More in the mainstream than jelly-munching bats, Matt Defilippi has also had some superb fishing recently with a permit fly based on a brittle star. After opening up the stomach of a permit that got munched by a lemon shark on St. Joseph atoll, Matt found it was full of brittle stars, which he describes as, “a skinny starfish with with five long thin legs and a small R1 coin like body”. The triggers seem to like it too.

What other fly developments have taken the Seychelles by storm?

“Permit have always been the species that has taken my interest since day one. So trying to figure them out as much as possible has always been the plan. I remember Kyle caught a permit from the beach on Alphonse once while swimming with his son, Max, in one arm and a SeyBrew in the other, using a red Bloodworm type fly he had made the day before. We were all convinced it was the fly for them along the beach after that but never really gave it the full test. I still believe it will 100% work if fished right and presented to a fish in an area that may be eating worms. But we threw it once or twice at fish feeding along the shore break with no more joy and then kind ofgave up on the idea. Permit sitting on stingrays could definitely be eating worms that the ray digs up along with other bits of permit food.

The Alphlexo is just such a good fly for permit that we get caught up fishing it, instead of trying something new, because we know it works so well and that you don’t get many permit shots to experiment new flies we’ve never used. We’ve recently figured out that a lot of permit feeding near the beach here are eating a white clam shell we call a tik tik. Just a matter of time until we make a realistic fly version of the shell for permit in and around the shore break along the beaches because they really love these little shells! It’s quite amusing throwing a shell in front of one on the beach and watching it swim up to it and sip it off the sand.

The brittle starfish (as mentioned in the last question)  is another fly that works for permit tailing on grass flats. It’s not a new fly apparently (although I thought it was at the time), some of the older guides have had a few guests bring a some starfish flies in the past probably for triggers or parrotfish but I haven’t heard of anyone catching a permit on one in the past. End of last season I managed to catch a permit on one and a few triggerfish so it clearly works. I will be fishing it a lot more this season.

You mentioned you have a new permit fly based on a brittle star?

“It’s definitely a step in the right direction for permit feeding on turtle grass flats. One day Kyle and myself were guiding good friend and permit fisherman Ilya Sherbovich, when we had a permit get eaten in half by a lemon shark on the flats of St Joseph atoll. Obviously we were upset but in another thought I was quite pleased that I could finally see what was inside this thing’s stomach and hopefully gain some clues as to what they were feeding on. If you’ve ever fished for permit on fly you’d know to take any help you can get to try outsmart these intelligent creatures. When I opened the stomach up I was fascinated to see that this fish was full of brittle stars. This is a starfish with five long thin legs and a small R1 coin like body and usually fits in the palm of your hand.

I thought that was pretty cool as that fish was feeding in the grass, tailing, swimming two meters and tailing again, consistently picking things up as he slowly swam along. Brittle stars live in the sand underneath turtle grass and only come out to feed during a spring low tide, when there are no predators on the flats. Permit have super insane senses that can pick up any movement in the sand and grass, so even the slightest hint of food in the ground means they’ll go down, suck it up and then throw out any sand through their gills and swallow the meal. Similar to our grunter we get back at home. A month or two later I was going to go and look for a permit on Alphonse one afternoon on an off day with good mate and guide, Brad, when I remembered my starfish discovery inside that permit a while back. I thought this would be a good time to test it.

I quickly tied my version of the brittle star and headed off for a walk on the grass. Brad spotted two permit and started casting at them, and six or seven casts later he had given up and said “Sheppy! They coming towards you, have a go.” A bit hesitant with the funny looking rain spider in my hand, I threw it out and made a cast. It landed perfectly, a foot in front of the lead fish. I let it sink and just left it on the bottom. My line just started going tight and I remember striking, thinking I had foul hooked the fish somehow. Still wondering if I had even hooked a permit, or if an emperor stole the fly, I started shouting to Brad saying “I’ve got him!“. Once the fish came closer and into view I could see the leader coming out its mouth and my heart started racing. All I could think was “It’s eaten the fly! It’s eaten the fly!”.

After landing the fish, we both saw that the fly was way down in the back of his mouth. Brad didn’t know I had thrown this weird fly and was in just as much shock and awe as I was. I told Kyle about it the next day and we both made about three brittle star flies each and went out and gave them another test. Kyle threw at two groups of permit and had one eat but unfortunately the hook didn’t set but we were still super stoked it got an eat and it worked! After that I’ve had a few triggerfish on the fly too which clearly shows that fish feeding on the grass do enjoy a starfish snack.

Did you hear about the Batman? The blue bottle fly that Matt uses to catch batfish? Read all about it in The Mission issue 54 below

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