Fishing legends: Fishbrain's Q&A with Patrick Sebile

With a fishing career spanning 68 countries, 778 species and more continents than most of us will set foot on, Patrick Sebile is a living legend.

The French born angler has held over 350 IGFA, EFSA and FFPM records and is as renowned for his guiding as he is his angling.  

Sebile’s passion is still leading him to catch more species and explore more fishable waters, all in a never ending journey to enjoy fishing to its fullest. 

The world famous angler doesn’t just fish, however, but has been designing and creating fishing lures since 1976 and has won 24 industry awards in the U.S, Europe and Australia. 

His company, A Band of Anglers, creates some of the best lures for saltwater fishing, best lures for largemouth bass and the best lures for striped bass.

Fishbrain had the opportunity to catch up with Sebile and his tackle company, A Band of Anglers, at Icast 2021. We had the chance to talk everything fishing, his records and his plans for taking his adventures to new destinations for unheard of species.

Fishbrain: How Long Have You Been Fishing?

Patrick Sebile (In a thick French Accent): There’s a glimpse of a memory I have when I’m two years old. I see a mountain, I see a long rod and I see a trout. Which turned out to be a dead trout. My mom told me years later there was a guy fishing for trout, and he had caught a trout already and I was excited by that. She had him (the trout angler) put the dead trout back in the water so I could see.

One year later is my true first ever real memory and that was fishing in a pond with my family for a picnic. One of my uncles brought three rods with floats and a piece of bread on a hook. I saw one float diving so I grabbed it and it was pulling me so my other uncle grabbed the rod and went around the pond a few times and landed a seven pound carp.

I was three years old and I remember that, and I’m not kidding you, like it was yesterday.

FB: Where was this?

PS: In southern France

FB: After all these years and destination, do you have a favorite place to fish?

PS: Giving you one answer to that is really impossible. But I can give you five easily. 

• 1. When it comes to big fish from shore, Gabon Africa. Because in Gabon you have something quite unique. You have rivers that go straight to the ocean, and miles of rocky coast. But the mullet and bait fish are in the river so you have big cubera snapper, I'm talking 100 pounds, who have no choice but to come up the river which is like sixe, or eight feet deep and a sandy bottom. So you can catch giant cubera snapper, you can catch the African threadfin, which I absolutely love and is like a 200 pound anchovy. You also have good tarpon, big jack crevalles, like 50 pound, or 60 pound. So for big fish from the shore, that is definitely my number one place in the world. 

• 2. One place that is always crazy and consistent is the Mississippi Delta. Because you have many places in the world that are very good in a short period of time. In Gabon, for example, you have to know if you really want to catch those big African threadfin,or those giant barracuda that are there, I’m talking seven foot barracudas..., it only lasts a few weeks. But the consistency that you find in the Mississippi delta I cannot compare to any other place in the world really. You can fish all year long with an incredible amount of fish. 

• 3. The state of Florida, that is why I have moved and lived and have become a citizen here. There is good fishing all around. It's not the best fishing place in the world, and I know many people will not be happy to hear that, but you have a number of different things that are good. I love bass fishing and this is one of the best places for bass fishing. I live on a lake where the 18 pound Florida state record was caught.  I love snook fishing, and every month of the year when you fish on the southern side (of Florida) you can catch different species, and to me that matters. Is it the best place to fish for wahoo? No. Is it the best place to fish for snook? No. But when you put all these species together it makes it a very good place to live.

• 4. Now there are two that I would like to put into one category. I love pike fishing and I love fishing for them in Russia on the Volga River delta, which is a gigantic delta. It is probably three to five times bigger than the Mississippi delta when you look at it on a map. You have a lot of pike there, but not a lot of big ones. But in Sweden, around Vastervik you have three bays, small islands and the Baltic Sea (low level of salt water mixed with fresh water). I've been there 15 times, but haven’t been in 4-5 years and miss it dearly.

FB: After the countless species you’ve caught, do you have a favorite? 

PS: For species, I cannot mention one, but maybe five to ten. One thing I love is catching different fishes. I love Bass because I can do so many different techniques. Sometimes they jump on the bait, other times they are super finicky. Another fish I deeply love and was a big love when I was younger was the Zander fish, which is a cousin to the walleye, but they grow a bit bigger. My biggest was probably 29 lbs. I’m very proud of that. I’m a big fan of pike and muskie too. When I hear people say that muskie fishing is way different than pike, I just have to say 'excuse me, but I fish for muskie the same way I fish for pike and I’ve done pretty well for muskie.'

On the saltwater list, the Snook. I’m deeply in love with Snook. I love fishing for Jacks too, man they fight so good ya know. When you catch a jack that’s 20-30 pounds that’s when it is really great. I love love love cobia. Tarpon I like, but I’m not so much in love as with the other species I just mentioned. I was a guide in Africa for 18 years and I guided a client on a world record tarpon of 286 pounds. Tarpon are known for jumping, but in Africa, the very big ones fight more like a bull shark. THey are very powerful, but not a lot of fun. I love a tarpon that is, say, 80 pounds. An 80 pound tarpon will jump a lot and that is very fun. Striped bass too, I love striped bass. You see, I cannot mention just one!

FB: Are there any species, or places that are still on your bucket list?

PS: There are between 22,000 and 24,000 fish in the world and I want to be the guy who caught the most. That means I have around 23,000 to go. One fish I hope and wish to go fishing for is the mahseer in India. You can find them up to 80 kg and you can find them in streams at 45 degree angles in the mountains. It's a sucker, but because it is so big, its scales are as big as tarpon scales. The first time it was fished by people who sportsfish was by English Lords in the 50s who made an expedition. There are other variations that you can fish in lowlands like the Ganges River and you fish them like carp. But the big one lives high in the mountains and is purely a predatory fish. Think about hooking a 100 pound fish and you’re going to run maybe one, or two, miles down river fighting the fish in the mountains. I’m afraid(to fish for it though) because the fish lives in an area where India and China are fighting and both countries claim the area is theirs.

FB: Of all the lures you have developed, do you have a go to, for when the fishing is toughest?

PS: Of course it depends on what I want to do. If you want to fish the flats, especially in places like Tampa, or Sarasota Florida there are so many people fishing the fish are easily spooked. Sometimes if you just make too much noise with your feet, or if you are moving too fast the fish around you are spooked. So the distance here is key. When people fish the top water on the flats, typically they will have a floating pencil. Usually these will weigh, near ¾ of an ounce, so they cast ok. But what I developed is the same body and dimensions, but look at the weight. My topwater lure is twice the weight of a standard topwater lure. So with that, if I’m on the flats and I want to reach those far away redfish this is my choice because I can cast very far away. I still can pop it, because it has a popping action, but what I cannot do is keep it floating on top, because it doesn't float. But I developed it in a way that when you retrieve it has a swim action, which is very unique. You have a shrimp popper that swims like a plug. It creates a little wake on top and redfish absolutely love that.

On the other hand, if I go for a finesse approach, my floating shrimp is unique. You can hook it the way you want through the nose with a regular single hook and cast it reasonably well. It floats so it is not very heavy. When you retrieve it with a steady retrieve the legs move like a real shrimp and when you twitch it it goes about six to eight inches deep and it floats back up swirling. If I have the most finicky redfish possible, I would not take anything else. I would go with my floating shrimp from Hyperlastics.

FB: One last question. Of all the records you have, is there one that stands out most, that you look back on most fondly?

PS: (Chuckles) I have 372 records, so again not one, but two. The meaning of a record is a meaning of personal achievement in relation to what other anglers have done. We know there are surely bigger fish in the ocean and lakes, but when we come upon a record it means that we, and many thousands of others have agreed to go by the same set of rules. When you weigh, or measure a fish, that’s when you say ‘I’ve got a record with that species.’ There are many species that do not have many people who fish for them and their records are not hard to reach, but I have two fish out of all the other records.

In freshwater and overall its largemouth bass. That is one fish that is fished all over the world and has the most people looking for it. In saltwater the number one sought after fish is the tarpon. I’m the only angler in the world who has a record for bass and for tarpon. Eight, or nine years ago I caught a world record bass for the length and I guided the all tackle world record tarpon, which was 286 pound and nine ounces.