Grand Teton Fly Fishing hits St. Brandon’s Atoll!

When great fly fishing opportunities present themselves if at all possible you have to jump on it! This is exactly what happen to me a few months ago when all I was thinking about was skiing more of the insane powder snow that kept coming this past winter. Grand Teton Fly Fishing's long time friend and International fly fishing guru, Jeff Currier emails me on a snowy night in February about a trip of a lifetime. The conditions were right and I had to jump on this amazing journey to fly fish the St. Brandon's Atoll in the Indian Ocean.

Fast forward to April 5 and with the addition of Ben Smith now on the crew we departed for Mauritius from SLC and 39 hours later the easy portion of the travel was done, what comes next is a 28 hour oceanic crossing to the atoll. Luckily, the seas were calm and the passage did not claim any victims to sea sickness, just anxious anglers ready to hit the flats of St. Brandon's!

Our host and the only way to get to the atoll is through FlyCastaway. This professional group of guides and adventures operate out of South Africa. They also run tours in the Seychelles, including Providence and Farquhar. St. Brandons is known for its outstanding bonefishing and even though we did not hit the best week I would consider it hands down the best I have ever experienced and it is likely the best on the planet. Daily we had shots of bonefish over 7lbs but when conditions are prime you can have multiple shots daily of fish over 10lbs! If you do not know bonefish, those are considered trophies... a fish over 5lbs is good anywhere in the world but not St. Brandon's! Also you can expect a few shots daily at the gem of the Indian Ocean, the Indo-Pacific Permit. Our week again was tougher due to warm water and a south wind but some nice permit were caught and lives were changed!

Enjoy the photos and read the full story on Jeff Currier's (long version, its worth it!) and Scott Smith's (shorter version) blogs here.