpedos bolting out of water left, right and center ever again. As soon as the boil stopped it came up a few hundred meters away once more. Much bigger ones among them and eventually we hooked one of those. After a long fight it sadly came away right at the boat as the leader already held popped. Still it was a fantastic experience for the fishing couple who also got to see Dolphins, Manta Rays and even Whales. See a few more pictures.

So that was very nice water time also for me as my own fishing or rather my boat is still jinxed. Twice I went out and twice I had to limp back. First trip the connection between steering cylinder and starboard engine disassembled. Got the mechanic to fix that and also put two spare parts that were needed for a while and had arrived. So two days later I went again and suddenly found the port engine not starting any more after it had worked fine on several restarts resetting the GT popping drift. So took course home and trying along the way, the thing came on or not without any logic in it. Could be right away, after 5mins or half an hour as it turned out when I tested along the following hours jigging some kitchen fish around the corner where there was enough traffic to tow me home just in case. Tested the engine on the mooring the following days switching on and off about a dozen times each day in quick or slow succession and it came on normally every time. So an unconsistent and untrackable problem so far. Did another test at sea on the 29th and all worked fine until exactly when I was playing a Sailfish that took the one lure trolled. You can just see it leaping in the background.

About 10mins into the fight and briefly before the fish threw the hook, the engine cut out, the problem was back, and persisted all day again without any logic in it. Came on eventually but unpredictably. Seemed prudent to go back home with a view to the also not reliable steering but so close to the jigging spots I wanted to have a go. Jigging was rather slow with just a few small Groupers and two quality fish dropping the hook until at last this decent Yellowspotted Trevally came up.

A little later a fish taking near the bottom bolted upwards and leaped around. Never thought I would get that Sail on the tiny 40lb leader especially all alone on the boat. But it just held and after the quick pic the fish was released safely. So a bit of consolation at least but the boat is driving me mad. 

Meantime or actually since mid of the month the weather had turned really calm and mostly sunny. So very pleasant to fish except for the heat but there were shockingly few charters. Sandro I think went once for Drop Off jigging that produced the usual suspects. Nothing heard from Brandon at all, and the boats mainly living from excursions and fishing occasionally also had only a handful of the usual trolling trips. The clearest indication how bad it is provides Mervin though. While normally fully booked in October, he had a single charter all month. That was a GT popping trip with Ryan and his wife. High activity with about a dozen Geets raised but they would hardly ever strike properly. The single big one Ryan`s wife hooked but she got reefed. He had to make do with this rather juvenile one and on top came a Tuna that probably wanted to test GT life. That was unwise and ended in the fish box.

So why were there next to no charters? The usually at this time very present Israelis are missing for obvious reasons for a start. Russians and Ukrainians alike. Still generally no lack of European tourists here but they are hardly willing to spend the kind of money. No surprise to me following the development, economic downturn and uncertainty in our other core markets. What feeds my theory: really busy were Andre and Greg on their new boat TopWater which turned out very nice.

Their advantage these days seems to be that they offer fishing at a minimum of 3 hrs for which the guests get away at I think 375€. This range looks to be money people are still willing to spend as they have been fishing nearly every day since the boat got operational mid month. Am really glad to see them doing that well after all the delays and unfortunate events in the process of rebuilding that boat to their needs. And the results were coming nicely on top as far as catches are concerned. Their very first trip went in great style with a Sailfish and a Wahoo both over 30kg.

And it continued nicely with solid trolling catches along the days. Wahoos came plenty, and a few more Sails on top. With Tuna and Dorados also around, they managed a Super Grand Slam on just a few hours. Where else in the world do you have a realistic chance of getting that? Below is a selection of other catches they made along these days.

Last week then the La Digue Tournament took place for the second time again after the CoVid break of I think 3 years. Again only 10 boats registered which has become a standard after the change of fishing time roughly 10 years back from the usual 12hrs to 36hrs. In those days there used to be between 30 and 40 boats participating but the change pushed out the not-so-rich guys and the smaller boats: just too expensive and too tough. One also needs to consider that with preparations and the price giving it means 4 days altogether that the charter boats do not work to make money on top of the heavy expenses. So generally attention for this so established and appreciated event has dwindled badly. Just enlarge the following pic and take a look at the “crowd”. In the good old times the whole jetty on the right was packed to the edges with people watching so one could hardly move. Easily 2000 people then, but now …

Good news is that the Seychelles Sports Fishing Club looks to have reached a state of acknowledging that certain things need to change to get at least a noteworthy part of the local sportsfishing community involved again, as a surprisingly fruitful chat with the new Chairman I had while we waited for the boats to return indicated. Eventually it was only 8 boats weighing in as one of the 10 registered did not go and another was disqualified returning late due to engine problems. I was only able to see half the weigh-in as I had to catch the last ferry back to Praslin at 5pm. Until then the most spectacular fish I saw was this massive Ruby Snapper of 21kg.

Biggest Doggie was over 30kg so not so big and same applies to the Yellowfin. Mervin fishing with the Lady C team from La Digue brought in half a dozen all around 35kg.

They came very close second place overall btw beaten for top spot by next to nothing by team Rig Runners. Else Martin on his Albermarle shone with the only Marlin of the tournament and two Sails on top to take all the Billfish categories. Interesting also: three boats managed to catch 16 species of the eligible 23 and one got 17. Effectively it were more species as most Groupers apart from two kinds make one category, and of the Trevallies all the different ones are being counted in just one category.Good indication of how versatile one needs to be on the fishing methods to get that many different pelagic, demersal and semi-demersal fish. To round this edition off nicely here two decents GT and another Tuna all from the same popping spot this morning by Andre & Greg`s guest. Great job again.

A little later a fish taking near the bottom bolted So the quality of the fishing here was very good and as it should be at this time of the year. Hopefully the anglers will return soon and in good numbers to enjoy it all.

For the preceeding reports check the archive.