Seychelles - GTs

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANA9RnP6Tls

[ifsteve]

Think GTs will be the next big trip. Want to go back to the Seychelles and chase those bad boys. Hearing just too many iffy stories on going to Christmas Island for them, although its a dang bit cheaper there than the Seychelles!!!

[Tony Buzolich]

Steve,

You said you "want to go back to the Seychelles" , I assume you were there then. So what did you chase when you were there? Bonefish, reef fish, milkfish ?

I can't imagine going to the Seychelles and NOT chasing GT's. They've become an addiction for me the last couple of years. Even the Jack Crevalle / Toro's in Baja are a first cousin to the GT's and fight the same way. They are great fun too and when they get into the 20# - 30#+ I can't say there's much difference.

When you were there, who did you book with?
Tony

[DLJeff]

Tony,
If you pay attention and watch closely you can fish for and catch all kinds of cool fish (in addition to GT's and bonefish) on the Seychelles flats. You can also head into the deeper water and catch dogtooth tuna, yellow fin tuna, we even had a 400lb marlin come up to some teasers.

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[mems]

I would love to go to the Seychelles, but at 10k, I could make 4 trips to CI. Personally for GT's I would rather go to Midway and break every rod I own. Mems.

[Tony Buzolich]

Definitely some really cool fish in any remote place. And the farther you get from populated areas the more there are of them. Love the pics and living vicariously.

Don,

Didn't Rick Gaffney used to take groups to Midway? I looked into it a long time ago. Now it's shut down because of financial reasons with the U.S.Fish & Wildlife dept.

That would definitely be an untapped location for GT's. Now it seems the bird life rules place.
Tony

[DLJeff]

I would love to go to the seychelles, but at 10k, I could make 4 trips to CI. Personally for GT's I would rather go to midway and break every rod I own. Mems.

I'm sure it's cheaper for you starting from Hawaii. But the Fiji Air flight from Honolulu to CI was $1100 for me last month. Combine that with flights to Honolulu, the lodge cost, tips, an over night in Honolulu, miscellaneous stuff and my trip to CI cost me almost $5000. That was one of the eye openers for me regarding my trip to CI.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Unspoiled places like the Seychelles and Cuba has a huge variety of cool fish up on the flats.

Cuba is a great value starting around $5,000/week

[mems]

There are some amazing places in the world to fish. The northwest hawaiian islands are an untouched unspoiled vast resource that is off limits to all but foreign poachers. I would love to get there and sample the fishing. I tried to get to midway island but missed out on the operation, it suddenly closed, the phoenix corporation ran an out fit there and got in trouble with fish and wildlife and lost their ability to operate there. Rick Gaffney lives on my island and opened up the fishery. He is still on the board for the refuge established by O'bama. They recently doubled the size of the monument. It is open to recreational fishing but only with a permit. Trump might overturn O'bamas legislation and open it up to fishing again.
I have applied to go to midway and count birds as a teacher. Rick Gaffney is on the board and knows I only want to go there and fish. There is a loop hole you can't take fish, but it doesn't say anything about exercising them. I was told that when you are fishing for smaller species like moi, and papio, a larger fish, GT or AJ will often eat your fish before you can get it in.
The offshore fishing there is crazy. When the GT's show up they scare off the sharks. It would be hard to stop a 200lb GT even in deep water. That is why I say you would break all your rods or loose all your lines.
I am lucky to live in Hawaii and fish CI. The cost is half of what you guys have to pay. I still think it is one of the best deals for saltwater flats fishing. You can spend the same amount in the bahamas in just a weekend, with out the bluewater. If I lived in Africa, like my guide friends there I would fish the seychelles as much as I could. There are lots of spots in the Indian Ocean that are untouched as well. You just don't have pirates grabbing your outrigger on Christmas Island. If you have the money and inclination go now, take advantage of the lodges and mother ships and enjoy this planet while you and it are still untouched. And while you are at it break some rods and catch some insane fish. Mems.

[DLJeff]

I agree Don. Obviously one has to be a little prudent and consider your long term existence, but if fishing and travel and adventure are your passions, then make it happen. I received one of those Doctor's Without Boarders world maps in the mail one day several years ago (I was still working then). I went to the office supply cabinet and got some green stick on dots and some blue dots. I put a blue dot on every country I had been to (I travelled quite extensively for work) and a green dot on every one I'd fished in. I can't recall the exact numbers but it was something like 33 countries visited and 22 fished in. But I had to plan and make contacts and take some vacation time to make those fishing trips happen. I saw this bumper sticker that said "Don't Die Wondering". I took that saying to heart - if I am wondering about something, I make the effort to find out about it.

If you get t go to Midway, can I go as your Sherpa luggage schlepper or maybe we can put on a huge sweater and tell them we're conjoined twins or something.

[Tony Buzolich]

Don,

Good point about the pirate stuff. Watch any of those YouTube videos about fishing in or around the Seychelles, or Socotra Is. in Yemen, or north of Madagascar, and you'll see all the captains on those mother ships carrying full automatic weapons at the helm.

There was even a crew with guns taking a group fishing out of western India to some offshore atoll with an explanation by the travel agent that this area is yet to be developed.

Sure makes Christmas Island and the South Pacific sound a lot better. Tony

[ifsteve]

Tony,

I fished the Seychellles in 2000. We were targeting bones mostly. We fished St. Josephs atoll which isn't near the fishery the more southern stuff is. We looked for GTs but never saw any. We did get into a mess or permit on Poivre one day. Way cool and frustrating as ever....lol. We also did some offshore stuff and I got a 50# dogtooth tuna on the 12 wt. Kicked my butt.

We went with an outfitter from South Africa who is no longer in business. Did an 8 day live aboard on a catamaran sailing vessel. The fishing was accessing the flats via a zodiac boat and was all self guided. Made the trip a lot less money and we caught tons of bonefish. There were 7 of us on the trip and I have a photo with all seven of us hooked up to bones at once. Stupid silly fish they were.

But I didn't get my GT and now that I managed to get my sea run brown checked off the bucket list I need to focus on GTs. Been researching a lot lately and talking to folks who have done both the Seychelles and Christmas Island. Certainly CI is a lot cheaper but the fish are smaller on average and it sounds like CI is about a 50% chance of getting one wading the flats for a week. Teasing from a boat would be ok but I have zero desire to have them chum me up one. In fact I wish they would ban that practice. I want to wade after a big bad boy and have them kick my butt. :cool: My buddies are mulling it over. One clear advantage to CI is that we'd have to go to Hawaii (which would also complete 50 states for me) and that would enable us to take our wives their first. My wife has already stated she votes I got to CI over the Seychelles so she can go to Hawaii. We shall see!

Check out youtube - Farquhar Bird Fly.....pretty insane!

Alas I didn't find a trip voucher under the tree from Santa. Damn, guess I will have to figure out how to pay for it myself.

[Tony Buzolich]

Steve,

If that is the video about a guy making a fly our of a flip-flop sandal ?,,, I've seen it. You're right about it being super-cool. Anyone who hasn't seen this video ought too watch it if they're into GT's or just plain aggressive fish.

I'll be back at CI in a few weeks and really hope to find some cooperating trevally's but I really want to go back to Aitutaki and chase them there. All fair chase and no chum.
Tony
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/buzolich/035a_zpskjeldxwp.jpg (http://s22.photobucket.com/user/buzolich/media/035a_zpskjeldxwp.jpg.html)

[ifsteve]

Tony, nice pic! Yes that video is the flip flop fly....pretty crazy. Let me know how you do at CI. Still a strong potential ....hope the fishing for you is great!

Steve