If you are an absolute bonefish or permit junkie, St Brandon’s may be your Nirvana. The bones consistently get double digits and there is no place in the Indian Ocean that you will get as many shots at perms as you will at this remote destination. This is the place for guys that want to see the graduate program version of the Caribbean…with a few more tricks up its sleeve.
St. Brandon’s is a group of over 50 small islands in the Mauritius, made up of coral ridges and vast sand flats which is cut by three major passes and extends 50 km from north to south. Situated 268 nautical miles north-east of Mauritius’s main island, this area is rich in fish stocks, flora and fauna. The magnificent condition of the coral and the lobster-infested outer reefs are proof that other than a small population of Creole natives who live on Raphael Island in the north, this area has had very little human interference in its entire history. This magical atoll has quickly risen to iconic status in the world of saltwater fly fishing…and for good reason. The flats fishing for Bonefish, Indo Pacific Permit and a host of Trevally species is simply world class!
Previous seasons on St Brandon’s have been run using the live-aboard mothership, as foreigners were not permitted by the Mauritian authorities to stay on land. Years of hard work finally paid off and anglers are now housed in land-based accommodations! Guests are accommodated in a low key but charming guesthouse on Raphael Island in the north of the atoll. The guesthouse takes a maximum of eight guests in four twin, air-conditioned rooms. Each room has two large single beds, is tastefully decorated and is serviced daily. Laundry is done twice during a standard seven fishing day tour. The guesthouse currently has two fully renovated bathrooms. A covered outdoor dining and lounge area provides an idyllic setting for enjoying a cold Phoenix (local beer) at the end of a great day of fishing. A separate mudroom/tackle room ensures all your gear has been cleaned and is neatly stored away and ready for another great day of wading.
On arriving at St Brandon’s no time is wasted as the guides put their vast Indian Ocean experience and planning into practice as you venture out to spend your days exploring the multitude of pure white sand flats and broken coral islands, all of which are infested with naive bonefish. This is most certainly the most spectacular bonefishing you will ever encounter as on most tides anglers can expect to see shoals of these shallow water speedsters as well as enormous singles and doubles up to an astonishing 15 pounds! St Brandon’s is also perhaps the most productive Indo Pacific Permit fishery in the world. When specifically targeting these gloriously finicky fish, guests are afforded multiple shots per day.
The GT fishing can be quite varied. Some days you can see a few proper fish and at other times none at all. St. Brandon’s isn’t a place where you are going to get shots at GT’s everyday but it is certainly the place to break the 1 meter mark. The fish are all large and you catch more over a meter than under. We have in fact landed fish to 130cm and casted at fish well over that. Large Bluefin Trevally are also around and we have caught some truly world class specimens. Other notable fish species one can encounter on the flats include Golden, Yellow Dot and Green Spot Trevally.
All our trips to St. Brandon’s are led by a team of world class professional fly fishing guides. There will be four guides including one head guide onboard. Each guide is a qualified skipper with first aid training and is extremely experienced with all facets of saltwater fly fishing. Their passion and dedication is infectious and rest assured they will definitely go the extra mile in search of your fish of a lifetime. All FlyCastaway guides are fluent in English.
Reservations & Rates
$10,100 per person sharing for a 10-night/7 day fishing expedition ($10,000 fishing package + $100 Global Rescue evacuation insurance)
• Single angler option is $2,000 pp per trip
• Single room option $2,000 per trip
• Back to back trip (17 nights/14 fishing days) @ $17,200 pp ($17,000 + $200 Global Rescue)
• Group Size: 6 guests and 4 guides on location
• Accommodation: Four bedroom/two bathroom air-conditioned guesthouse on Raphael Island
• Transport to and from the atoll: Currently there are no aerial options into the atoll so we transport guests from Mauritius to the atoll on two 64 ft supply vessels, the crossing taking 24-28 hours each way
Inclusions
Your angling package at St. Brandon's includes round-trip transport to St Brandon's from Mauritius; 8 nights full board and accommodation at Raphael Island guesthouse based on 2 people sharing a bedroom; seven days fully guided fishing (2 anglers to a boat and guide); fishing licenses; tender boats & fuel; all meals; soft drinks and mineral water, local beers. Also included is a $100 Global Rescue Membership (if you already have an annual Global Rescue Membership, we can reduce the trip cost by $100 once you send in your GR policy #)
Non-Inclusions
Not included in your St. Brandon's package are International flights from your home to Port Louis, Mauritius; overnight accommodation in Mauritius; ground transfers on Mauritius; wine, spirits, & items of a personal nature; tackle and flies; gratuities (although gratuities are purely discretionary, based on international standards guests can expect to pay USD$500 each for guides and USD$150 for boat and guesthouse staff); mandatory emergency medical evacuation policy (we recommend Global Rescue); travel insurance; personal expenses.
Travel Insurance
The Fly Shop® is not in the insurance business, but we recommend Travel Guard coverage as a service with a desire to see your best interests protected. It is impossible to know when an unfortunate situation (loss of luggage, fly rods, illness in the family, or an accident) may occur. However, such things can and do happen, and this insurance can provide a means of recourse against non-refundable financial losses.
• Travel Insurance Information
Seasons at St. Brandon's
St. Brandon's (also known as Cargados Carajos), is a remote collection of islands located 268 nautical miles north-east of Mauritius' main island, and south. Temperatures range between 25-30 degrees Celsius with high humidity; winds average 15 knots.
The fishing season in St. Brandon's runs from October to December, and again from April to June. These are the peak periods for fishing, as
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January is one of the rainiest months in this part of the Indian Ocean and from June to early October the strong south-eastern monsoon winds blow incessantly.
Getting to St. Brandon's
Guests are requested to fly into Port Louis, Mauritius the day before the boats are scheduled to depart. Plan on arriving in Mauritius the day before you are scheduled for the open water crossing, to ensure that if there is a delay in international flights you can still make the trip. If you are traveling from the US it gives you additional time to recoup from the long travel getting to Mauritius.
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There are 12 daily international flights into Mauritius and the airport is 45 minutes away from Port Louis, which is the capital. We recommend staying at either Hotel Le Suffren or Le Labourdonnais (more information below on lodging) in Port Louis, as both of these hotels are about 200 yards from where the boats are moored. We will supply all guests with a detailed itinerary closer to the trip which will instruct them to be onboard the transfer boat by a certain time. You will also be able to see the marina from the hotel. In most instances, the guides will be back from the previous trip and the day before they depart they will go around to the hotels to meet up with the guests, introduce themselves, and run through the procedure for the following day.
Everyone traveling to Mauritius must have a passport valid for at least six months beyond the end of travel. United Kingdom, United States, European Union, Russia, and Republic of South Africa passport holders do not require a Visa for entering into the Mauritius for vacation purposes.
Date of Departure from Mauritius:
All guests are requested to arrive at the Marina du Caudan Waterfront, Port Louis, at 9:00 am, where the boats are moored. Please ensure you have your passport handy when arriving onboard as this needs to be handed over to the head guide so he can pass them onto the captain who needs to clear the departure with the port authorities.
Each week a supply and transport boat will depart Port Louis for St Brandon’s, transporting groups of only 6 anglers at a time to this super-remote fishery. The crossing typically takes +/-24-48 hours, and the vessels have a special hull design that reduces the rolling motion (thereby limiting seasickness issues), features 2 air-conditioned cabins with 4 bunks each, and includes a large partially covered back deck area which provides plenty of fresh air during the day. The boat will depart Port Louis at approximately 10:00 am on the start day of the trip and will arrive at Ilse De Sud (South Island) at +/-10:00 am the following morning. A further two hours flat water cruising in the lee of atoll will see the boats arrive at Raphael Island. Guests and their luggage will then be transported by tender boat onto the island, following which they will have lunch, settle into their rooms, receive a briefing from the head guide and set up tackle. Should there be enough light left guests are welcome to fish unguided on foot around Raphael Island. Guests will then spend the following 7 full days out on the flats fully guided.
Seven Fishing Days:
After dinner each evening, the guides have an informal discussion about the past day's fishing, following which they form a basic plan for the following day's fishing depending on tides, times of the tides, wind direction, etc. Guides are then assigned to anglers by the head guide. This is done on a rotational basis and works best if angler teams remain as they are throughout the week; that said, everything is flexible and they will do their best to make sure it works for everyone. Each guide will discuss his plan for the following day with his assigned anglers and try to accommodate them as far as possible with regards to what they would like to do and how the tides will influence their day and/or create opportunities.
Breakfast is served from 7:00 am, following which the anglers and their guide head out to start the day's fishing, usually by 8:00 am. St. Brandon's is located at a southern latitude within the Indian Ocean, so the sun never gets particularly high and by early afternoon there can be quite a bit of glare on the water and unless fish are tailing it can become very difficult to spot fish. Frequently by 5:00 the fishing day is over and the guides will head back to the lodge to clean up and enjoy cocktails before dinner. The guides are flexible, however, and certainly not clock-watchers, and if they're in shoals of tailing bonefish they will happily continue fishing later.
Return to Mauritius:
The transfer boat will depart Raphael Island mid-morning after guests have had breakfast, packed up and settled any bills etc. The boat should arrive back in Port Louis around midday on the final day of the trip. Although every effort is made to stick to this schedule, weather and other factors associated with remote locations of this nature can affect timing. We ask all guests to go into this trip with an open mind towards the logistics, appreciating how remote a venue St Brandon's really is and what a privilege it is we are allowed to fish it! Based on this schedule guests are asked to fly into Mauritius the day before the start date of the trip (to ensure there is a time buffer built in for missed flight connections, flight delays/lost luggage etc). Return international flights can be booked which depart after 20:00 pm on the end date of the trip.
Lodging at St. Brandon's
St Brandon's guests will be accommodated in a simple but comfortable guesthouse on Raphael Island situated in the fish rich northern part of the atoll. Although the guesthouse is by no means luxurious, it is clean, comfortable and considering it's remote location, is all a traveling angler needs to enjoy the finest trophy Bonefish, Indo–Pacific Permit and trophy GT fishing available in the Seychelles. To top it off, there is a highly productive and easy wading flat just meters away from the front porch
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of the guesthouse. Currently there are 4 bedrooms in the house, each containing two comfortable single beds and some basic amenities. The guesthouse currently has two fully renovated bathrooms for the guests, each containing a shower, basin and toilet.
All meals are served in the dining room with the chef preparing a mix of Creole and international food. Although the lodge does have a selection of wine and spirits for sale, we do however recommend all clients bring their own bottle of preferred spirits as we cannot guarantee availability at the time of your trip. All mineral water and soft drinks are included. If you have any allergies or special dietary needs, please notify us well in advance of the trip so that we can best accommodate you.
Fishing at St. Brandon's
St. Brandon's flats are primarily made up of white compacted sand that makes for easy wading.
On arriving at St Brandon's no time is wasted as the guides put their vast Indian Ocean experience into practice as you spend your days exploring the pure white sand flats and broken coral islands, all infested with naive bonefish.
Read More
After dinner each evening, the guides have an informal discussion about the past day's fishing, following which they form a basic plan for the following day's fishing depending on tides, times of the tides, wind direction, etc. Guides are then assigned to anglers by the head guide. This is done on a rotational basis and works best if angler teams remain as they are throughout the week; that said, everything is flexible and they will do their best to make sure it works for everyone. Each guide will discuss his plan for the following day with his assigned anglers and try to accommodate them as far as possible with regards to what they would like to do and how the tides will influence their day and/or create opportunities.
Breakfast is served from 7:00 am, following which the anglers and their guide head out to start the day's fishing, usually by 8:00 am. St. Brandon's is located at a southern latitude within the Indian Ocean, so the sun never gets particularly high and by early afternoon there can be quite a bit of glare on the water and unless fish are tailing it can become very difficult to spot fish. Frequently by 5:00 the fishing day is over and the guides will head back to the lodge to clean up and enjoy cocktails before dinner. The guides are flexible, however, and certainly not clock-watchers, and if they're in shoals of tailing bonefish they will happily continue fishing later.
What Makes This Destination Special and Unique?
• St Brandon’s is recognized as the best bonefishing destination on the planet. On most tides anglers can expect to see a seemingly endless parade of bonefish, both as schools of 4-6 pound fish and enormous singles and doubles that can easily push into double digit weights. You will catch more, and bigger bonefish here than anywhere else on Earth.
• St Brandon’s is also the most productive Indo-Pacific Permit fishery we’ve ever found. The flats here are ideal habitat for permit, and with no impacts from commercial fishing the populations are as high as you will find anywhere. When specifically targeting these gloriously finicky fish, guests are often afforded multiple shots per day.
• In addition to bonefish and permit, St Brandon’s is home to Giant Trevally that can reach monstrous proportions. While other Indian Ocean destinations are known for numbers of GT's, St. Brandon’s has smaller populations of these notorious “Gangsters of the Flats,” but a much larger average size than found elsewhere. When we encounter GT's here, they are frequently trophies, and will put your most hard-core tackle to the test.
• St Brandon’s is one of the most remote flats fishing destinations in the world, a true saltwater wilderness. St Brandon’s is a group of over 50 small islands, coral ridges and vast sand flats which is cut by three major passes and extends 50 km from north to south. Situated 268 nautical miles north-east of Mauritius’s main island this area is rich in fish stocks, flora and fauna. The island group is only accessible by a 24+ hour open water crossing, leaving access available only to the most adventurous, committed travelers. With no impacts from the outside world, this vast area of flats are pristine and untouched, allowing opportunities for anglers to cast to double digit bonefish, rare Indo-Pacific Permit, and gargantuan Giant Trevally that have never before seen a fly.
• The flats of St Brandon’s are perfect for wading. These flats are primarily made up of white compacted sand, ideal for easy wading, all day long. This allows you to get closer to the fish, and stalk bonefish in singles and pairs.