Category: Captain’s Blog

Catch reports with stories, photos and/or video…

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Flat Day Fun in Bazaruto

Flat Day Fun in Bazaruto

Flat Day Fun in Bazaruto: As the sardine season slowly winds down, we revert to reporting on the fishing and ocean conditions all around Southern Africa. And even some exotic locations all over the world.

Winter time is paradise in the Bazaruto Archipelago as weeks go by with perfect flat and calm seas…

Over to Duarte…fishing in Bazaruto Waters…

Bazaruto Fishing Report

After an unseasonal rather windy May and June, well at least for early winter, now that historically we should have the winds starting to show, this last week has seen some of the most beautiful days we have had this year.

Temperatures have dropped, some relatively cold and misty early mornings but when the sun gets higher it clears up and that winter light in calm flat seas when the sky and sea melt into each other are just utterly magical.

A week of flat calm seas…

Obviously, the temperature’s sudden drop has made for challenging fishing conditions but in these dreamlike light and conditions it is just a pleasure being out there.

Vamizi has been doing light tackle half days up north the last few days and catching some decent game fish and as with everybody been catching a few sailfish and also a couple small Black Marlin which seem to have finally started to show.

The boys from Inhassoro also reported a good number of juvenile Blacks up at the top on 25-mile reef, mostly being caught on torpedo scads. Their numbers should increase as we go into August and before the big girls arrive in September.

Another vessel also went deeper with the heavy tackle for a few days and seems there is a bit of a Blue Marlin bite out wide.

Although we did not see the usual numbers of juvenile Black Marlin the last couple of months (which are mostly a by catch on sailfish and wahoo lures), the last few weeks have seen their numbers increase and this should only get better as usually August is the best month to enjoy those fun light tackle fish before the big girls show for the start of the heavy tackle season from early September….

We fished on the 38ft DYR with Christopher Bettany and his gang which was great fun. Not reel screaming fireworks at all but good fun with great people who know fishing and the archipelago so well.

Bettany owns the well-known Azura Lodge on Benguerra Island and after a few challenging years recently re-open the famous (from past days) Azura Marlin beach Lodge on the south of the Island.

Fishing was slow as we trolled south but finally, we found some bait and we started getting into some action on the live jube jube´s.

Within 15 minutes after we put the first two livies out, the surface one got taken and we hooked and released a well above average size sailfish.

After a nice fight on the light tackle Christopher´s son Pirran released his first ever sailfish which will also go down as the first sailfish ever caught on from Azura Marlin Beach!

Pirran Bettany released his first ever sailfish estimated at over 45kg in a week of flat calm seas!

Not to be outdone, his other son Trennon, caught the biggest King mackerel of the day which was also a new record for the resort!

Off to Linene tomorrow, to fish a few days with Warren aboard Strenue, will probably mix it up a bit but certainly go out wide for Blues

Happy days…

Duarte A. M. Rato

Fishbazaruto.com

Sportfishing Charters @ Vilankulos & Bazaruto Archipelago

MOZAMBIQUE

Email: dudas7mares@gmail.com

FB & Instagram: fishbazaruto.com

Phone & WhatsApp: + 258 84 639 0466

www.fishbazaruto.com

The post Flat Day Fun in Bazaruto appeared first on FishBazaruto.com.

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Another Perfect Storm hits Maputo

Another Perfect Storm hits Maputo March 24

Another Perfect Storm hits Maputo

Another Perfect Storm hits Maputo: 23 and 24 March saw another perfect storm hit Maputo. This is after Mother Nature recently unleashed her fury on Mozambique – starting with Cyclone Filipo. Hitting into Inhassoro up north, then Vilankulos, and the islands. And then creating the perfect storm conditions for what happened down in Maputo next. I have been present through one of these amazing storms. You can read that story on The Sardine News here.

Following in the wake of Cyclone Filipo’s record speed run across Mozambique, Filipo left a huge low pressure hovering over southern Mozambique and Mpumalanga in South Africa. This moisture-rich air simply unloaded its entire payload. Over an 84-hour solid rain period.

Downtown - storm hits Maputo
Downtown – storm hits Maputo

Maputo

Maputo lives on a drainage system built in the Portuguese era. That was a very long time ago. And with the population explosion in Maputo since the 70s, the infrastructure cannot cope.

This is the result…

Explanation

Over to Duarte to explain…

Basically it’s a massive low-pressure system that has moved in after Filipo and affecting the whole of southern Mozambique mostly with massive rains and mostly in the Maputo area where it rained very intensely for like 84 hours straight and seeing the drainage system is what everyone knows to be it´s just gone crazy and lots of damage, schools are closed, etc etc and hopefully this will not chain up into a cholera outbreak…
Up in Bazaruto we have had a on and off rain but not intense but windy and jus miserable weather at the moment – I have clients here for a week now and only managed to fish a few hours during two days in very messy sea, water still very murky due to debris from Filipo and recent thundershowers and obviously not a great bite with such a low-pressure system.
This low-pressure system which is called Invest 95S was said, a few days ago that, could potentially turn into a cyclone but it has not but still lurking around although conditions have improved last few days but forecast of rain, overcast weather and wind up until the 6th of April.
A further cyclone as developed over the last few days in the Indian Ocean although still very far from Africa´s East coast, this category 1 cyclone as been named Neville and we are watching it with hawk eyes!
It’s a major @#$%^& up…. This poor country does not need all this shit bro!

Captain Duarte Rato

The News

FishBazaruto has been a Sardine News contributor for over a decade now. Recently we started to see how much people appreciate bad news. Over good news. It’s incredible! Like 20 x more views on a bad news story, than a good news story?!

So well we have to adapt and you can start looking forward to more news items as we go into 2024. Contributions welcome to dudas7mares@gmail.com or umzimkulu@gmail.com.

Gallery

Noraly from Itchy Boots was in Madagascar for the Cyclone that eventually made it to Maputo
Noraly from Itchy Boots was in Madagascar for the Cyclone that eventually made it to Maputo
These are the tracks of all the tropical storms or cyclones so far this year. More to follow!
These are the tracks of all the tropical storms or cyclones so far this year. More to follow!

Affiliated YouTube Channels

https://youtube.com/@thesardinenews
https://youtube.com/@mydotackletalk
https://youtube.com/@waterwoes
https://youtube.com/@Brucifire

Websites

https://brucifire.co.za – surf reports and conservation
https://thesardine.co.za – never miss a single sardine
https://fishbazaruto.com – for grander marlin
https://masterwatermen.co.za – news from down deep
https://umzimkuluadrenalin.co.za – will get you out there
https://divingdivassa.co.za – girls only
https://umzimkulu.co.za – right on the river

The post Another Perfect Storm hits Maputo appeared first on FishBazaruto.com.

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Thrilling start to KZN South Coast billfish bite

Philips first sailfish was on a Penn Jigmaster 500L

Thrilling start to KZN South Coast billfish bite

A thrilling start to KZN South Coast billfish bite: there are many billfish hunting along the colour line on the KZN South Coast right now!

KZN South Coast billfish bite. Fish released.

Arriving dead on time, same as the dorado, the billfish are here! Sightings, encounters and hookups aplenty.

See the movie – of Phillip’s first sailfish – at the bottom end of this post.

The colour line/halocline has also seen some very early season couta coming out aswell! It’s looking good for the summer gamefish and billfish season down here on the south coast.

Spearos

The spearos, as usual, were the first to report the incoming billfish. A shoal of striped marlin on the shoal. They got one or two – this was even about a month back. Check out https://masterwatermen.co.za for up-to-date intel on what’s going on in the ocean around here.

The Colour Line

The seam/colour line is the halocline representing where the Mozambique blue water meets the runoff rainwater of the KZN wet season. We have a few functioning estuaries left. The Umkomaas pumps out a beautiful plume. As does the Umzimkulu – the last free-flowing river of significance in the whole of Africa. Likened in ecological importance to the Okavango delta, this river still experiences the full effect of the flood pulse. There are attempts underway to impede this vitally important and functional flood pulse by building a weir 9kms upriver. This would impede both the flood pulse and the tidal pulse.

Ain’t gonna happen – if you would like to learn more, please visit https://thegreennet.org.za.

So right now, the flood pulse pulsed, and we have a beautiful halocline line to work. This is an amazing piece of structure that gives rise to a load of fish action.

Everybody comes to this party.

Baitfish

Concentrations of mackerel, shad, mozzies and even red-eye sardines hang in the shallows to feed. And to hide from the monsters. Who patrol up and down the line, looking to ambush anything that moves. So it’s simply a matter of getting a live bait or two, and slow-trolling them along the line.

Big baits for billfish

Dorado can’t really that easily gulp down a big shad. Or bonito. Or mackerel. Anything else just gets swallowed whole. So to get a billfish out of this melee, chuck out really big live bait.

And don’t mess around with the trace either. Use heavy leader (300 to 400lb) and a big old circle hook. And make the trace looooong (4m at least – so you can grab that leader and take control at the boat). The big mommas are also here. We saw at least one over 600 on the day this accompanying sailfish video was shot.

It goes without saying that you really need line capacity (1000 metres), a strong drag (12 to 15kgs) and good knots (bimini or any double line to clip swivel works fine – make a long double line too – 5 metres if you can)!

Phillip’s 1st Sailfish on video

Yip!

That was a fun fish to catch! In the howling South Westerly as we waited for the tide. The saily just swam right by us and gulped down the live maasbanker. Literally in front of our eyes. The solid hookup caused the fish to throw its stomach. This is a defence mechanism that these and other billfish resort to when something gets stuck in their throats. Successful release but I never got the tag in this time. And all recorded on video. The video is structured in a way that you can use it to learn how to handle your first sailfish when it happens.

In the meantime, come fishing with us here at Umzimkulu Adrenalin, in Port Shepstone. Where the sailfish featured was caught.

In the following gallery, is guest star Phillip’s first dorado too. All he needs now is a couta and he the South Coast Slam done and dusted.

Click to check it out…

https://umzimkuluadrenalin.co.za

But ok, The Sardine News is powered by TLC for your business. Where you can have a website built for yourself or for your business! All frills included.

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Ocean Safari with Chelsea Dog and the B2 Humpback Whales

On Ocean Safari with Umzimkulu Adrenalin and Chelsea Dog

Ocean Safari with Chelsea Dog and the B2 Humpback Whales

Ocean Safari with Chelsea Dog and the B2 Humpback Whales: Dr. Oz Goffman (Head dolphin project of Haifa University -IMMRAC – The Recanati Institute for Maritime Studies/School of Marine Sciences) spends his life stalking and saving cetaceans of all kinds and in all places. But specifically these guys. The B2 population. And the C1 guys. These are the ever-entertaining humpback whale communities that visit us, and Mozambique, this time each year. (see graphic by Dr. Oz and colleagues below…secret intel for undercover whale spotters like the Umimkulu Adrenalin operation).

Ocean Safari intel: The Indian Ocean gets bombarded every winter here, by a healthy population of humpback whales. These marine mammals may seem plentiful at times but are still not back to the numbers they should be. Image courtesy of Dr. Oz Goffman and colleagues.
Ocean Safari intel: The Indian Ocean gets bombarded every winter here, by a healthy population of humpback whales. These marine mammals may seem plentiful at times but are still not back to the numbers they should be. Image courtesy of Dr. Oz Goffman (Head dolphin project of Haifa University -IMMRAC – The Recanati Institute for Maritime Studies/School of Marine Sciences) and colleagues.
Dr. Oz Goffman

When I worked with Dr. Oz in the deep blue waters out off Bazaruto Island in Mozambique for a few years, we were covertly recording mother to calf humpback whale conversations. We spent literally months and months stalking these guys. So when I say Dr. Oz knows these guys by name, I do not mean literally (see the album slide in the video).

He knows them by name.

The B2 Bombers

Down here on the lower south coast of Kwazulu Natal in South Africa, we are perfectly poised to encounter the B2 bombers, travelling south towards Cape Town, at this time of the year. This is their highway to the southern ocean, a few stops along the way, before they book it south.

And so it was really cool that we got another Ocean Safari booking this week. And this time we were far more camera-ready. Although we missed the ever-eventful launch (and this time was no different, it was wild!), the rest of the camera work went down a treat and the featured video almost made it out there yesterday!

Yep! Dr. Oz knows these guys by name. He has dedicated his life to looking after these enthralling ocean-going mammals, and other cetaceans of all kinds, all over the world.
Yep! Dr. Oz knows these guys by name. He has dedicated his life to looking after these enthralling ocean-going mammals, and other cetaceans of all kinds, all over the world.

On this trip, we actually only saw this one whale. But man did he perform. Launching right out clear into the air at times. We managed to get a few clips but our guests got the gold.

Umzimkulu Adrenalin

Get in touch to get out there…

Call Sean on +27 79 326 9671 or email umzimkulu@gmail.com.

More on https://thesardine.co.za and https://masterwatermen.co.za.

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Champagne Breakfast at St. Helen’s Rock, KZN, Port Shepstone

St Helen's Rock 2021 Expedition

Champagne Breakfast at St. Helen’s Rock, KZN, Port Shepstone

Champagne Breakfast at St. Helen’s Rock, KZN, Port Shepstone: Sian and her friends visiting the south coast down from Jhb had pre-booked a ride with us quite some time before. But we had a surprise in store. For Sian and her enthusiastic crew.

St. Helen’s Rock expedition video

They were going on an ancient tradition this time round – a river ride from Port Shepstone harbour – up to St. Helen’s Rock. 14 Kilometres of winding river and deep nature. Starting early and not without the usual confusion and chaos of a big crew, we were soon racing with the tide and current. In order to get under the low-level bridge but up the first rapid, or Berm ONE as it is affectionately known, we had to time it just right. Berm TWO was easier but took a while as we skirted sandbank and reef to get in and around the corner. But then it’s plain sailing and we cruise past the pump station and onto the bend that hosts St. Helen’s majestic piece of Africa.

The champagne was soon flowing and the breakfast was spluttering on the skottel. There is a helluva lot of exploring to do up at St. Helen’s Rock. Just about where the Umzimkulwana and the Umzimkulu come snaking out of the Oribi Gorge. We are actually able to go even further up into the Oribi Gorge. But that is going to be for the next boundary-pushing adventure. We did bring a kayak and next time we will bring even more, to enable even more exploring of this historic site.

Blazing an old trail upriver and into the historical hinterland at St. Helen's Rock
Beautiful smile!
Yes it was rather icy cold at this stage. But we had coffee and rusks.
St. Helen's Rock in KZN, South Africa
Your Captains are good to go this winter season. St. Helen's Rock in the background

History

There was certainly trade and business going on here back when this was the commercial junction from Durban to all of southern Natal and beyond. This exact spot! There are ruins everywhere. And rumours of a complete village settlement on the north bank still need to be verified. There is the wreck of a beautiful European looking boat half-buried into the mountain bank. There are railway tracks and even sidings strewn about by the floods, at the confluence of the two mighty rivers – the Umzimkulu (comes from the Berg) and the Umzimkulwana (comes from Lake Eland).

This wreck we encountered whilst surveying the upper reaches of the Umzimkulu Estuary
This wreck we encountered whilst surveying the upper reaches of the Umzimkulu Estuary

And just wait ’til you hear what St. Helen did to get that beautiful big old rock named after her.

Forthcoming attraction!

Let’s gooooooo!

So please get in touch anytime on umzimkulu@gmail.com or call me up on +27793269671 although WhatsApp really works best. If you like this type of adventure. Rates are roughly R100 per person per hour. And we can cater and bring loaded coolers.

BTW we run on solar power and electric engines. SILENT! And you are welcome to bring a fly-rod.

There is a lot more to see and do on The Sardine News website at https://thesardine.co.za and the MasterWatermen at https://masterwatermen.co.za.

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