Curtis Fleming never considered himself a math whiz, but he knows that 19,000 miles, five connecting flights and one giant trevally equals a successful South African fly-fishing excursion; a true checkoff on the bucket list.

 

Host of Pursuit Channel’s “Fly Rod Chronicles,” Fleming, his daughter Autumn, FRC Producer Christian Kearns and Pro Staff Director Rick Heim just returned from six days of fly fishing on the remote, exotic Seychelles Islands.

 

“There’s only a few places in the word you can catch a GT,” Fleming said. “If you compared it to baseball, it’s like Yankee Stadium.”

 

It’s an FRC episode that has been in the works for a couple of years and one which did not disappoint.

 

The aggressive giant trevally feeds on birds including seagulls and moves through the water at excessive speed.

 

“They are fast. I missed my first one because I didn’t strip the line fast enough,” Fleming said. “It was crazy because the adrenaline goes through you, knowing you traveled that far and made all those months of preparation and studied the fish. It all comes together and it’s pretty emotional.”

 

In addition to the coveted GT, Fleming added some other first-time species to his list of lifetime catches. They included a brassy trevally, blue fin trevally, queen fish, yellow-lipped emperor, blue-spangled emperor and black bream. There were some whopper bone fish reeled in, too. In fact, among the 16 anglers on the guided trip, Autumn Fleming caught the biggest bone fish, one weighing in at about eight pounds. 

 

“Autumn is not just a pretty face. She holds three world records for a reason,” Curtis said. “She had dual purpose over there. This was her first filming/photography duty and she crushed that. Then when Rick would get tired, she would pick up the rod and take over.”

 

 

Autumn Fleming said the experience as a whole was undeniably the trip of a lifetime and that  entering the Seychelles was like stepping out of the plane and into tropical paradise. 

 

"It was not what I pictured South Africa to be like at all! From the clear water for miles to the beautiful mountainous beaches, I was in heaven," she said. "Once arriving on Alphonse Island, I was also unsure what to expect, but it was definitely not the five-star resort where we arrived."

 

Heim, who has fished across the globe, said he has for years read about fly-fishing in the remote Seychelles - located nearly 1,000 miles off the African coast. It is kind of the pinnacle of every fly fisherman's bucket list, he said. The experience did not disappoint. In fact, Heim said, it was epic. 

 

"The Seychelles are the only place where certain species of fish can be found and we caught most of them," he said. "One of the main draws is the giant trevally, which can get extremley large and are a hoot on fly rods. Although we didn't get any huge ones, Curtis and I got a couple in the 15-pound range, which put up quite a fight."

 

Along the Indian Ocean, The Seychelles boasts coral reefs, nature reserves and rare animal species, such as the giant Aldabra tortoise. It was all picture-perfect, Fleming said.

 

“It’s four degrees south of the equator. It would get down to 78 degrees at night, but never above 88,” he said. “And the water was true turquois blue.”

 

Although fishing was over a six-day period, Fleming and his travel crew were gone about twice that long.

 

“Counting layovers and everything, it took 50 hours to get there and come back,” Fleming said.

 

The flight over was by way of Pittsburgh, Chicago, Paris and the Seychelles Island of Maye, then a 1.5-hour puddle jumper to Alphonse Island, owned by a fishing company of the same name. They slept in a beach-side bungalow and traveled via bicycle around the island. The service, food and other amenities was top-notch, Fleming said. Wake-up call was 4:30 a.m. After breakfast, the fishermen traveled by skiff boat to a mother ship which delivered them to an ideal fishing spot.

 

“It gets daylight at 6 a.m. and dark at 6 p.m. Being on the equator like that, time never changes,” Fleming said. “We would pretty much from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day and when you made a cast, you better make it count.”

 

The FRC crew had a different fishing guide each day and interacting with them, breaking the language barrier and learning their stories made the excursion an even more-complete experience.

 

“We had a guide from South Africa, one from Dubois and another from Bangladesh,” Fleming said.

 

The latter guide had quite a success story.

 

“He came from nothing – making 13 cents per hour tying flies to building his way up to making his own rods and becoming an elite guide for Alphonse Fishing Company,” Fleming said.

 

Fleming never takes a fishing trip that he doesn’t think of his own story and the many Bridgeport supporters who have helped make fly fishing his lifeline and his show a worldwide success.

 

Fishing the Alphonse Island was one of his most physically demanding to date. The show will likely air in January of 2020.

 

What’s next?

 

“We will be filming a show on the New River Gorge and two in California. One of those trips is to finish the show in Paradise after we were chased away by the fires,” Fleming said. “We’re also taking two wounded warriors from Project Healing Waters to North Carolina to red fish and we’re going to Pennsylvania to chase the cicadas.”