The Alphlexo is both an amalgamation – and a refinement – of aspects of various other patterns, like the Orvis crab which was tied in green and tan with a mesh body and rubber legs. The first person that I know of who put the chenille legs into the Flexo body was James Christmas in 2014, while guiding on Alphonse Island. Originally James tied it in tan to target triggerfish on the finger flats of Alphonse. Back then it was tied in a fashion that hardly replicates the current Alphlexo, with a bulky round Flexo carapace and thick chenille legs. At that stage no Flexo crabs were tied with the clear and white combination.
BY KEITH ROSE-INNES
The lightbulb moment occurred while prepping fly selections for a group going to Poivre Atoll in February 2015. Poivre is a destination that has more Indo-Pacific permit than any other destination in the Indian Ocean, so there was no better testing ground to “break the code” and increase our success rate with permit. I wasn’t joining the trip as new operational admin had me bound to my office, but what I could do however, was to make sure the team had the right flies. It was something I had been thinking about for months.
Based on how triggers reacted to the oversized tan Flexos James had tied, I was adamant that Indo-Pacific permit would react in a similar way to a smaller, clear and white Flexo. Who better to ask than James to tie me 24 of the Flexos with a clear body and white legs? The thinking behind this was two-fold because Indo-Pacific permit feed both on crustaceans like crabs and at that stage we though their diet could include brittle starfish. The fly boxes for that trip were packed with 20 of the Flexos, as I kept four back for myself as surety. Sadly the team had no luck with the Flexos, due to them not being confident in the fly and not fishing it enough.
I wasn’t ready to give up on it, so when the next season commenced I decided to try out the four I had held back for myself, retrieving the fly with a medium, steady strip. The reaction was instant and the first permit was landed on a Flexo on the 3rd of October 2015. To make sure it wasn’t a fluke the fly was presented to another permit on the 4th October 2015 and that fish was landed after just one cast. It was clear that we were on to something. Confidence in the fly I had dubbed ‘the Alflexo’ was at an all-time high and would continue to soar throughout the entire 7-month season ahead of us.
The name of the fly got a tweak when my friend and co-owner of Alphonse Fishing Co and Blue Safari Murray Collins corrected the spelling from Alflexo to Alphlexo (after Alphonse Island), which has stuck ever since. The fly itself has continued to evolve. The Alphonse Island guide team included talented fly tiers Alec Gerbec and Kyle Simpson who like James Christmas and me before them added their little bit of charm to a fly that continues to be refined even after eight years. Alec passed the patterns onto Umpqua in 2017 and it won them the best fly at IFTD/ICAST. We now tie it in various colours, sizes and weights designed to swim, sink and resemble crabs at the various destinations we fish and guide at. Today’s Alphlexo might only bear a material resemblance to the original Flexos, but one thing hasn’t changed. For permit, triggers, bones and other species, you never head out without some Alphlexos in your fly box.
Keith Rose-Innes
As a co-founder of both Alphonse Fishing Company and Blue Safari, for the past 28 years Keith has been at the forefront of promoting and establishing the remote atolls of Seychelles as the world’s best saltwater fly fishing destination. After 17 years of full time guiding in over 25 countries, today this passionate fly anger, guide, lodge owner, and conservationist puts the majority of his focus into protecting the ecosystems of Alphonse Island, Cosmoledo Atoll, Farquhar Atoll, Astove Atoll and Poivre Atoll that make up a portfolio of the best Seychelles fly fishing destinations.
