Fishing the Seychelles

From what I’ve seen in my travels fishing around the world over the last 25 years, there is no other destination that has such a large range of the most popular sportfish and gamefish species.

The variety of species

I have been there only twice, and below are the species of fish I’ve encountered (it’s certainly not an exhaustive list, as it’s a reflection of the main species we targeted): 

•    Giant trevally

•    Golden trevally

•    Bluefin trevally

•    Dogtooth tuna

•    Yellowfin tuna

•    Jobfish

•    Amberjack

•    Barracuda

•    Permit

•    Bonefish

•    Red emperor

•    Sailfish

•    Blue marlin

•    Black marlin

•    Wahoo

•    Mahimahi

They also get some striped marlin, and the swordfish fishery looks to be very good, too, with some boats catching multiple fish in a day. However, when I was in the Seychelles, we didn’t fish for striped marlin or swordfish, as these are staples back home in New Zealand.

When your aching arms have had enough of pulling in GTs and dogtooth, there are some great bottom fish, and none better than these red emperor, known as bourzwa in the Seychelles. 

The variety of sportfish I’ve listed is not unique; there are plenty of places that have all these species, but it’s the number, size and consistency of these species that puts the Seychelles above all others. 

I’ll present my case for the claim that the Seychelles has the best saltwater fishing on earth by covering the main species found there and giving them a subjective ranking from 1 to 10 – a rank of 1 means they are present but chances of catching one is slim, while a 10 means I think it’s the best place in the world to get one.

Giant trevally – 10/10

On my first trip we went to an offshore atoll and the guide told me I’d get sick of catching giant trevally. I laughed back at him and scoffed, “Not me, mate, I love catching GTs.” Sure enough, after a couple of days, I was casting a hookless stickbait so I could watch the bite but avoid another punishing fight. The GTs here are insane; my best for the trip measured out to 138cm and was estimated to weigh 54kg.  

Dogtooth tuna – 9/10

We caught dogtooth jigging the edges of the dropoffs, along with several amberjack up to 20kg as bycatch. The best we managed on jig was around 30kg, but jigs have accounted for fish over 80kg on the same boat. We caught some nice dogtooth as bycatch while trolling, and on top water with the most incredible surface bites you’ll ever see.

I used whole dead bonito with my ‘dead-bait-jigging’ technique to land fish up to 50kg, and I livebaited with small yellowfin and mack tuna to catch dogtooth around 60kg on my Seychelles trips, but it’s the ones that I didn’t catch that were the most impressive – truly some unstoppable beasts!

Blue marlin – 7/10

Like anywhere, billfishing can fluctuate throughout the season, but the Seychelles is constantly good. It would be the third-best blue marlin fishery I’ve experienced – I’ve seen much better numbers in Costa Rica, and more bites from big fish in Cape Verde. In the Seychelles, you can expect to raise three or four marlin in a day, with enough 200-300kg fish in the mix to keep things interesting. And what the Seychelles has over the other places is the variety, as we caught blue marlin in the same spot we were jigging for dogtooth and topwater fishing for yellowfin. The Seychelles crew has even caught blue marlin on the jigs while jigging for dogtooth.

Sailfish – 7/10

Let me put it like this – I was out in a small panga with aching arms from catching GTs on topwater, and the guide says, “If you want to take a break from this, we can catch some sailfish on fly.”

Solid sailfish in the shallows make for spectacular fights when caught on fly. 

I noticed he had a 12-weight fly rod used for catching GTs, but as I scanned the rest of the open panga, I saw no teasers or anything else I thought would help us raise a billfish. From his bag, the guide pulled out a small, skirted lure around six inches long, with only about 30% of the skirt remaining. This single lure was set out on my jig rod with no hook, and within minutes there were multiple sailfish fighting over it. I’m average at best with a fly rod, but I had no trouble catching these sailfish on fly, and some good ones up to 50kg. I had some great experiences diving into the water with a GoPro when packs of sails were fighting over the busted-up little pink lure. I even managed to touch a free-swimming sailfish as I shot some crazy footage of the sails darting all around me. 

Yellowfin tuna – 6/10

We caught plenty of small to medium-sized yellowfin tuna as bycatch while trolling, and some as bycatch while jigging. We targeted yellowfin on topwater from a gamefishing boat, and also from the pangas when we saw them blowing up on the surface. The size of the yellowfin we caught on topwater wasn’t particularly impressive – up to 20kg – but some were in just four metres of water! 

On a few occasions, while we were casting poppers for GTs in 20 metres of water, yellowfin shoals would start crashing into needlefish up on the flats. It was quite unreal to be blasting into the shallow flats and ripping casts into feeding yellowfin with the sandy bottom in plain sight. We had to be quick, though, as the bust-ups would only last for a minute or less. Whenever the three of us cast from the panga into the frenzy, we would all hook up, but not once did we catch more than one yellowfin from our multiple hookups. One triple hookup was a 15kg jobfish, a 20kg GT, and a 15kg yellowfin. Another triple hookup was a GT, yellowfin, and wahoo combo – all in less than 15 metres of water. It’s incredible to have all these species feeding together, and it underscores the reason the Seychelles islands are so good: the incredible variety of quality fish.       

The climate

From November to March, the northwest monsoon brings light winds and virtually zero swell, although occasional tropical showers and storms may occur. From May to September, the southeast trade winds bring stronger winds and rougher seas, particularly on the southeastern coasts, making some areas less ideal for small boats.

The scenery is beautiful.

April and October are transitional periods marked by minimal wind. One of my trips was in late March and the other in October, and the windiest day I experienced over 20 days was around 20 knots. There were a few glass-off days, but most were a comfortable 10-15 knots with no swell. On my last trip, we anchored for the night on a bank around 60 nautical miles from land, and it was like anchoring in a harbour. It does get hot, though, with the temperatures around 30°C feeling much hotter due to the humidity, so a breeze is welcome, particularly when jigging or casting topwater lures. 

The boats

The boats in the Seychelles are epic. Billions of dollars’ worth of boats can be anchored in the harbour at the marina in Mahe at any given time. Most of those billions are made up of huge super yachts, whose owners enjoy not only the great weather and beaches, but also the tax haven that the Seychelles offers. However, with this sort of crazy wealth also comes incredible sportfishing boats – fully equipped 70’-plus boats line the marina, all kept immaculate by their respective professional crews. There is also a mix of flyfishing skiffs, offshore centre consoles, outboard-powered catamarans, and run-of-the-mill sportfishing charter boats. I was lucky to experience fishing from all these vessel types and all the various forms of fishing each boat is most adept at.  

Josh Worthington

In one of our recent ITM Fishing episodes on Ultimate Fishing, I casually mentioned that the guy I was fishing with in the Seychelles, Josh Worthington, is the best all-round fisherman I’ve ever met, and I stand by that. 

Josh grew up in the Bay of Islands, which offers a variety of fishing opportunities, from john dory off the wharf to black marlin around inshore bait shoals.

Josh Worthington is equally adept on the flats with a fly rod as he is on the helm of an elite gamefishing boat. A GT of this size on the fly is an incredible feat.

The variety of inshore and offshore fishing available in the Bay of Islands has made it a breeding ground for many of New Zealand’s best professional fishers. 

Most professional anglers have sampled a variety of fishing but generally end up with a specialist set of skills, be it gamefishing, inshore fishing, or saltwater flyfishing. Josh is very good at all forms of fishing because he’s not precious about what kind of fishing he does; he likes it all, and he’s good at it all. 

Josh is a fishing fanatic, and his ability has developed through a passion for fishing, rather than being driven by a career or an ego. When you are as dedicated to fishing as Josh is, your career will inevitably flourish, and opportunities will come. And that is the simplest way to describe how a ‘wharf rat’ from Russell is running a fleet of gamefishing and sportfishing boats in the world’s best saltwater fishery, and there is no reason why any young fishing enthusiast in New Zealand couldn’t do the same.  

See for yourself

If the images and article have piqued your interest in the Seychelles, or you just want to watch some of the insanely good fishing I’ve described, it’s all available to watch free right now on our Ultimate Fishing YouTube channel and Ultimate Fishing app, as part of Season 21 of ITM Fishing. So, for all the people that come to me saying, “I wish you were still making ITM Fishing,” well, we are, and you can be one of the millions that watch every month across Ultimate Fishing and our social media pages.  

- By Matt Watson