Farquhar - Jan 2023

This was a trip originally planned for December 2021, when I was still living in South Africa, as a birthday present for my son. Thanks to COVID and all the senseless travel bans enacted, it got postponed a couple of times and what was initially an affordable DIY trip from South Africa morphed into a much pricier guided trip from Australia. But it ended up covering a few more birthdays for my son, and a promise is a promise.

As usual my fishing diary is transcribed below:

Day 1

We left IDC and flew to Alphonse, where we had a quick break, a bite to eat and then boarded the plane again for the next leg. We arrived on Farquhar at around lunch time, the weather on Mahe was fairly lousy, but the flight across was fairly fine, and we had a quick stop on Alphonse for a snack and to pick up one of our guides, Alex. 

When we got to Farquhar, it was very windy and cloudy as well, there was a tropical cyclone watch which meant the boats couldn't be put into the water, but we managed to get a lift with the golf cart to the runway and we went and spent a few hours just looking for fish there. I caught a few bones, Teo got a few dart and emperors, I managed to see a GT and also saw a very big titan trigger fish that I cast to and it followed the fly, but never came tight.

 

Day 2

First guided day and our guide was Alex, who I fished with on Cosmo back in 2017. Due to the atrocious weather conditions, and the potential cyclone warning, the boats were not allowed to be put in the water. So we got transported back to the airstrip and we split up in various groups and then just slowly walked up and down the beach in that limited area to fish.

We didn't really see much as the conditions were very trying, windy cloudy rain. I managed to catch a couple of nice bonefish and I had a shot at a GT and a few bluefin, but in general, just very, very tough conditions and by about two o'clock when the tide was high, we just pulled the pin and headed back to camp, too windy and wet to even bother taking pictures.

Some people went to the home flat or the cliffs near the lodge and cast a bit, but I took a break and hoped for the best for the next day.

Day 3

Conditions were steadily improving and the guides got to go ahead to put the boats in the water. So we waited for that and then at 8:30, we headed off our guide for the day. Our guide was Evan, we went across to Manaha gaps, where we parked the boat up at Jack's Panic and then walked through the gaps at low tide and walked down the beach and fished a spot called the office. There were heaps and heaps of bonefish, I spent most of my time looking for GTs and left Teo with Evan. We both caught plenty and Teo managed to catch his first bonefish and then upgraded and caught a really nice one of 63 centimetres. I caught a number in the five pound range in skinny water in between looking for GTs as the light was terrible. I saw plenty of rays but didn't really see any GTs at all, I caught a few bluefin, but spotting conditions were just really tough.

We then walked back to the boat and whilst we were walking up through the gaps, the sun came out, and then half a dozen bluefin and GTs cruising really close to the edge. I took a step back and let Teo make the cast and the last fish turned around and ate his fly almost at his feet, and put up a nice tussle and Teo managed to land his first GT as well.

We saw a few more moving through the gaps, but they were moving very fast. So we went and had lunch and then we headed back up towards the lodge looking for more shelter from the wind, and we went stopped at the end of the home flat where there were small little cliffs and we drifted along the cliffs.

As we got there, Teo made a couple of blind casts and a GT came and buzzed him. He made another cast, and probably the same fish chased and ate the fly, and he managed to catch his second GT. We then carried on just drifting down, we saw some bluefin and some GTs had some shots, but just difficult to get close.

I had one good fish come up and eat the fly and somehow it didn’t stay connected. We then went back up and did another short drift again, we saw and got buzzed by GTs, but all in all, a good day and with the weather steadily improving and nice and sunny in the afternoon as well. Great day for Teo, with his first bonefish and GTs on fly.

Day 4

Third day guide was Matthew also known as Irish. We went to Napoleon Dynamite and we spent most of the day poling around on the white sand. We saw quite a few GTs but they were very spooky and we had so many refusals. I managed to catch four GTs and Teo lost a couple. Then we went to Goulette after lunch and we walked around but we didn't see much, I had one come through the surf, but saw it too late and it never really fired up and just swam past. We then we got a call on the radio from Shaun that there was a lot of action and not that far away so we ran back to the skiff and poled across. As we got there, there was a ray that came across with a couple of fish on it and Teo made the cast and got a GT as well. So, good day with five GTs landed and plenty more seen.

 

Day 5

Fourth day guide was Chad; Teo went to fish with Pete so I fished with Martin. We started off at Tombstone and saw a couple of GTs straight away and I managed to hook and land one on the second attempt, after getting a refusal with the first fly on a first fish. We also saw bumpies but Martin wasn't particularly interested so we kept on poling down, and were going to jump across the apex into the lagoon at Inner Thigh Gap, but the tide was too low so we ran around to Third Island and then carried on poling. We kept on seeing fish and Martin had a number of shots without success. I managed to hook and land a nice GT on the white sand near Dipose, as well as having a few more shots at a few big fish. On the way back, we poled the northern edge of Dipose where we had lots of GTs coming through; Martin that quite a few shots but a lot of chaos until he finally managed to stay connected. I ended the day with the 2 GTs.

 

Teo had a great day with Pete, he managed to land 2 GTs and lost a few more, including most of a flyline

 

Day 6

Our guide was Yusuf, we went back to Napoleon Dynamite and again spent most of the day there poling over the white sands in around the gaps. Fairly early up, I had a shot at a big fish that came through but refused the olive and red semper fly, so I changed the fly back to a tan one. Next thing, this big fish came with drifting down looking like a big GT. I made the cast, it came over, sipped the fly, and then after I hooked up, it started jumping like crazy and I realised it was a giant barracuda. It did a long run, peeled a lot of line and then bit me off. Whilst I re-rigged, Teo jumped on the bow and a fish came along, he made a good cast and hooked and landed his first GT for the day.

 

After that it was my turn and I managed to catch a GT that was cruising along quite happily, and I also had a number of shots at some very good fish but they just showed no interest for the fly.

 

We anchored up near the surf where the sun and waited for the tide to push in and some fish drifted through and we managed to catch a couple of GTs, and again had shots at bigger fish but once again no interest, including a big Napoleon that stayed just out of range near a bommie. We drifted in with the current and poled around a bit more and I got a third GT.

At the end of the day, we went to Bilge where we walked around the island, and when we got to the western point, there was a school of mullet with a big GT shadowing them, but he swam away once we got close, obviously, he's seen people there before and knew what was happening. So, three GTs for the day for me and one for Teo. After dinner we went out for the coconut crab tour, always fun and informative.

Day 7

Last day the plan was us was for us to fish with Shaun but he had to attend some meetings unfortunately, so we ended up fishing with Evan. We started off doing some dredging just close to the surf and then outside the surf and we managed to catch the usual suspects: bohar, bluefin, spangled emperors and grouper. I hooked something very big that ran me into the coral and broke me off and also a nice GT that came off unfortunately.

When the tide was right, we came back into the lagoon side and started looking for GTs. Teo, jumped on the bow and we went to a spot where we anchored up and a GT came through, he hooked it, but he got a little bit confused with a knot that came through and the fish took a bit of extra line and went into the coral, and that was the end of that. We stayed that spot for a while and we had a few more GTs come through but no luck.

And then we moved to another area and Evan poled along and when we got to a point a group of GTs came through. I made the cast and hooked and landed a nice GT, and then we stopped for lunch.

 

After that, we went close to the surf and as we got there, there was a heap of stingrays with probably 50 to 60 GTs on them. Teo hooked up and I quickly grabbed my rod and made a cast and managed to hook up a nice dark GT that unfortunately came off. We landed Teo’s fish and then we carried on poling going from Ricky Bobby all the way to Helmets via the Tripods. We didn't see too much, there was the odd shot but it was quite windy and choppy so that made it more difficult to cast. I had a few shots at bigger fish including a really big GT on the back of a nurse shark that for some reason showed no interest to the fly. As we were going along there was a big bommie on the edge of the flat so I made a cast and a whole bunch of African marbled grouper came out. So we spent the rest of the last hour of the day just catching marbled grouper off this bommie which is great fun. There was a lot of them, beautiful fish and good size, so a good end to a pretty crazy week.

Totals for the week: our group caught 90 GTs, and on the best day 34. I ended up with a total of 10 GTs, Teo with a total of seven GTs. After a horrid start, a very solid week and a new lodge record as far as most GTs caught in the day and most caught for the week

Teo is ruined for life now, and the next one is on him…