The second week of the season saw the return of some familiar South African faces to the shores of Cosmoledo Atoll. Although not ideal for GT’s the neap tides made it possible to target all the other wonderful species that make Cosmoledo such a special diverse fishery.

This week saw the tidal movement slowly shift from spring tides to neaps resulting in slower water movement, a type of tide is more conducive to fishing the inside of the lagoon, especially targeting the vast coral finger flats that span the width of the atoll. The weather did prove to be a nuisance early on in the week making the fishing slightly trickier than expected so a huge tip of the hat goes out to all of the guests for remaining positive and in good spirits despite the tougher conditions.

Alphonse Island is probably the world’s premier destination for consistently targeting Milkfish on fly. The sight of a group of daisy-chaining milkfish will even have the most experienced anglers weak at the knees. With a slight reduction in wind speed and calming seas, the guide team had a brief window of opportunity to target these extremely powerful yet finicky fish.
 
This week saw a full seven skiffs out in St Francois lagoon. With favorable weather conditions throughout the majority of the week and big spring tides, the stage was set for long walks around the surf zone targeting a plethora of species on both tidal phases. Aside from the incredible fishing, the scenery and wild beauty of the surf is like no other and can often distract from the fishing itself.

No words can describe the sense of anticipation on board the mother ship as she enters St Francois atoll, allowing all on board to get a first glimpse of the vast expanse of turquoise blue water that make up St Francois. After the sensational permit fishing last week the entire team were really excited to see what would be on offer this week.
 
A calm breeze kept things cool throughout the week. Slower tides can often mean warm water; however, because of the way the atoll fills up on a pushing tide the warm water generally gets pushed into the lagoon or outside the atoll leaving the flats covered in water that is cool and gin clear. It is this water that guides look for, “the Spot” can be a relative term, but if you can find good, clean, cold water you find the fish.

The first week on the Midfjardara produced 160 salmon for the 6 rods.    Majority of the fish is ranging from 10 -  16 pounds with a few cracking fish around 20 - 22 pounds.  

Water has been lowish and is still dropping when this is written but there is some rain in the forecast for the next week or so.  

Fish seem to be stackin gup in the lower waterfalls on the west in the dropping water.   It´s been extremely warm and dry for the last few days so actually the numbers could be so much better if we just would have had good conditions.  

Everyone is catching fish and everybody are leaving with a smile on their faces.   We really hope this good fishing will continue for the rest of the season.

The final week of the 2015/16 season has arrived. First of all from the whole Alphonse fishing co. team we would like to extend our utmost appreciation and thanks to all our guests that have visited the island over the course of the last few months. Without you guys it would not have been possible to do what we do out here. This season has continuously thrown up surprises and great stories. This week proved to be no different. With a great group of guests and a pumped up team of guides, the roles were set and rods were rigged. There was fishing to be done.

After last week’s tropical cyclone the team was concerned with what effect it would have on the fishery. As it turned out, to everyone’s relief, the impacts were very positive. The strong winds of the previous week had caused a mixing of surface water layers and thus a reduction in water temperature, which the fish were very happy about. This led to some really great fish being caught and there were many stories of the ones that got away as well as the ones that didn’t. The GT’s made themselves known and the triggers were ever happy, two guests found gold and some incredible bonefish fishing was had by all.

Astove is a wondrous place and the majority of anglers returning from the island this season have remarked not just on the great fly fishing but also on the incredible rugged and wild landscape complete with it’s amazing variety of marine life. The sheer, drop off ‘wall’ that brings pelagic fish very close to the reef and the magnificent lagoon with its rich mangrove habitats and single channel entrance that produces an unusual tidal cycle are just a few features that make Astove a truly special destination. The range of pristine habitats that offer up a great diversity of fish species as well as the chance to catch really big Giant Trevally make Astove a dream for any saltwater fly fisherman.