Hi Mat,
Many thanks for organising the Seychelles trip at short notice, I enjoyed Des Roches enormously, the lodge is very well run and the facilities excellent.
The fishing at St. Joseph atoll was good. Wonderful setting and very large bones. This mixed with some blue water fishing for sail and tuna makes for an excellent package.
All the very best for 2014,
Mike, UK
---------------
Mat
Hope the guided trip to New Zealand is/has gone well? Thank you again to you and the team for stepping in quickly and effectively to resolve the reservation issue at Desroches.
I thought you might appreciate some feedback on the resort and fishing.
Going in I knew we were compromising on the fishing in order to stay at a luxury resort. If I had looked at fishing alone, we would have stayed at Alphonse. However, with this caveat in mind, Jacqui and I would still rate the overall trip as 5 Star.
The resort was excellent. Its certainly worth upgrading to a Beach Retreat from a Suite. While the accommodation in the Suite was ‘ordinary’, the Beach Retreat compared very well with the best accommodation we have had in the tropics. I am often a bit sceptical about ‘all inclusive’ deals as, in my experience, the quality and generosity of the food and beverages often suffers. This was not the case at Desroches where the food was often very good and the offer of local beers, wines, spirits and soft drinks continuous!
As several reviewers have said, the most distinctive feature of Desroches is the quality and friendliness of the staff. Jacqui was, in particular, full of praise for the way Desroches maintain a careful balance of attentiveness and service without constantly being ‘in your face’.
I would rate the fishing as good rather than excellent. I only managed to fish Poivre for 3 days and the weather prevented me getting to St Joseph for the remaining two. After talking to the fishing manager, we agreed to try fly fishing for sailfish etc off a boat in the lee of the island, This was exciting but not the flats fishing I had hoped for.
I did rate the fishing team on Desroches very highly. My guide - pretty much for the whole 5 days - was Jerry. A local Seychellois who clearly knew the flats, the fishing and was a great companion. The boat Captain, Brandon, when we were after sailfish also clearly knew his job.
I didn’t get my permit - hooked one on the first day at Poivre and saw many more over the next two days but the large majority were cruising rather than heads down feeding. I was told that the first day was a neep tide so with the relatively small tidal movement the fish were more relaxed. As the spring tides came and the tidal range increased, the fish were less inclined to settle.
I have attached a few pictures - the best day was probably the second. I had three bonefish to six pounds, 3 yellow spot trevally (feeding on the flats, tail up - never seen that before) and two small GTs blind casting into the channel. The ‘trip fish’ however was probably a 4 foot barracuda caught blind casting waiting for the tide - on a barbless hook without wire!! The guides said it was the biggest barracuda that had been caught on a fly rod.
I did try for a sail fin with a fly rod in the lee of Desroches when the wind was bad. We raised 5-6 over the two trips and came very close to hooking one of them. I did hook several bonito and yellowfin on the fly and those the sharks didn’t take, we ate as sushi that evening!
Best
Peter, UK
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON FLY FISHING IN THE SEYCHELLES INCLUDING DESROCHES ISLAND, ALPHONSE ISLAND AND FARQUHAR ISLAND PLEASE CONTACT US +44 (0)1621743711 OR EMAIL: enquiries@flyodyssey.co.uk OR VISIT OUR WEBSITE: www.flyodyssey.co.uk
No comments:
Post a Comment