A Mixed

The fishing at Remiere generally involves a lot of walking, and it is very tide-influenced. Short fishing days on the flats are likely to be the norm, especially on the kind of tides we fished on. Fortunately, those short days can be augmented with very good blue water fishing. We caught wahoo, bonito and yellowfin by teasing them to the back of the boat. Sadly, however, we did not manage a sailfish.

My one day on the reef at Remiere was sandwiched between two days on African Banks, a pseudo-atoll lying approx 20 kilometers (1.5 hours) north of Remiere Island. The island at African Banks is small but the fishing there was quite attractive. Four- to five-pound bonefish were evident in numbers and we caught 15 to 20 per day among four rods. I saw a couple of bones that might have gone eight pounds. We also saw bluefins and GTs but had no viable shots.

African Banks also has an adjacent reef and flats area, so there’s plenty here to explore. Cuts and channels dissect the flats and there’s good-looking GT habitat in both the surf line and the cuts. We positioned ourselves in a cut on a pushing tide and saw four GTs come onto the flats, then leave right away. We saw numerous milkfish but found no hotspot like the one at Alphonse Island that has been written about so much. I did catch a bonefish here, but we never saw numbers that would indicate a prolific fishery. We also caught several ancillary species on the flats, including yellow-lipped emperor, queenfish and bohar snapper.

We fished the Remiere area for only three days on only one tide cycle each day, in lousy conditions with a very mobile barometer. The guides and the boat crew worked hard to counter these conditions. I would be lying if I said the fishing I experienced put me in a position to properly evaluate this fishery for the future. The flats looked generally good and we wondered at times why we were not seeing and catching more fish.

In reality, the guides have had only tiny numbers of “guide days” here so far in which to learn a complex fishery. In my view,
they are going to need at least two full monthly moon phase/tide cycles with concentrated observation of fish populations and movements before any real conclusions can be made. To be fair, Untamed Angling agrees with that view, and they have an open mind about how the actual fishing program will develop.

In my opinion (which I expressed to Marcelo Perez, the Managing Director of Untamed Angling, who had come out with us), they are still a full season away from being able to offer viable trips to Remiere Island to full-paying clients. The location is fantastic, the lodge is nice, new and comfortable and the logistics are coming together. Ultimately, however, Remiere Island is still a work in progress. Much has yet to be learned and set up before it can be sold as a properly established fishery. I look forward to hearing how the rest of the season’s exploratory trips shape up.

On a personal note, I would like thank the owners of Desroches Island and all the staff of Untamed Angling for their good company and excellent hosting. I appreciated every bit of it. – Ronnie Butler.

(Postscript: Currently, the Desroches package is priced at $7,600 per angler for six days and seven nights. Tentative price for the Remiere package is $7,200 per angler. You can reach Untamed Angling through their website www.untamedangling.com.)