“There are three things you can see from space: the Great Barrier Reef, the Great Wall of China, and a school of Bumphead parrotfish.” This is always my introductory line to, arguably, the most interesting fish found on the flats of Providence and Farquhar Atolls in the Seychelles. Giant green tails showing at what looks like a mile away, big fish moving slowly in big schools, it’s the recipe for a unique flats experience. They are really easy to see but a lot more difficult to catch. Bumphead parrotfish are space aliens that live underwater.
Tip 1. Stealth and Precision.
After spotting one on the flats, the sheer size will lead you to the proverbial GT mode. You lash out a cast with no thought to presentation and your position in relation to the fish. Bumpies, as we call them, are incredibly intuitive and have a complex social structure, which makes them keenly aware in shallow water. Oftentimes, they’ll pick you out from a distance and keep themselves out of casting range. After chasing them down and finally getting a shot, they explode in unison and spook off the flat. Slow yourself down. With these fish, one accurate cast is always better than 10.
Tip 2. Position, Position, Position.
Your positioning to the school of parrotfish is vital. The ideal scenario for fishing for Bumpies is when they are tailing and feeding directly towards you. This is the best chance of getting the fly to be the first thing they come across, as opposed to the leader or fly line coming in from the side. Once the fly is placed, stay still. They can hear boots shuffling on the bottom and will start to broadside you. If you don’t connect, wait until they have moved a good distance past you and reposition yourself.
Tip 3. This is an eat you’ve never had before.
We have had many “tribal councils” about what the Bumpies are feeding on and why they only come and tail on the flats of Providence and Farquhar Atolls. We, of course, have theories that have proven to be fruitful in getting them to eat a fly. A bumphead parrotfish is not, in a sense, a predator of the fly. They don’t smash it when they see the fly as Trevally would, nor do they move and tail trying to pin it to the bottom as a triggerfish or a bonefish would.
The fly must be in their lane and not moving at all. There is no way that you can move them to induce an eat. A yard might as well be a mile with these fish. It’s akin to the Permit as it needs the fly right in a zone where it can pick it up. The eat is very subtle for a fish of their size, there might be a slight bump or an unnatural tension on the line, but the best way I know when to set the hook is when there is any slight movement of the tip of the fly line.
The set is a small hard strip to try and get the hook to puncture and a lift of the rod (I know, this is a criminal offense in all flats fishing), but as opposed to lifting into a trout it’s a lift using the butt and first section of the rod to drive that hook home and if anything, slide the hook across the infamous beak and get purchase in an overhanging flap of skin on the side of the mouth.
Tip 4. Have Proper Tackle.
Leader: After years of fishing for these brutes, the guides of Flycastaway have formulated the strongest leader possible in fluorocarbon less than 30lbs. A combination of double to single furled butt section and a bimini’ed section of tippet to connect to the butt section, then to an Improved Homer Rhode to the fly, the pulling and holding power of this leader is immensely strong.
Rod: The paradox is seeing a fish so large you might think you need the big gun, 12 weight, but this is way too heavy for these spooky fish. The ideal rod is a 10-weight with a 10-weight fly line or a 9-weight with a 9-weight fly line. The rod’s subtelness presents the fly accurately and quietly to the fish.
Reel: Most reels these days have good enough drag systems to be able to handle these fish, but the reel should be loaded with at least 150 yards of 50lb braid backing. The Bumpies are often found tailing in areas of the flat where, off the edge, there are massive coral gardens. Bumphead parrotfish are dirty fighters, and when they get into these coral gardens, you need backing that can hold up against the coral.
Fly Selection: We almost exclusively use weighted crab patterns that will get down and almost plug on the bottom. Colour is mostly determined by the bottom substrate, darker tans for turtle grass, whites and mottled tans for sandy and broken coral substrate, and, weirdly enough, bright orange for most circumstances.
Tip 5. Win the Fight with Torque
You’re taking a 10-weight to a gunfight. These fish are big and incredibly powerful. If I had a word to describe their physicality in a fight, it would be torque. Parrotfish will blast off straight into the backing once hooked and continually take more line as they fight to get to deeper water. You’re going to see a lot of your backing. They will then hold broadside into a current, forcing you to have to horse the fish back in. They will test your tackle to the absolute extreme, and you have to use patience and intelligent rod angles to win the fight.
There is no easy way with bumphead parrotfish; the fight might take up to half an hour, so you have to stay focused and patient. Part of bumphead fishing is that you’re going to lose a lot of fish. We have worked on a rough ratio: for every four fish hooked, one will come to hand. There are exceptions. We had one client who hooked and lost 11 fish before landing his 12th on the last afternoon. They will test your resolve. Getting them to eat the fly and then getting them to the net is a completely unique experience and one that is never forgotten.
The Potential World Record
Angler Mark Weeks and I were fishing in an intricate lagoon system on Providence Atoll in the Seychelles when a school of Bumpies was spotted moving over an open sand section of the deeper lagoon. Mark was keenly alert and sent a cast barely longer than the leader, landing in front of the school. After letting the fly drop to the bottom, he kept tension as the school moved over the fly.
We thought we blew the shot when the school split. Then, with a slight tilt, one fish moved on the fly and almost instantly blasted off into the deep water with the school, Mark holding on tight as it went. Luckily enough, we were able to get onto the skiff and maneuver through a minefield of shallow coral, managing to keep the fish from getting underneath any. After 30 minutes of back and forth, I managed to peg the skiff onto an almost exposed turtle grass finger and jump into the water. I slid the net under the brute and almost forgot to catch my breath looking at the size of the fish.
Mark, an avid member of the IGFA, had his digital scale with him. For the first time, a bumphead parrotfish was weighed, we put it in the net, and it came to 102 pounds of green fury. It proved that we were underestimating the size of these fish by a long way. Mark submitted the record attempt, and we eagerly await the verdict. (Update: since the original article, Weeks’ fish has set the official IGFA record.)
Article from Brendan Becker, a Flycastaway Guide. The company is a group of specialist fly fishing guides in the Indian Ocean (Seychelles & St Brandon’s) and Africa. Check them out online at https://www.flycastaway.com/.
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