I met Daniel a month before I left the Seychelles. I had been living on Praslin for a couple of years and had caught my fair share of fish. Daniel had just moved out and was there to fish. We chatted briefly, shared a few notes and then I was off. We never got to wet a line together.

Fast forward to 2016; almost four years after leaving I bump into Daniel. I was on a return trip and had been paddle boarding out beyond Anse Government. Daniel, who runs the Seychelles Fishing website, had just returned from a day’s fishing and I was too curious about what he had caught to not grab his gunwale and start a conversation. We quickly realised who the other was and the conversation was predictable.

Plans were made to fish. But what I enjoyed was how keen he was to learn about fly fishing in the brine. He had caught a few trout and such back home in his native Germany. Daniel spend two sessions with me on the flats at Grand Anse. He didn’t cast a line. Just walked and filmed. We also had fun day dredging for average sized Geets from his boat. He also got a stonker Golden Trevally on an ugly pink thing! That was almost two years ago…

Daniel and I kept in contact through the normal social media links. He continued to post photos of good fish on jigs and poppers – the usual fare. But I was stoked to hear that he’d bought himself a fly rod. There were a few a conversations about flies and tactics. Areas to focus on and such. But not too much. Then, recently, he posted a few photos that made me fist pump:

He’d got his first bonefish. And if you’ve caught a bonefish you’ll remember that first rush. The blistering run causing a rush of blood and heightened senses. The momentary kicking in of nerves in that moment pause when it starts its head shakes. The ecstasy of first sight of that silver. And the overwhelming and almost profound afterglow as you watch it swim off. Then there’s the comedown with moments of wistful thinking about the that fight that seemed to last ages. And all you want is to do it again.

Now you must understand that Praslin bones are no outer island quarry where they cruise the flats in numbers and are a favourite afterthought for a tired fisherman looking a last bend in the rod at the end of day. The Inner Island bones are wily bastards with an awareness bred through years of human harassment. If you can get a catch a bone on Mahe or Praslin; you’ll be able to catch them almost anywhere.

But the best thing for me was when, about week later, Daniel posted again. This time on my old favourite flat, and cradling another good sized bonefish!

Welcome to the club Daniel!!! Looking forward to hearing about the next one! We all know that you are now properly addicted!