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.

Type

Fly

Fly when the day allows it. That is the whole doctrine. Eight-weight for tails and bones, nine for permit, ten-plus when a tarpon is the job. Wind is the tax — above about 16 mph the presentation gets ugly and the honest move is the spinning rod. Lead the fish, put the fly where he is going, and do not trout-set a trout. Keys fish have seen every Gotcha in the catalog. Bahamas will forgive a sloppy landing Texas and Biscayne will not.

Alphonse Farquhar Mahé

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

Thermal window

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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

Giant trevally

Caranx ignobilis

Present JanuarySeychelles

Thermal window

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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

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