I could recognize Keith Rose-Innes’ South African accent without seeing him. In the predawn, I disembarked off the Beachcraft 1900 after my halfway-around-the-world flight from Seattle. With the help of the runway lights, the only lights on Assumption, I finally made out his silhouette in the darkness. After a big hug, we grabbed our gear and hiked a half mile to the beach to the waiting inflatable to take us to the mother ship.
The mother ship, the Indian cean Explorer, a retrofitted 114-foot icebreaker from the 50s or thereabouts, was anchored a few hundred yards offshore. As we loaded our gear into the skiff we could make out the absolutely luminous white sand and gin clear water of Assumption Island. What a welcome with the beckoning lights of the Explorer shining across the small bay! As we boarded we caught sight of several giant trevallys (GTs), Caranx ignobilis, in the 25 to 35 lb range circling the boat. Spurred on by this and pent up anticipation, we unpacked our gear in record time and started casting. There was no time for jet lag recovery when there were fish. It didn’t matter what we were casting off the stern of the Explorer, they were so eager to climb on the fly that we could select the fish we wanted to hook.
Our group of anglers was comprised of three Americans, four South Africans, and four Belgians. As with any expedition where you throw a bunch of anglers together for the first time, it is your hope you have a congenial group. Of course, the presence of a copious amount of fish helps, but nonetheless this was a bunch of great guys passionate in their sport. Keith then informed all of us to get our gear ready so we could give Assumption a whack for a few hours to refresh our casting skills and fine tune our equipment before our ultimate destination of Cosmoledo.
This article and 12 others can be found in the 2009 issue of Hatches Click Here For More Info