Fly Fishing Farquhar Atoll in the Seychelles

Originally written by Charlie Chambers, Gorge Fly Shop Contributor. Updated and formatted for the new Gorge Fly Shop website while preserving the original story, humor, and travel-fishing perspective.

Great hypothetical questions of all time: If you won the lottery, would you quit work? Would you travel to the ends of the earth to catch fish? Is it possible to eat too many tacos?

I have always thought there were no limits to where I would go to find aggressive, bad-attitude fish like giant trevally. Hell, if they were on the dark side of the moon, I would go there.

Recently, that hypothetical was tested by reality when I traveled to the Seychelles to chase a number of species, but specifically GTs — the psychopath of the jack family.

The Long Road to Farquhar

The Seychelles are a group of more than 100 islands in the Indian Ocean, far off the east coast of Africa. Only a few are inhabited. The largest island is Mahé, which serves as the main international arrival point for many traveling anglers.

A few of our group made a detour through London, which seemed reasonable at the time. Reasonable, of course, is a flexible word when you are flying halfway around the world to get yelled at by a guide while casting a 12 weight at fish that may or may not want to destroy you.

From Mahé, we took a small plane to Farquhar Atoll and landed on a small airstrip that felt appropriately remote. Farquhar forms a broad atoll system with a massive lagoon, endless flats, coral edges, channels, and enough water to make any fly angler feel both excited and underprepared.

And yes, you can travel a long way to find fish. Farquhar is about as far from a quick weekend getaway as it gets.

Simple, Clean, and Built Around Fishing

Lodging on Farquhar is clean, comfortable, and simple. This is not luxury resort fishing, and that is part of the appeal. You are not there for spa treatments, high-thread-count sheets, or a poolside drink with an umbrella in it. You are there to fish hard, eat well, sleep hard, and wake up ready to do it again.

A large porch faces the turquoise water of the atoll, and the dining area looks toward the flats, the evening light, and sunsets that make you forget how many time zones you crossed to get there.

Food was excellent and plentiful, especially considering everything has to be flown or shipped to the atoll. When you are that remote, a good meal at the end of a long day feels like a small miracle.

The Guides and the Routine

We were there for a week of fishing with a team of skilled guides from South Africa, France, and the Seychelles. Everyone spoke excellent English, knew the fishery, and was highly motivated to make the week a success.

Most days involved a mix of wading, skiff work, and moving with the tides. Be prepared for extensive walking over large flats with uneven terrain, coral, turtle grass, and all the other ankle-testing features that make proper flats boots mandatory.

Each evening, everyone gathered to discuss pairings, tides, target species, and strategies for the following day. This is one of the best parts of a destination trip like this. You are not just fishing. You are studying water, learning behavior, listening to guides, and trying to put a puzzle together with wind, light, tide, coral, and fish that do not care about your travel budget.

The Aquarium with Teeth

The ecosystem at Farquhar is truly amazing. Because of its remote setting and lack of heavy human impact, the flats feel alive in a way that is hard to explain until you are standing there.

Across the flats, we saw stingrays, manta rays, turtles, sharks, bird life, and more non-game marine life than I could keep track of. Just walking the flats and seeing that wildlife would have been worth the trip.

But since I had traveled to the dark side of the moon, I thought I might make a cast or two.

The Fish List

Game fish at Farquhar can include giant trevally, bonefish, triggerfish, Indo-Pacific permit, barracuda, snapper, grouper, milkfish, Napoleon wrasse, bluefin trevally, golden trevally, sailfish, and the fish that looks like it escaped from the movie Avatar: the bumphead parrotfish, also known as a bumpy.

Through the day, you might get shots at any number of species. That is part of the appeal. You can be walking a flat looking for bones, then suddenly a GT shows up and the guide’s voice changes. When that happens, everything becomes very serious very quickly.

Any number of these fish will test your gear to its limits. Just ask my reel, which decided to hiccup on a bumpy. Thank goodness for my guide, who was willing to wade out and help chase down my fish.

GTs Change the Mood

Fishing for GTs is primarily done with 12 weights, and for good reason. These fish are everything their reputation says they are. They attack flies with bad intentions, pull with unreal power, and immediately look for ways to separate you from your fly, your line, your confidence, and sometimes your dignity.

A 9 or 10 weight is usually carried for less fearsome species, though “less fearsome” is a relative term in the Seychelles. Plenty of fish that are not GTs can still make you look foolish.

The key is being ready. You may walk a flat for a long stretch without a shot, and then suddenly everything happens in five seconds. The cast has to go now. The strip-set has to be real. The line has to clear. Your knots, reel, rod, backing, and footwear all have to do their job.

A Trip Worth the Miles

All in all, this was a trip of a lifetime. I proved, at least to myself, that I am willing to travel just about any distance to chase fish.

Farquhar is not easy. It is remote, physically demanding, expensive, and full of fish that will expose every weak point in your casting, gear, and decision-making. It is also one of those places that sticks with you.

The flats, the wildlife, the water color, the guides, the food, the porch, the daily strategy sessions, and the sudden appearance of fish that make your heart rate jump all combine into something bigger than just a fishing trip.

Now if I can just win the lottery, I can finally test one of my other hypothetical scenarios.

Charlie Chambers
Gorge Fly Shop Contributor