Without question, the Giant Trevally fishing found throughout the Cosmoledo Atoll is the best in the world. The sheer numbers of fish along with the spectacular size of these GT's, combines to offer anglers the finest possible fishing for these powerful game fish. The Giant Trevelly is part of the jack family and like all jacks, it puts up a tackle busting fight that is hard to believe. The largest GT landed on a fly rod by one of our clients during the past year was 93 pounds, so you can imagine what kind of epic battles are waiting when you decide to take on these huge fish.
We fish for GT's at Cosmoledo with two very different methods in two very unique environments. The first method is with a 10 weight rod in the traditional flats environment where cruising fish are cast to while wading or walking the edges of the numerous islands within the atoll. Anglers can also walk the edges of channels and reefs, sight casting to cruising fish. These shallow water GT's are in the 15-40 pound range with the occasional larger fish being caught. When fishing these areas, guests will occasionally catch the rare Blue Trevally. While not nearly as big as its close cousin, the "BT" is one of the most beautiful fish in the ocean and a rare treat for the angler lucky enough to catch one.
The second method we use for targeting GT's, particularly when searching for the big bruisers, is to fish for them in deeper water, from the zodiacs. In this situation, we use heavy conventional teaser rods to bring the fish to the surface. The guides will cast out large hook less floating plugs about 50 yards from the boat, while the angler, whose turn it is to cast, will stand at the front of the boat with fly in hand. A 12 weight rod is needed in this situation.
The wooden plugs are retrieved at a high rate of speed to get the GT's attention. Trevally will aggressively hit the plug as soon as they see it and will follow it right in to the boat as its being retrieved. The guide will pull the plug out of the water as it nears the boat (20-40 feet) and the angler has to time the cast so that the fly lands in the water at about the same time that the plug is pulled from in front of the fish. It sounds a lot more difficult than it is and most anglers will pick up the timing within a few casts, whether they've tried this kind of fly fishing before, or not. The teasing takes place at a certain water depth and we've got the technique pretty well dialed in. If you are in too shallow, the GT's won't show and if you're out too deep, it's the same story. We have fished the atoll for 4 years now and have put in a lot of time and energy to fish and learn this vast area, trying to figure out what works and what doesn't. Even the shape, size and colour of the plugs that we use, makes a significant difference in the size and numbers of GT's we raise and catch.
The areas that we've explored and consistently found large fish at, are numerous and the trevally range in size between 25 and 100 pounds. We've see larger GT's attacking the plugs but none of our guests has landed a fish over the century mark. Many have been hooked and lost however. Another element to the deeper water GT fishing is the diversity of species that will often rise to the teaser plugs. Huge grouper and red snappers are a common sight, as well as dog tooth and yellow fin tuna. We've even had a 60 foot Blue Whale and its calf surface not 15 feet from the Zodiac.
All of the action takes place on the surface and it's an incredibly visual angling experience. The charge of a 70 pound GT as it frantically chases the plug into the boat is a heart pounding thrill. There are still areas outside the atoll that we have not fished, but are eager to explore. It will take another couple of years to fully understand the workings of Cosmoledo and what species are located and where. We've really only scratched the surface of this extraordinary fishing paradise.
While the majority of our guests fly fish, we've had several groups over the years that chose to fish with spinning gear. Either method is fine and both are extremely productive at Cosmoledo. A complete list of gear for fly fishing or spin fishing will mailed out when a booking has been made.
