As usually around this time of the year the reports tend to become shorter because of ever lesser fishig trips in Seychelles due to the lack of tourist. But especially right after the last report a few good things happened. On the 15th I tried jigging the spots a bit north of Praslin once more but these again were nearly clean of fish. In a few hours I got nothing more but two Coral and Longmouth Snappers each plus two Bonitos. And on top this pretty thing that somehow even managed to get properly hooked.

Still that day was quite entertaining as some point a bunch of small Dorados showed up. Grabbing the spinning rod quickly was a good move as they just loved that small GT IceCream lure and every cast produced numerous strikes. Not all got on and many threw the hook in crazy jumps but a few made it into the boat and subsequently the kitchen. But the highlight of the day was for sure that strike on a small Halco Laser Pro that I trolled between some spots. A Sailfish of course is always welcome but on the light 20lb tackle and all alone on the boat it provided a bit of a headache. Even more so as I had to folow the fish twice. Manouvering, playing the fish, getting the gloves on, filming a bit and eventually tagging, releasing and reviving it was tricky but it worked out somehow. Watch a bit of it in this month´s video clip here if you like.

While I struggeled with this Carlos was out at the Drop with guests for his boss. I think they were fishing on the boat Sailfish and this is what they got as well as a Marlin of common size. For the weekend Ruslan came over from Mahe so I finally got a chance to return the favour of him taking me on his faboulous Albermarlin for that tournament win last November. He had not yet caught a real size GT on popper yet so this was the goal. I let him fish and appreciated very much that he had right away accepted to change his trebles for my barbless single hooks. After casting for about 1.5 hours he had recorded a GT miss as well as a Shark that luckily had come off plus a few more raises of those. Then he briefly had to fix something on his popper so I made a cast with my own tackle. Then a second one and there came the strike. Thought first this also was a Shark because I had not really seen the fish and it took a considerable amount of line. This is rather unusual for the GTs here as the drags are set extremely tight and usually such leads to losing the fish to the rocks. So after a few tough minutes it was a real delight to see the roundish silvery and large shape in the water and we took that nice big girl into the boat briefly for some pictures. That GT was even heavier than the already big one caught a few weeks ago and I am sure she weighed a good 40kg. Does not seem so large on the foto but the video gives a better impression. Really struggeled to get on my feet with that sweet load.

That was a fantastic fish but it was supposed to come for Ruslan. Still he was happy or me and even more motivated now. Unfortunately the last hour produced no more activity so we gave it another try the next afernoon in much rougher conditions at a spot northwest of Praslin. Ruslan again worked hard but apart from a few Sharks avoided nothing happened for nearly three hours until he finally got the strike. All went well so he finally got his well deserved GT. We estimated that fish around 25kg and it also features in the video.

That weekend Simon (Island Rhythm) had been trolling twice and reported two Sailfish. Monday he added a small Marlin and also Bruno and Sandro fishing on Eve got one of about 70kg. That was New Moon and right after something made the better fish passive. Tuesday the 19th I went all the way down south nearly to Fregate for some mixed fishing. Some hours of trolling two lines produced nothing but 3 Bonitos and only one of the jigging spots held at least a few fish in a very small area. A better fish of maybe 6-8kg came off while 3 smaller Groupers ended up in the fish box. Also I caught a juvenile Emperor Snapper which was my first on jig. These are very tasty and much sought after but that one had never spawned so I released it. Would not have liked to be hit on the head when just starting to think about sex. But seriously: as far as I know the stocks are very much under pressure and I think that measures like minimum size, bag limit, close seasons or areas are overdue. As long as this is not reality we should apply some responsibility. 

By the way some popping on a spot I had never been before but that looked very promising also produced nothing at all apart from a a rather bored Jobfish coming up just once. Also trolling was not productive in the days after. Neither Simon nor Mervin (Divinity) managed to get a better catch than a single Tuna and a few Bonitos on their half days. Simon at least saw a few Sailfish but they had no appetite. Greg (Pipsqueek) on the contrary got one and the day after also a single but nice size Tuna. Those days also the weather changed a bit providing us with some heavy and most welcome showers which is rather unusual for this time of the year. On Thursday the 21st a real strong front moved through that even gave me some worries about my boat and mooring. Later I met Simon who had been out that morning and again caught a single Tuna along with a few Dorados and Bonitos. For Martin (Venture) it went even worse in those conditions as he ended up with nothing but two tiny Dorados and a few Bonitos. With a view to that it was not too tough to stay away from the saltwater and give a little bruise a chance to heal. But it seemed a rather local phenomenon as around Mahe fishing was a lot better. Seychelles IGFA Rep Faizal Suleman had a good day out and provided this nice foto of a Marlin:

Right after there was some excitement on Mahe about a large Blue Marlin that was eventually weighed at 425lb. Also Mike (Alati) had a very good trip recording another Offshore Super Grand Slam. The Sailfish was tagged and released.

Along the following days I did not get aware of anybody going out but it seems the period of low activity around Praslin persists. At the beginning of last week Mervin had to make do with 30 or so Bonitos. Martin did a bit better on Wednesday the 27th getting a Sailfish and the next day a decent Barracuda of 18kg instead. But of course this is far slower than what we are used to. Yesterday I had planned to check on things myself but Ted was called to work short notice. On top it got much too rough to go popping or anything else. So this month comes to an end in a rather unspectacular way and along with it the calm season as far as I am concerned though the forecast predicts the wind to drop again next week. But as I will fly out to Germany tomorrow I have no chance to make use of that and upon my return for sure the Southeast will be full on. With a view to my absence there will be no mid month report for June but I will try to deliver a short overview probably in the first days of July. 

This report is rather a short one but it would not be fair to blame the fish for that. Also the weather was favourable with mostly light winds that rarely exceeded 10 knots except from rainfronts passing occasionally. These were most welcome by the way as the wet season had been much too dry. No doubt though that we are nearing the Southeast Monsoon season as that wind direction becomes increasingly dominant and yesterday it blew at a good 15 knots for a start. As we are also entering the annual touristic off season the number of tourist visibly decreases from day to day thus leading to ever lesser fishing trips. But a few there were and who went usually had no reasons for regrets. Mervin (Divinity) went popping on the 1st that produced a GT of average size which is about 25kg. The next day he took his guests to the Drop Off for jigging. Activity was a bit lower than normal but catches were allright with Amberjacks and the usual other species. On top the got a decent Grouper of about 40kg and lost one that must have been substantially bigger after half an hour`s fight.

On the 3rd I went popping and jigging but all went wrong. The popping spot was virtually impossible to fish due to the swell that had built up the night before and also the Fusiliers were missing. More popping and jigging around Marianne produced just one small Barracuda which is frustrating. I know that there is fish but I can not find them. Also the jigging spot 2 miles east was plain dead apart from a single Grouper. On the way back casting the popper for another two hours amidst an unbelievable amount of Fusiliers at the north end of the La Digue Channel raised no GT but just a few Jobfish of which the only one striking came off. The next day buddy Ted went with his uncle and cousin to get some fish to eat. With a view to that this Marlin of around 75kg made a mistake to strike.

On top they had some Dorados and a good bottom catch. The neighbours from Mauritius were around again. Wednesday they also had Dorados and a lot of bottom fish but the next day catch was rather poor. That afternoon I went popping up north to an area that I had not fished for a while. Had hooked massive GTs there but lost all of them to the rocks. While passing that area recently I had discovered another set of submerged boulders nearby so wanted to test these but again was a bit out of luck. A GT of around 20kg came off a few seconds into the fight for no real reason and another really decent one of about double that size chased the popper striking 3 or 4 times along that retrieve but just did ot get it right. Also I had about half a dozen strikes and misses of smaller GTs in the 5-8kg category that seldomly go for a popper here. One came on so at least I avoided to blank completely.

Andre had a fly guiding catching a black Triggerfish of about 1.5kg and is still guessing what exact kind it is. Unfortunately only the guest has a foto. Also he and Greg had a spinning and dropshotting charter on little Pipsqueek which produced their guests some Bluefin and Yellowspotted Trevallies among the other usual culprits.

Friday the 8th David from Germany who had been in touch before his holidays did a trip with a small boat of which he did not remember the name and had great fun with a mixed bag of Trevallies, Bonitos, Rainbow Runner, Yellowfin Tuna and this Barracuda.

On the 10th Mervin reported 5 out of 5 Sailfish on the Drop which is obviously fantastic. Even more so as it is not really Sailfish season this time of the year.

The next day Martin (Venture) fished north of Praslin with family and was able to add another next to Wahoo and Barracuda. That same day Simon (Island Rhythm) caught a Marlin on a half day charter. On the 12th I once more tried my jigging spots south of La Digue but these seem to be virtually empty. 3 Barracudas, 3 Bonitos and 2 Longmouth Snappers was the meager reward of a long day`s hard work. 

The sea looked better for trolling that day and Leslie (Eve) confirmed that impression by another small marlin of about 50kg. That is all from the first half of this month. I hope very much that the Southeast will be rather tame for the second half to allow for a bit more good fishing before the long months of nailbiting begin.

For the preceeding reports check the archive.