The Evolution of a fly-fishing trip to the Seychelles.
All Seychelle pictures provided by Jim Klug of http://www.klugphotos.com/ and Yellow Dog Fishing Adventures.
When you are planning a fishing trip to the other side of our world, the amount of time it takes is extensive. I just can’t pack up n go. And the older I get, the more I fret over making a mistake or forgetting something important. Why? It is difficult to admit I am not middle aged, but a senior citizen, lacking the laser focus and energy I have been blessed with in life. I worry about embarrassing myself and somebody flipping it off by “what do you expect he’s old.” That, to me, is scary. These are my anxiety thoughts on traveling to the middle of the Indian Ocean through the volatile Middle East. I have not been back to the middle since October of 1973, but that is another story.
The above thoughts are the negatives. As to where we are going: Are you kidding me? The outer Seychelle Islands are some of the last undisturbed environments on the Earth. Waters where Giant Turtles still breed undisturbed. And the fish, whoa, the ultimate in destinations for fly fisherman casting to big bonefish and giant trevally on the reflective flats.
My son and I have been unknowingly pointing towards the Seychelle Islands since 2012. I had never heard of the Seychelles until 2014 on a trip to Honduras. But I am getting ahead of myself.
The trip’s evolution began in 2009 upon Zeb’s return from Iraq. Thankfully we could once again pick up our passion of fly-fishing together. We love fishing salt-water flats for Bonefish and Redfish at least yearly. In between, we top-water popper fish for Bass, as we are in love with the surface explosion on the hit. Over the next few years, we fished the Susquehanna flats in search of big stripers; the Louisiana Bayous in search of big Redfish a couple of times; the Keys after the big freeze, so fishing was anything but great; and then in 2012 it was time to head for the Caribbean and our first out of country destination trip-Honduras.
Kinda looks like we are loaded with money? Right! A rich Dad and his son. Dollar bills just hanging out of our pockets. Say it ain’t so, Joe. We don’t do luxury and we plan well.
Previously we had taken a self-guided, seat of the pants fishing trip to Belize in 2002, for Zeb’s college graduation gift and send off to the Army. We were both rookies at salt-water fly-fishing, but we had a great experience chasing Bonefish in Southern Belize, specifically camping on desolate islands around Monkey River, way before Belize became a tourist hot spot.
Now it was time to start planning an out of country trip again. Zeb researched and found us a great do it yourself flats fishing adventure in Honduras. Graham’s Place on Guanaja island, one super cool destination, albeit in dangerous Honduras. Graham’s would ultimately be the catalyst for a trip to the Seychelles.
Here we ran into a Belgium chef who traveled once a year to destination fisheries. His last one had been in Malaysia. For Europeans, Asia is a short ride. No Pacific to cross. He told us a story about getting spooled twice by a fish known as the Giant Trevally. Caught in shallow water, close to drop-off’s it is a fearsome predator reaching sizes in excess of 100 lbs. I have caught big fish trolling blue water, but besides the difficult tarpon, this was a fish I had never imagined, nor had ever heard of.
The Giant Trevally(GT or Geet) really lodged in Zeb’s Psyche. In late 2013 he announces we are going to Christmas Island, a renown fishery for bonefish and yes, Giant Trevally. Christmas Island, southwest of Hawaii, is a Valhalla destination for fly fisherman. It is spoken of with reverence. I hadn’t flown the Pacific since heading to Southeast Asia in 1970 and that wasn’t to fish. What a trip. No big GT’s, but small ones, a shot at a Giant and plenty of bonefish.
Saltwater flats flyfishing took a back seat for the next couple of years as freshwater fishing entered the game. In 2015 I had made a promise to myself that I was going to fish-ride my 1972 R75/5 BMW, bought new in Germany, to Alaska for my 70th birthday. Zeb decided to go with me. Thank goodness, a changing of the guard occurred.
Zeb is not a big fan of 6″ brook trout in tiny streams, so there was an opportunity to introduce him to great freshwater fishing. We are talking about the Canadian and American Rockies, the Yukon and Alaska. It was quite a trip. We caught some great types of trout and salmon, but more fortuitous was being introduced to the next great face of fly-fishing Paula Shearer of Calgary, Alberta. Simply put, a great guide, beautiful lady and one nice person. (http://www.psonthefly.com/).
But still lurking in the back of Zeb’s brain, as he still had access to a Mexico fishery, his mother lived there, GT’s were calling. We fished freshwater together in New Hampshire in 2016, in 2017 we went back to fish with Paula in the Canadian Rockies, chasing Cutthroat Trout. Paula mentioned she was thinking about joining the Yellow Dog Fly-Fishing Organization and Zeb’s brain was off and running.
Running in the direction of the Seychelles. As he told Jim Klug of Yellow Dog Fishing Adventures, “he wanted to do it with his father before he had to push him around the flats in a wheelchair.” Nice kid.
Well, now all the shots have been injected, the tickets bought, the fly-fishing fear assembled and the trip is on. If it is 1/2 as good as advertised we are in for a helluva fishing trip in pure, undisturbed surrounding. Stay tuned.
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