South African guide Dean Scott piloted the 18-foot skiff to a flat on the near side of Saint Francois, the primary fishing atoll in the Seychelles and a 25-minute ride from Alphonse Island. It had taken four flights, two and a half days of travel, and eight months of suspense to finally set foot in this pristine spot in the Somali Sea, and I was about to make my first cast.
I waded through knee-deep, turquoise water shimmering over white sand. Gray shadows zipped under the rippled surface in all directions. I made a cast into the shadows with my 8-weight and stuck a 2-pound bonefish on my second strip, the first fish of a productive morning. I fished one school until Scott chuckled and instructed, “Turn around,” only to find another school three times larger. In 90 minutes, I caught 20-plus bonefish to 6 or 7 pounds, which would have been unimaginable on my trips to the Florida Keys and the Bahamas.
Midway through the morning, Scott spotted a pair of giant trevally making a ruckus a few hundred yards away. He handed me my 12-weight, and we took off on foot through the sand and clear waters. Despite working with my
