Praslin Island – fly fishermen get their money’s worth, too

The Seychelles in February 2022

The challenge on this trip was to explore Praslin’s flats and fish them intensively. In all the previous years, fly fishing had been a side issue and the success rate relatively modest.  

There was a beautiful beach right outside our room with large rocks that stretched well out to sea. Deep water surrounds these rocks and a strong current creates big waves. This spot simply shouted fish. First of all, we explored the underwater world with our snorkel gear. The amount of activity was simply incredible – something we had not been expecting. Countless numbers of fish schools, at times bait-balls of mackerel, big trevallies, batfish, reef sharks, rays, trigger fish and large permits – amazing.

So, it was quite clear what we would have to do – off to the rocks. The only problem was that they were extremely slippery and difficult to climb onto. This was aggravated by the strong currents with dangerously high waves. On my first attempt I slipped and came a real cropper which meant I had to abandon my mission for a while and wait for more clement weather with calmer seas.

I spent this time exploring the flats around Praslin. On my very first stroll I detected quite a few beautiful fish and it was obvious – this looks promising. In a nutshell, there were huge numbers of permits in Praslin’s waters and always a couple of heavyweight trevallies on the flats. After a week of regular fishing our catch books recorded 19 !!! permits as well as innumerable snappers and groupers – who would have thought it.