Farquhar atoll - October 2018

I managed to get back out to Farquhar a few weeks ago - bit of a short notice trip but once again a great week at a truly diverse and fascinating fishery. As it was last minute I didn't have the choice of picking the tides - so I went prepared for anything.

Main targets for me were a bumphead parrotfish and a Napoleon Wrasse - and I managed to tick both the boxes.

My fishing diary for the week:

Day 1, Friday 26th October

Group composed of 9 people (one last minute cancellation):

• Andrey and Gennady
• Alexander and Matvei
• Gert and Angelika
• Alfredo and Fabio
• Myself

Arrived Farquhar and met guides for the week:

• Matthieu Cosson (french)
• Nic Isabelle (SA)
• Erich Pienaar (SA)
• Peter (Seychelles)
• Gerry (Seychelles)

Safety briefing, tackle check and then Alfredo and I got a lift to the runway where we walked the surf. Not much action, saw one GT at the end of walk near airstrip end.

Day 2 - guide Nic - fished with Alfredo - sunny and breezy

We started the day at Jack's Panic looking for GTs and bones in the lagoon. I walked up the lagoon as the tide was dropping and caught a small Blacktip shark and then a shortly after a mid sized GT that was chasing mullet in a small channel. We then went to Jamieson where I spotted a nice GT for Alfredo. He didn't see it but cast where we told him and the fish promptly ate. After a long fight with lots of coaching he finally landed a 90cm GT, his first. My turn next, I saw a big lemon shark and cast to it. Nothing following but out of the corner a GT ate my fly, but I didn't manage to pin it as I had no line left to strip in. We then headed to Disposé where I spotted and cast to another GT that somehow didn't stay connected, followed by another GT Nic saw that I finally caught. We left the boat and went surf side looking for bumpies and GTs, we saw and cast to plenty of bumpies but no luck. Cast to triggers but they were their usual obnoxious selves.

 

2 GTs

Day 2 - guide Matt - fished solo - sunny and breezy

We started the day blind casting for anything, caught a bunch of fish and got buzzed by a GT. We then went onto the flats between 2nd and 3rd island and spent a good time casting at bumpies and golden trevally tailing on the turtle grass. I got an eat from a golden but no luck. We then went down to Wreck channel at low tide and found more bumpies. After many casts I finally got an eat and caught a medium sized bumpie that I managed to stop and land quite quickly. We kept on fishing and shortly after I hooked another much bigger one that really gave us a hard time. I got taken around a coral head and out into the surf and ended up fighting it standing on a coral head to avoid the waves. Matt finally netted it and we got some good pictures of the 99cm bumpie. We then walked up the edge of the flat, I saw a big GT on the edge in a green hole, cast and it missed the fly. I made another cast and caught an 80 cm GT that must have been following it. We saw a few more GTs but we didn't get a shot, and then went to South point where I caught a bonefish and completed the Grand slam.

1 GT and 2 Bumpies

Day 3 - guide Peter - fished with Fabio - sunny and breezy

We started the day trolling offshore. We raised a sailfish that ate the fly but didn't stay connected. Then we managed to raise a blue marlin estimated round 200 pounds, I presented the fly, it ate the fly but when I strip struck it didn't connect – for some reason instead of eating the fly and charging off it just sat there – very odd for a blue. We also raised a wahoo and then we started doing some dredging, caught a bunch of species including various grouper and quite a few lyretails. We then went back to the lodge for lunch, Fabio went to get changed, and then finally we went to just near the gaps, crossed the island on foot and fished the surfside for an hour and a half. Cast to a few triggers, caught some bones and saw one GT but the light wasn’t great.

0 GTs

Day 4 - guide Erich - fished with Alfredo - overcast and light winds

We started offshore and couldn't find any bonito for belly flaps. We trolled the teaser and Alfredo had a shot at a sail. We then raised another one when it was my turn and it just kept on billing the fly and never ate properly. I tried to set the hook a few times but nothing. We then went to the flats, around Ricky Bobby but didn't see any GTs. We caught lots of spangled emperors and had shots at triggers but the bad light made it very difficult.

0 GTs

Day 5 - guide Gerry - fished solo - sunny and light winds

We started the day dredging offshore, and almost straight away managed to hook and land a 20kg dogtooth tuna. We continued with the dredging and managed to catch a number of other fish including marbled grouper, bohar and bluefin trevally. We then saw birds splashing not so far offshore and when we got there we found baitballs with GTs, bohar snapper and all sorts of action. The baitfish were small (2-3cm) rust coloured and the fish were gorging on them. I made a few casts with the Ugandan but no interest, and then grabbed the dredging outfit. As I was getting ready to cast one of the other boats trolled straight through the baitballs thinking they were tuna, and hooked up a GT – unfortunately that ended up putting the fish down and dispersing the bait. We carried on dredging and caught a few more different species before heading into the flats. We fished Helmets, Tripod and all the way to Bilge and saw GTs on rays. I managed to catch 2, and hooked and lost a 1m+ fish that ran off the flat and broke my leader on a coral head. Fish were in singles or pairs, or on rays. Finished the day walking around Dipose, caught a few bones and had a good shot at a huge yellowmargin triggerfish.

2 GTs and 20kg dogtooth tuna

Day 6 - guide Nic - fished with Fabio - sunny and breezy

Started the day fishing bommies at Craig's Se Gat, and then over to Trigger Happy and caught assorted species, mainly to give Fabio some fishing time. We then headed down towards Bilge always fishing coral heads, and I finally caught my first Napoleon Wrasse. We also spangleds, groupers, bluefin trevally and all sorts of things. We saw 2 GTs including one on a ray that was not interested. We had lunch at Bilge and then fished more bommies before heading to Helmets at 2pm to look for GTs. Conditions were good with dropping water and we started seeing rays. Most had GTs on them and in 2 hours I managed to catch 4 GTs on rays and saw a few more, great final session.

4 GT

Total for the week:

• 9 GTs
• 2 Bumpies
• 1 Napoleon Wrasse
• 1 Dogtooth Tuna
• Bonefish
• Bohar snapper
• Bluefin trevally
• Blacktip shark
• Green jobfish
• Humpback red snapper
• Lyretail snapper
• Peacock grouper
• Marbled grouper
• Malabar grouper
• Three spot pompano
• Yellowlipped emperor
• Spangled emperor
• Boxfish

Farquhar Atoll - April 2018

After fishing Cosmo in November I was trying to find any excuse to get back to the Seychelles, and a last available spot over my birthday was too difficult to pass up. So once flights were booked I started tying flies to replenish the depleted stocks after Cosmo.

Farquhar Atoll is part of the Farquhar Group of islands in the Seychelles that are part of the Outer Islands. It is located 770 kilometres southwest of the capital, Victoria, on Mahé Island (from Wikipedia). It's about 18km long by 8km wide and made up of about 12 islands of varying sizes. It's a lodge based fishing option run very professionally by Flycastaway and IDC and it's 10 anglers/5 guides. The island was smashed by Cyclone Fantala in April 2016, the strongest cyclone ever recorded in the Indian Ocean, and since then the lodge has been rebuilt as well as all the other support facilities on the island. I did a tour of the facilities with the island manager and you don't realise how much effort goes into keeping 10 anglers happy...

As usual I flew into Mahe the day before and then the next morning transferred to the IDC hangar , and I met up with the rest of the group composed of 10 people, mainly Americans plus a Croatian and myself.
The flight from Mahe was on the usual IDC Beechcraft and took 1 hour and 55 minutes, and when we arrived on Farquhar we met guides for the week:

Matthieu Cosson (France)
Nic Isabelle (SA)
Jarod Peall (SA)
Erich Pienaar (SA)
Peter King (Seychelles)

The lodge was very pleasant and rooms perfect with outdoor showers and cold AC.

After a detailed safety briefing and tackle check Marko (my fishing partner for the week) and I got a lift by tractor to the runway where we walked the surf for a few hours - day 1 is the guides day off. I managed to land one GT around 75cm and lost a bigger one.

The next part of the report is an extract from my fishing diary:

Day 1 - guide Nic - sunny and breezy

Started day at "Coco Pops" looking for bumpies but didn't see them, instead we found tailing golden trevally. I caught 2 of 76 and 78cm and hooked and lost a nice GT on the 9 weight on an olive crab - it was hanging with the goldies.

I saw a couple of GTs on rays plus cast at some triggers before moving on. We then fished 3rd island and then the wreck, I had a solid GT sip the popper but no hookup. We did some bommie bashing and caught some other reef species including marbled grouper before heading to Dipose island to look for GTs. I spotted a decent one but no eat, and then we found a big school of mullet with bigeyes nearby, I caught a bigeye and then saw 2 GTs cruising low and slow below the school. I made the cast, let the fly sink and when the GT was close made one strip and I was on. I didn't realise how big it was until it got me into the backing - the Mako was locked up and it made a big run of 70-80m but managed to stop it and wind it back. After so tense minutes Nic managed to tail it and then I realised the size - it measured out at 106cm.

Day 2 - guide Erich - overcast and rain and wind

We started at wreck and caught more groupers and then a huge spangled emperor.

We then went onto the flat to look for bumpies but they weren't around so we moved on. We got dumped on with more rain and then headed up island but stopped to fish "Ricky Bobby" as no-one there. We drifted in poor light casting into likely spots, and I caught a 75cm GT near surf.

 We went for another drift and Marko caught a 100cm GT and shortly after I hooked and landed an 83cm, great eat. We then headed up the island and got caught in a belter of a storm, had to anchor and ride it out, pretty intense… We then went bommie bashing looking for Napoleons. More groupers and then because of the bad weather and increased fuel burn Erich needed to refuel so we asked him to drop us off on a sand spit whilst he went back to the lodge. We walked around and found a fair amount of bait but no GTs. I stalked and cast to a trigger and caught some emperors. Then on the way back we stopped near lodge and I caught my first Farquhar bonefish, it was cruising the beach and almost too easy. I added 3 new species to the list as well.

Day 3 - guide Peter - sunny but windy

We fished "The Walk" starting at 8:15, we saw GTs both while tide was dropping and rising, low tide around 10:15 but the water was still high due to wind effect. We walked about 4km and caught nice bonefish to 6lbs and 3 GTs to 82cm.

The GTs were on rays and last one part of a group of 6 following a shark. I had a great shot at a dark single GT (90cm++) but missed the strip at the last moment and fish turned. We also saw some large bumpies but they stayed too deep. Walked back for a late lunch and then went bommie bashing, got groupers and raised a Napoleon on a NYAP but no eat.

Day 4 - guide Jarod - sunny and breezy

We started the day at Bilge, walked edge of island and saw some bones and some bigeyes. I went back to get the 10wt to cast at a big bone and then saw a big shark with a very big GT on it come out of the glare. I managed to swap rods and make a cast but the shark spooked and the GT as well - it was a huge GT, easily over 1.2m. We then started walking down to the surf, caught a few bones and then started seeing triggers. They were very very spooky and we had a number of shots but no luck. We got to the surf edge at Ridges and saw a couple of GTs, then a big school of bumpies turned up. I got a few good shots into then for no hookup and finally a really good shot into the middle, only for a GT to steal the fly. I fought it hard and straightened the alflexo crab hook. I tied on another crab and cast to another GT that also ate but came off. We walked back to Bilge and didn't see anything else, had lunch then went to check out Dipose but were there probably there a bit too early, but we had planned to fish offshore for a few hours so headed back to the lodge for fuel and sailfish rigs. We trolled a teaser around a short while and lost it to a wahoo, so we did some dredging and I caught 2 nice GTs.

Day 5 - guide Mat - sunny and breezy

We did another long surf walk called Paris to Dakar with drop off at 8 by Peter. Straight away we saw a couple of GTs in the first cut and caught some nice bones.

We found a school of massive bumpies and I eventually managed to hook one the size of a car door that headed straight out to the surf following it's mates. I managed to stop it but the fight was a stalemate on the 10 weight as it was truly a bus, and eventually it ended up fraying the leader on some coral and eventually broke me off. Had shots at triggers but just couldn't hook up and then found more bumpies but no luck. We had a few shots at GTs including one on a ray and finished The walk at the end of the runway,followed by a quick tractor ride back to the lodge, onto the boat and a quick run down to Dipose to fish the high tide. I cast a NYAP into the edge of the milky water for half an hour, had one hit but no hookup.

Day 6 - guide Nic - sunny and breezy - my birthday

We started the day at "Trigger Happy", drifting first and then I jumped off the boat and walked. A GT swam past Marko and I had a shot and hooked it, Marko also hooked one so we had a double, mine 81cm.

We then walked down to the surf and had shots at triggers and found a good school of bumpies.

I made a bunch of casts into them and Marko hooked and lost one after a brief fight - the leader bitten clean through by the beak. I then managed to catch a Titan Triggerfish on an orange flexo crab which tried to run into it's hole but Nic managed to grab it.

We started walking back to the boat and Marko had a good shot at a GT on a lemon shark but the hook didn't hold. After lunch we then drifted over some lovely water at the Ridges and had a quadruple hookup on a pack of fish over a brown ray, I caught 2 bluefin and Marko a bluefin and a yellowspotted trevally and at one point there were 4 trevally in the net.

We then went looking for a bonefish for my slam and after popping one off and pulling the hooks on another I finally slammed at 16:30.

Quick drift through the Gaps and all over.

So all up I landed 10 GTs to 106cm, a trigger, plenty of bones, groupers, emperors and also hooked and lost a big bumpie. I was very impressed with Farquhar, it's quite different to Cosmo and whilst the GT numbers are lower the average size is larger, and the diversity is greater - I can't wait to get back