My wife Monika and our daughter Anna were very pleased with last year's Easter vacation destination, so we decided to book again for Desroches Island in the Seychelles. The island is gorgeous, and the service, food, and accommodations are first-class.
And: We all felt incredibly comfortable once again! The most important thing: Anna made friends right away. When the children are happy, the adults are happy too! Relaxation from the very first hour!
As a fly fisherman, I had the desire to catch a sailfish and possibly a permit on the fly this time. I also brought two of my Carpenter rods and the Stella reels along to pop for GTs and other fish on the outer reef if the opportunity arose.
During the first sailfish outing, I had two sails behind the boat. I managed to hook one right away, but lost the fish on its second leap. I missed another opportunity entirely. On the second outing, things work out: I catch my first sailfish on my self-tied fly with a Cam Sigler Popperhead. The exciting part is when the sailfish is behind the boat, trying to chase the teasers and then attacking the fly. And you're right there, experiencing it live!
The fight was initially thrilling - you feel a lot of power and speed, and you see the sailfish completely leap out of the water multiple times. In the end, though, the sailfish is on the surface, and you're more or less pumping it toward the boat. A beautiful, majestic fish! One more in my collection.
I booked the boat for six half days and one full-day excursion to Poivre. During the boat trips, I catch bonitos, sharks, wahoos, rainbow runners, and some beautiful reef fish on the fly. Sometimes, we head out with the large catamaran, with Moni and Anna joining as well. I go on an excursion with Mark, a London lawyer whose family we've gotten to know. Mark catches a fantastic wahoo while trolling.
What's wonderful about Desroches is that you can do a round of fly fishing on the island. So sometimes, I head out just after sunrise when my family is still sleeping, for an hour or two of fishing. Bonefish can be challenging here, as there are only a few very skittish fish. However, I do manage to catch one every now and then. During these outings, I often spot permit, but apart from a very small one measuring 20 cm, I can't outsmart any of them.
A beached whale on Desroches draws a crowd and emits a terrible stench. Tiger sharks sense the whale and come close to the shore to tear out chunks of meat. I take a photo of the whale shortly before the management closes off the area due to the sharks and eventually hauls the whale back into the open sea. One day, I spend time with Mark on the flats at St. Joseph, where we catch several bonefish.
Finally, I head out on a full-day excursion to Poivre, driven by the desire to catch a permit. Upon arriving in Poivre, we spot flocks of seagulls and yellowfin tuna chasing prey at the surface.
This immediately diverts us from our initial plan of heading to the flats. On my first cast, I get a bite and catch a bonito. Then, I hook a medium-sized yellowfin or dogtooth tuna. However, we quickly realize that we can't land larger fish because there are sharks and dogtooth tunas swarming around, snatching the hooked fish off the line as soon as they tire from the fight. We stop fishing, as it becomes futile.
I managed to capture the underwater action briefly with my GoPro.
The flat fishing near Poivre turns out to be interesting. I catch a few bonefish, and we also spot three really big permit fish. However, every time we get close to casting distance, they disappear. Permits are notoriously difficult to fool.
At low tide, we return to the boat and decide to do some popping at the reef. I manage to catch two nice GTs.
Multiple times, I spot a school of permit fish - it's great to witness that! However, as soon as I get ready with a fly rod, they vanish once again. I manage to capture the sight with my GoPro camera once.
