On This Water

Doctrine · not a honey-hole list

Seasonal fundamentals

When a coast, a type of water, and a fish actually line up. If you elected Texas on the list, this page opens on Texas — Seychelles stays off the board until you ask for it. Filter by region, method or habitat, and species. The year bar is peak versus present. Limits cite TPWD and FWC — verify before you keep one.

Seychelles

Seychelles — GT country

Indian Ocean atolls. Modeled tide. Lodge water on the outer rims.

Alphonse and St François are the photograph — giant trevally on the edge, bones and Indo-Pacific permit on the sand. Farquhar is the southern atoll, same fish, farther. Mahé is the public door: reef, park water, blue water, not the St François flat. There is no NOAA gauge. Tide is a labeled model. SFA license. Roosterfish does not live here. Atlantic jack crevalle does not either. You came for a GT.

January. NW monsoon. Atolls fish. GT on the rim, bones inside. This is why the week was booked in June.

January · peak

What is actually on

    Bonefish
Peak Present Off

Closures

No coast-wide harvest closure on the board. Still verify before you keep a fish.

Bonefish

Albula vulpes

Peak JanuarySeychelles

J

F

M

A

M

J

J

A

S

O

N

D

Thermal window

64°92°

68–88°F · best 72–84°F

Absent in Texas. Keys: big, few, educated. Bahamas: the capital — winter singles, summer schools of 3–5 lb fish. Puerto Rico: east islands more than San Juan. Seychelles: Alphonse and Farquhar sand, not Mahé town water.

Fly. 8 wt. Gotcha, Crazy Charlie, shrimp. Long fluoro, soft landing. Bahamas will forgive more than Biscayne.

Spin. Possible with a tiny jig. The honest tool here is the fly.

Leads the brief on Alphonse, Farquhar.

Seychelles. Seychelles: treat as C&R. Lodge and SFA rules on the outer atolls.

Official source

Great barracuda

Sphyraena barracuda

Present JanuarySeychelles

J

F

M

A

M

J

J

A

S

O

N

D

Thermal window

66°92°

70–88°F · best 74–84°F

Flats and wrecks will find you. Keys, Bahamas, Yucatan, Puerto Rico. Noise. They do not own the headline.

Fly. 9 wt. A big needle. Fun. Not why you booked the week.

Spin. A tube lure if you came for him. Wire. Ciguatera is a real reason not to keep a big one.

Seychelles. Incidental on the reef. Not a GT.

Official source

Giant trevally

Caranx ignobilis

Present JanuarySeychelles

J

F

M

A

M

J

J

A

S

O

N

D

Thermal window

68°94°

72–90°F · best 76–86°F

Indo-Pacific. Alphonse, St François, Farquhar — the reason the atoll week exists. Absent from the Atlantic and the Gulf. Do not print a GT on Galveston or Condado.

Fly. 12 wt. A big baitfish on the atoll edge. He will eat a popper. This is not a Texas jack.

Spin. Stickbait or a live bait on the pass. The eat is violent. Do not bring an 8-weight to a GT.

Leads the brief on Alphonse, Farquhar, Mahé.

Seychelles. Seychelles: verify SFA. Lodge programs are typically catch-and-release. Not an Atlantic jack.

Official source

Want this week’s weather on top of the doctrine? Read the Saturday Letter.