Cocos - February 2024

I remember hearing about the Cocos years ago as some of our Westralian brothers would go there on DIY trips but for the most it seemed a well kept secret. When I moved back to Oz, the distance and the ever increasing cost of a Seychelles trip meant that was no longer an option, so the Cocos popped back into mind given it is an Indian Ocean atoll not too dissimilar to the Seychelles ones. I then heard about Hello Backing, that had started a guided operation there with a Maverick flats skiff and an offshore centre console so I got in touch with the owner Nick Lorenzo about doing a trip there - he gave me a few dates and I managed to convince my good friend Stephane to come and join me so we could also fish again together after a number of years of Covid affected failed attempts.

I confirmed the dates with Nick, paid my deposit, and managed to book flights to Perth and back with frequent flyer miles, and then booked the flight to the Cocos direct with Virgin - they are the only operator and fly twice a week to Cocos via Christmas Island - stopping there either on the way there on on the way back and flying every Tuesday and Friday. Stephane and I also decided to spend a few extra days at the end of the guided charter doing some DIY fishing, so I booked a room at The Breakers for 3 nights.

Departure day arrived and I boarded the early morning Qantas flight from Brisbane to Perth, and once there a friend of mine picked me up and took me to the Virgin terminal, where the plan was for me to check in and drop my bag and then go for a coffee. This didn't end up happening, as even thought the Cocos Keeling are an Australian territory, access is via a rather convoluted process involving the international departures and clearing immigration, albeit without the need for a passport, and also a lengthy old school queue up check in process. So after waiting in the queue for 30 minutes with no real progress my mate decided he had better things and left me to wait. Stephane turned up just in time to join me in the queue and after a fairly long time with another weird queue for IOT flights at Immigration, we were finally through. One perk was being able to buy duty free alcohol though, which sounded like a good idea at the time. We boarded the Virgin flight to Christmas island, and after 3 1/2 hours we landed and were asked to disembark, for a short 45 minute stop, and then completed the last leg of the flight which was 1 1/2 hours and uneventful.

Stephane and I collected our bags - happily all had arrived, and if there's a more nerve-racking moment in a fishing trip then I don't know it. Outside we were met by Nick and his 3 guides: Rodney Collings (who runs AFO in NQld and guides for Nick during the wet season), and Cooper Watson and Connor Luff - two young blokes from Exmouth who have been guiding for Nick for the last couple of seasons. We took our gear to "The Castle" - Nick's lodge - and quickly changed and headed to the Cocos Club for pizza night. The Cocos club is the island pub and alcohol sales outlet, and that's where we discovered our mistake in buying alcohol in Perth - alcohol in Cocos is duty free and probably the cheapest you will find anywhere in Australia, lesson learned for next time! Pizza night is every Tuesday and Sunday and not to be missed. We enjoyed the cheap booze and tasty pizza and then headed back for the night - I had been up since 4am Brisbane time and it suddenly hit me.

Day 1 and Stephane and I were fishing with Rodney, and the plan was to fish on foot and get the casting arm in and stretch our lines, so we headed off to a flat on the other side of the runway, where we had a great morning session catching many many bonefish in knee deep water, including some tailing right near the beach - a fantastic way to start the trip. After lunch at the lodge we headed to another flat to fish the run in tide, and after crossing a wide section of flat that had drained dry we started slowly walking up a channel looking for fish coming in with the incoming tide. Conditions were excellent, the water was a bit cloudy still at the start of the push, so we stopped and waited and next thing some golden tails and sickles started appearing - permit and a number of them too. They proved to be the usual bastards, probably due to the cloudy water, and I think I felt one eat but never came tight. This was a great sign and unexpected, as I had heard there were permit but didn't expect to see them so quickly. We did catch plenty of bonefish, with Stephane and I finishing off the day with 25-30 each up to 6lbs, what a start.

Day 2 and we were with Cooper and on the Hell's Bay skiff that Nick had recently received, and he took us to a slightly deeper flat where the target was bigger bones, and sure enough the first fish I hooked that morning pulled a bunch of line and after a great battle we netted it and measured it out at around 69cm fork which equates to an 8lb+ bonefish - what a fish! The morning carried out in the same theme, with Stephane and I taking turns on the bow and landing 8 fish all above an estimated 7lbs, truly world class bonefishing. The little blacktip sharks weren't long to the party, these 1 to 1.2m long sharks are omnipresent and love to steal the bonefish after you release them, so where possible we avoided touching the bones as that seemed to release some kind of signal in the water that the sharks would key in to. We had a number of double ups as well which always make for a good laugh, and after lunch we headed across to the other side of the lagoon to look for more. Stephane and I took turns on the bow and walking and had a great time catching more bones, by then we were starting to get picky and only casting at the bigger ones, which proved to be great fun and rewarding. We also saw a couple more permit but never came close enough for a shot, but once again this was encouraging, as to date I had not caught a permit, although I had hooked a number of them in different locations around the world, but it had always ended in tears. I also managed to catch a new species for me, a sixfinger threadfin, and it's only found in the Cocos and a few other pacific islands as well.

Day 3 and we were with Connor, and the plan was to head to Horsburgh Island which is where the bumphead parrotfish can be found. We were on the 20' centre console and the ride across was quick and easy. Connor and Stephane headed off to look for bumpies (I have caught a few before so wasn't too fussed) and I headed off looking for other quarries. I walked past the two rusting WW2 cannons on the edge of the beach and reached a cut in the coral and made a few speculator casts - I saw a couple of bluefin swim past and then a decent sized GT came racing after my fly, closely followed by a huge cod! The GT ate the fly and came off, so the cod promptly snaffled it and ran straight into the coral and broke me off! I then started waling up the cut and saw a mid sized GT approach, I had time to switch rods from the 9wt to the 11wt, made the cast and promptly hooked and landed it - a nice GT in the 70-80cm range. I then slowly walked back towards Stephane and Connor who were busy trying to catch a bumpie - Stephane hooked two but didn't land one - he did manage something impressive though, he pulled an octopus out of a school of bumpies, on fly! I saw a few GTs but they were elusive, and managed to catch a few bones and have a shot at a gigantic titan triggerfish, and once the tide had gone out we had lunch and headed off to try some dredging. We didn't have much luck, both Stephane and I hooked mother earth and lost the tips of our dredging lines, so we made the call to go and fish for the surfing bones, a Cocos speciality. There's a beach section where when the tide is right the bones will come up in the wash, almost between your feet, and it's fast action running up to them with only the leader out of the rod tip to try and put the fly close so they will see it - a great way to end the day.

Day 4 and we were back with Rodney, and in the morning we went to a surf area to look for GTs. The wind had picked up a bit by then so we waited patently, and we did see a couple and I had a good shot at one, but once again my fly was ignored. Stephane and Rodney stacked out whilst I waded the surf shallows and had great fun catching ocean bonefish that tried their hardest to stitch me up in the coral. We went back to the lodge for lunch and went for an afternoon permit quest at another lagoon side flat, we caught plenty of bones and had some shots at permit but they again proved elusive.

Day 5 and we were with Connor and headed across to the other side of the lagoon, with permit on the menu again. We started off with bones, once again ignoring the smaller ones and focussing on the bigger ones, and we managed to catch a few taking turns on the bow and walking. We slowly followed the tide up the flat and I jumped off to walk, and less than 50m from the skiff a giant permit swam into view. I cast the shrimp fly a few metres in front, let it sink and when it got close started the retrieve. To my surprise it raced over and ate the fly and took off, with me shouting "permit" in hot pursuit. Once again it was all over after 30 seconds, the huge permit dropped the fly and swam off, leaving me cursing and throwing my rod into the water in frustration - it truly was one of the biggest permit I have ever seen and will haunt me forever. We had a break for lunch and when it was my turn to walk I slowly walked the edge of the flat along the beach further up and found more big bonefish in very skinny water, and then 2 permit appeared and started to feed, I made a number of casts and followed them for a bit but no lucky. Only once they were gone did I realise my fly had fouled up - rookie mistake but in the heat of the moment I was too busy. I kept walking up the flat and after a while saw no signs of life, so I turned around to walk back to the skiff that was well over 500m away. And just at that moment another permit swam into view, snaking it's way up the flat as they do. I made the cast, leading it by a few metres, and it swam over, tipped on the fly and I came tight. With heart in mouth I fought that fish, staying close and slowly pulling it to the beach, where I was finally able to beach and land it - my first permit finally coming to hand! And I had spotted it, hooked it and landed it all on my own, making the capture even more special. Still incredulous that it had happened I lifted it up by the tail, turned around and let out a big shout in Connor's direction, and he realised straight away what had happened and motored up with Stephane to take pictures. After countless pictures it swam of leaving me with a gigantic grin! Needless to say we celebrated that night!

 

 

I remember hearing about the Cocos years ago as some of our Westralian brothers would go there on DIY trips but for the most it seemed a well kept secret. When I moved back to Oz, the distance and the ever increasing cost of a Seychelles trip meant that was no longer an option, so the Cocs popped back into mind given it is an Indian Ocean atoll not too dissimilar to the Seychelles ones. I then heard about Hello Backing, that had started a guided operation there with a Maverick flats skiff and an offshore centre console so I got in touch with the owner @nick hellobacking about doing a trip there - he gave me a few dates and I managed to convince my good friend Stephane to come and join me so we could also fish again together after a number of years of Covid affected failed attempts.

Day 6 dawned with my vision still a bit hazy from the night before, and we headed off with Cooper to try and get Stephane a permit. We headed across the lagoon and had some great shots, I saw a huge bonefish, cast to it only for the fly to be eaten by a smaller one - easily a double figure bone. Stephane had shots at a permit milling around a turtle and we caught plenty of good bonefish, and I also saw and cast at a couple of permit but it was back to normal programming with them. On the way back we stopped at a flat that has triggerfish, and sure enough Cooper spotted a big titan doing it's thing, oblivious to us. I jumped off the skiff and waded closer, checking the current, and made a cast a metre  to the right and let the fly drop and drift into view. With triggerfish it's all about reading their body language, and straight away I knew it had seen the shrimp fly and was coming. It started following and tipping on the fly, and after a half dozen attempts I finally felt weight and set the hook. Straight away it started to run towards cover, with Cooper and I in hot pursuit. I kept a short line and tried not to pull too hard as they often will run even harder, and after trying 4 small rocks it finally found a small hole and tucked in for cover. Cooper managed to block the entrance with the net and went back to the skiff to fetch his mask whilst I stood guard. The trigger had picked a very small hole and once Cooper put his head underwater he saw the tail, grabbed it and pulled it into the net. He was very happy as he revealed to me that it was the first titan they had managed to land, and it was also probably the largest I have caught. We took a bunch of pictures before letting it go and it swam off with a roll of it's eyes. We finished the day at the surfing bones spot where I walked up the beach into a section where palm trees had fallen into the water, and had a great battle with a nice bone that tried to thread the line under every tree it could see!

Day 7 - last day of guided fishing and we headed off with Rodney for a morning session. We went to a section of a flat we had fished the first day to try and catch Stephane a permit, and we did see a couple and had some shots, but no luck for him - we did manage a bunch of bones, always willing and always great fun, and a great finish to the guided week. Back at the lodge we threw our bags into the rental car and took them over to the Breakers before going for an evening scope out of the reef flat at North point where we were going to fish the next day. The water was high and warm and apart from a couple of bones it was pretty quiet but promising.

Day 8 and Stephane and I headed up to the top of the island - he was on a bumpie quest and I was on a GT quest. Stephane waded around and had shots at bumpies and caught bones, whilst I patiently waited for the tide to run out and push the mullet out into the surf edge. Sure enough a bust up happened, and then another, and although the surf was a bit rough I managed to find a spot where I wasn't thrown around too much and waited. Sure enough I started seeing the GTs cruising the edge - big and blue and swimming slowly with purpose. I ended up having numerous shots with various flies, and all with the same result - utter disdain shown for my offerings - the GTs were obviously keyed in on the large ocean mullet and not interested in anything else, and far less opportunistic in feeding than their Seychellois cousins. I'll be going back next year armed with much larger flies for another round. We also had shots at bumpies and triggers and caught a few bones, and by early afternoon we ate our lunches and went back to the permit spot of the first day for another round with Mr Sickles. We got there and the tide was still a fair way out, so I started walking out looking for clearer water of the right depth, whilst Stephane stayed closer to shore. I walked for quite a bit, Stephane a speck in the distance, and didn't see much. I caught a couple of mid sized bones, spoked a few bigger ones in the milky water and just when I was ready to turn around another permit swam into view, like a few days before. And in very similar manner I cast the shrimp fly, it swam across and to my surprise ate. The beach was too far away, and a couple of blacktips approached, so I fought it harder and managed to tail it just as a shark raced in to take a bite. I couldn't believe I had just caught my second permit in 3 days, and started the long walk back to Stephane, where he took a bunch of photos before heading off on his quest to catch one. By then I was fully satisfied and walked with him trying to spot fish and help him, and we did see one more but never close enough. What a day, my second permit and DIY.

Day 9 and last day of fishing - the weather had started to turn the night before and we woke to rain showers, so made the call to go to the southern end where it is white sand, and look for permit and bones there. We arrived at the spot and headed off in glorious sunshine, with a bonefish double almost straight away. We slowly made our way down the flat, picking off the larger bonefish and looking for permit. A bust up on mullet and a blue GT raced by, again ignoring my fly but focussing solely on the mullet. We did see a permit each but they weren't in the mood, but the bigger than average bonefish proved great fun, before ominous clouds in the distance made us walk back to the car. After lunch with the squally weather settling in we tried another flat for a short while and got chased off by the rain, and with the cloud settling in finished off the trip with some surfing bones.

The next day we packed up our stuff, checked our bags in and started the long trip home, still beaming after a fantastic trip in a great location - I'm already planning my return trip next year with those big blue ocean side GTs calling my name, as well as that giant permit I lost.