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.

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…