Just got back from our Seychelles adventure. The precise chronology of events will explain the title!
2 December - arrived Heathrow around noon and proceeded to check-in. Told by AF rep that fishing gear does not count as sporting luggage. Marg and I managed to transfer bits and pieces into carry-on to avoid excess baggage charges. Dave Sharples not so lucky - had to pay several hundred pounds in charges!!
Left London at 16.00, landed Paris 16.10 (one hour time difference). Having been warned about AF's ability to lose luggage, checked with staff that our luggage had been loaded for onward flight to Seychelles.
Left Paris 19.30.
3 December - arrived Mahe 08.05. Mine and Dave's rod tubes and my tackle box haven't made it!!!
No chance of them arriving before tomorrow morning.
Long discussion when we get to the boat but we can't justify wasting everybody else's time waiting a day (only 6 days fishing planned) so we work out that we can tackle-share and use the boat's gear. So to sea around 11.00 and heading for St Jo's. Pretty rough weather and we are told that the strong headwind means a long trip (maybe 24 hours). Stifling below decks and I'm seasick for the first time in my life - so is Dave!
. Catch a few bonito trolling, eat some later in the day, go below to unpack, seasick again!! Really rough night, I feel like **** and Marg's shoulder pops out when we hit a big wave (she dislocated it some years ago). She manages to pop it back in and doesn't even tell me about it until the following day 'cause she knows I'm feeling crook - some lady!
4 December - awake early morning. Go on deck, pouring with rain & windy but I don't feel sick at all.
Told that one of the engines is kaput and we have turned round in the night and are heading back to Mahe!!!!!
Arrive back in Mahe 17.00. Crappy diesel is the cause of the engine problem so the crew drain down and refill. Our lost baggage has now arrived!
Head for St Jo's around 19.00.
5 December - arrive St Jo's around 19.00 - dark, wet & windy but at least we are here.
. Eat supper and retire to dream of GTs, YFT & bonefish.
6 December - me, Marg and Dave decide to stay on the boat and pop for GTs while the rest of the guys head for the flats to chase bones. No joy for me or Marg on GT Mania, Tuna or pencil poppers. I can barely keep my feet on the wet deck (left my deck shoes at home so bare feet) and Marg is popping in 20 minute sessions to protect her shoulder. Thankfully, Dave comes to the rescue by catching 5 GTs on a 120g Skipjack popper - best around 30-35kg.
7 December - off to the flats to try for my first bonefish. Great to see turtles, stingrays and small sharks all over the place. Find some bones and hook one on my very first cast!!!!
Thanks to Andre for the list of flies that work - tan crazy charlie does the trick.
Awesome fight on 8 weight fly rod - want another. Second cast hook another bone and lose it to a shark.
Third cast hook another bone and it snaps the line at the knot - entirely my fault, knot tied in haste. Dave and Richard arrive and Richard draws hoots of laughter from all of us as he hooks something small that is taken by a huge barracuda. His fly reel actually smokes as the barra screams off, leaping clear about 100 yards away from him before smashing his tippet. Don't see any more bones so back to the boat for the afternoon just as the rain starts up again.
I get a nice red bass popping but no GT for anyone - disappointing.
8 December - Dave and Richard off to the flats (Dave wants his first bonefish). Marg and I decide to try a little jigging hoping for a Dogtooth. I catch one - about 5 pounds.
Marg has a decent Rosy Jobfish on a pink Smiths Tachiyume - I'm nervous about her speed jigging with her shoulder but she gets kind of focussed when fish are to be caught. Just as the rain gets torrential, she hooks and boats an 80 pound white tip shark! We go on to catch a variety of small jobfish, grouper, jacks etc but no sign of YFT or big Dogtooth.
Everybody has a go at jigging in the afternoon (Dave has caught his first bonefish). Marg hooks a big fish on the pink Smiths Tachiyume that takes her shoulder and her Wei World to the limit before throwing the hook close to the boat.
The bite marks on the jig suggest Dogtooth. Nobody hooks anything sizeable after that.
9 December - everybody except Marg and Dave off to the flats in the morning for another go at the bones. No bones. Marg and Dave chase YFT on poppers and catch plenty before Marg boats the best fish of the trip - 70-80 pound YFT on a 125g Cubera popper. Dave has to turn the reel at the end of the fight (Marg's shoulder close to giving out) while she pumps the fish to the boat.
Dave and a few others off to the flats in the afternoon in what turns out to be another fruitless chase after bones. Marg decides to rest her shoulder and the rest of us have fun chasing and catching YFT on Cubera and pencil poppers. Nobody gets one as big as Marg's but great sport.
Head for Mahe in the evening.
10 December - largely uneventful trolling on the way back, though Dave has a bonito picked up by what we assume is a billfish judging by the amount of line that screams off his reel and the marks on the bonito when he gets it on the boat.
11 December - back in England 19.30. Frost on our car as we drive away from Heathrow makes us long for the warmth of torrential rain in the Seychelles!!
All in all, a slightly disappointing trip in that the fishing was patchy to say the least and the weather was not inspiring (Bruce, a great bloke and our guide on the boat, said it was the worst charter he had experienced in 8 years of guiding in the Seychelles). But we caught just enough to know we will return and, as usual, we laughed a lot!
