Original Film Premieres May 9 at 11:00 a.m. & 9:00 p.m. ET on Outdoor Channel
DENVER – Fly Fisherman Magazine recently announced the network premiere of its new, original short film, The Shoals, supported by partners Patagonia, COSTA, G. Loomis, The Fly Shop and Scientific Anglers, and airing on Outdoor Channel May 9 at 11:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. EST. A Ben Annibali film, The Shoals follows the travels of Fly Fisherman Magazine Editor/Publisher Ross Purnell as he journeys to remote St. Brandon Atoll in the Indian Ocean in search of the Giant Trevally (GT). The atoll makes for an epic setting for Purnell's captivating pursuit of the his lifelong dream to catch the Indo-Pacific's "king of the reef," and the cinematographic result is stunningly beautiful and absolutely unforgettable.
Outdoor Channel also will air Fly Fisherman's "The Shoals" on May 10 at 6:00 p.m. ET, on May 11 at 10 p.m. ET and on May 16 at 6:00 p.m. ET.
For "The Shoals" Official Full-Length Film Trailer on YouTube, visit FlyFishermanMagazine.
Documenting this fishing expedition was no small feat as the 30-mile long, 8-mile wide angling paradise lies 270 nautical miles from the governing island nation of Mauritius, which is 1,100 nautical miles from Madagascar in the Indian Ocean off the coast of East Africa. The only way to get there is by boat, and it's a notoriously rough, 30-hour voyage. Through an interesting historical turn of events, the Raphael Fishing Company, Ltd., privately holds over a dozen islands in the archipelago, and along with the St. Brandon Conservation Trust, keeps watch over one of the world's most remote and amazing flats fishing spots for bonefish, permit and trevally. Also, it should be noted that sailors who had wrecked on "St. Brandon Rocks" in 1662 provided the last record of the flightless dodo bird, which famously was overharvested and went extinct only 80 years after discovery.
"It seems ironic that the last dodos seen alive were part of a dramatic survival story around the isolated and dangerous St. Brandon Atoll," said Fly Fisherman Editor/Publisher Ross Purnell. "Now, St. Brandon is itself a kind of living, breathing dodo bird. It's the last of its kind, one of the last great unimpacted, undeveloped and unpopulated atolls in any ocean. The dodos are gone. But today the pristine reef/island/shoal habitat serves as a model for scientists researching what a healthy hawksbill turtle population should look like, how healthy corals thrive and grow, and how a thriving shark population is part of a healthy marine environment. To scientists, St. Brandon Atoll is a blueprint for marine ecosystem recovery."
While St. Brandon Atoll is a "reference ecosystem" where there has been very little human impact and is infinitely intriguing to marine scientists, for fly fishers able to endure the trip, overcome the tides and winds and manage the hundreds of square miles of sandy lagoons and wadable backreef flats, this is the fishing destination of a lifetime.
Now, thanks to the enterprising team at Fly Fisherman, The Shoals provides viewers with a firsthand look at one of the most incredible ecosystems on the planet, and to see it is to want to preserve it forever. Be sure to tune in May 9 at 11:00 a.m. ET and again at 6:00 p.m. ET on Outdoor Channel.
An accompanying feature article, "The Shoals," appears in Fly Fisherman's June-July 2026 issue, on sale May 5.
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