Fishing the Inhambane Estuary: Bludger Kingfish by The Frenzy
Fishing the Inhambane Estuary is completely cool. You just need that fishing licence from Maritimo, and a few cold beers for the afternoon into evening. Sunset. A light stick with a Mydo Luck Shot and jig fly combination, and another heavy stick with live bait trace completes the outfit.
Since it costs a small fortune in dollars to moor on the Inhambane Pier, there is very seldom any boats parked on the outside wall, and we have it all to ourselves. There is a fun contingent of local fishers who come down to the pier after work, to relax and chat, and of course, catch dinner. Some are in fact fishing for dinner.
Which comes happily in the form of these little Bludger Kingfish. They don’t get very much bigger than this unlucky one that fell to The Frenzies charms…
After two fruitless and exhausting episodes on the sea with the Kayak, The Frenzy was at the end of her tether. So off we went back to the city of Inhambane, to try for a bludger kingfish. We were privy to some inside information leading us here. It is absolutely wonderful fishing of the main pier out the front of Inhambane.
Parking at Pachiso Backpackers, right on the lagoon, we prepared over an ice cold 2M cerveja. Sabiki/Yozuri jigs with a Mydo Luck Shot on the end. The Luck Shot acts as an attractor and looks like a competitive fish chasing the little jigs.
Nothing happened for a while and then one of the local gangster giant kingfish showed itself in a spectacular display of anger as it smashed the living daylights out of the little sardines we were so eager to catch and put out live. The GTs here are black in colour and I have been splashed soaking wet right on the top of the jetty before! The problem is that it is nigh impossible to fight these big fish from the pier. There are just too many obstacles and we all know a GT. There are the razor sharp shell coated pylons making up the pier. Serious rocks 8m below. Endless water taxis coming and going, into the night. Anchors and moorings for the water taxis. Actually, it is impossible.
Then two humpback dolphin came swimming up the tide and also had a feast. All the while the bludgers were smashing away at the endless shoals of baitfish below us.
And then The Frenzy went away. Her rod buckling and line melting we were both convinced the Mydo had been taken and so she put the pressure back on the fish. A few minutes later and there it was, a beautiful shiny bludger kingfish. But it had taken a jig and the Mydo Luck Shot #2 was just plain gone!
How were we going to haul the hefty little bigger all the way up to the top of the pier? One chance and we took it. The fish lay still for a second and The Frenzy just hauled in one consistent motion.
Bazaruto 2017: 1000lb marlin and other stories: It’s been a cracker of a season so far, for the small fleet of boats fishing the Bazaruto Archipelago’s waters. Captains Duarte Rato and Morgan O’Kennedy are hard at it every day possible. Quo Vadis is in place. Bazaruto is abuzz with billfish fever right now.
Duarte on Vamizi has been supplying a steady stream of marlin content culminating in this huge fish that the team were able to release in under two hours! Now that’s the way! Enjoy the read…
Many smaller fish have been caught and released so far. But it’s now that the water gets even warmer, that the big girls start to show up around Bazaruto Island.
This is Duarte’s latest post – the three guys on this trip had huge success. They the same crew who got the thousand pounder above!
You can read Captain Duarte Rato’s journal of all these incredible fish on the FishBazaruto website at http://fishbazaruto.com. The information in these posts is priceless as Duarte recounts in words, and in his spectacular photography skills…every trip he has done since 2011! Duarte fishes all over the globe and you can get in on the action by making an enquiry on the FishBazaruto website http://fishbazaruto.com.
JP Bartholomew and his GT on fly is written by JP, after an incredible encounter up on the north coast of KZN, South Africa, a while back. Enjoy the well written and entertaining account below…made me want to got fishing straight away!
“My day started like no other day on the North Coast, it was Saturday 5th of September I started my morning on the Tongaat River Mouth / Zimbali stretch also known as Long Beach, plugging for Garrick. The sea was choppy, the tide was going out and there was a slight SW blowing, perfect for targeting garrick; which unfortunately bought my morning session to a close with no garrick attacking the plug. I left for home where myself and the family were staying. I thought to myself ‘this afternoon I’ll park at Salmon Bay and walk the Zimbali stretch from north to south but this time with my fly rod catching the pushing in tide’ with the hope of catching a garrick before the day was up.
So Saturday afternoon I parked at Salmon Bay with my gear which consisted of my Shimano tackle back pack together with my 8/9wt Explore rod fitted with My 8/9wt reel with intermediate line using a 22 kilo leader fitted with a Black and Grey Lead Ass Mullet fly with a 5/0 Mustard Hook. I started my assault along the Zimbali / Long Beach, heading south this time towards the Tongaat River mouth. The stretch I was doing had a lot of structure with some nice deep drop off’s which, with a pushing in tide, made it that much more exciting and challenging with a nice SW slightly blowing.
I wasn’t even 200 meters when I saw some action just off a rocky ledge which formed into a nice covered bay where I always saw mullet and karratine shoals hiding away from those predatoryal game fish like GT’s, Garrick etc… I started stripping line from my Explorer 12 Wt fitted with a Lead Ass Mullet fly with a 5/0 Mustard Hook and started my descent on the area of water where I saw the mullet jumping. Was it garrick feeding or some other species? Never the less I started casting my fly towards the rocks where all the action was happening. I slowly built up my casting distance to where I wanted my fly to land in the strike zone, hoping to pick up whatever was terrorising the mullet. I was into my 9th cast slowly retrieving the fly towards me, changing to an erratic fast action to try and catch the attention of the fish that was scattering the mullet.
Not much longer into my retrieve I felt a bump. Not sure if it was the hunter or the hunted bumping my fly. I continually cast straight into the strike zone again, happy with my cast, I retrieved quickly from the start… Bang bang I was picked up with such force I nearly had the rod pulled out of my hands. I actually didn’t realise what had just happened it was so quick. I knew straight away I was into a buster of a kingfish, which species I could not say at that point in time, as I hung on for dear life as not wanting to lose this fish that had attacked my fly so ferociously on my retrieve. This boykie was not letting up! He was pulling my line quickly, before I knew it I could see my 150m of backing starting to disappear in front of me.
Not being equipped with a heavier set up which would have been my 12 Wt, I knew it would be a do or die situation. Deep breaths and patience was going to be my strategy and I was hoping my equipment would hold up to the pressure this beast was applying on both myself and my rod and reel. I was slowly having some say in this fight, managing to retrieve some of my backing and slowly getting some of my line. My hands and back were starting to feel the pressure and I just kept thinking ‘no pain no gain’. This could be the fish of a lifetime for me, I just bit the bullet and kept at it.
Just as I was starting to get more and more line back what I was not hoping for happened; my 9wt Explorer locked on me, it seized, which meant I could no longer retrieve anymore line! What do I do? My equipment has failed, which was fully understandable as it was totally out of its depth with the size of whatever was on the other side of the line. Two options came to mind very quickly, give up which I wasn’t going to do or brace the moment and pull this boykie out by hand.
I quickly grabbed my line and wrapped it around my hand, thank goodness I had my Stealth hand gloves on. I started pulling slowly, moving backwards and at the same time retrieving my line wrapping it around my hand not wanting to pull too hard and risk the chance of losing this boykie, I had come too far for that. I slowly started to retrieve more and more moving up and down the beach, having a good work out at the same time. Finally the beast surfaced; it was a huge GT! My adrenaline picked up when I knew what it was and if I did land this beautiful specimen of an Ignobilis GT, it would be my best catch on fly, I was on cloud nine. Not on cloud nine yet I quickly got back into action wanting to get this boykie onto the beach as soon as possible as I was tired and I could see he was getting tired too but he still had a lot more kick in him. I just had to pick up my pace and keep up with him. I kept pulling at him slowly and wrapping more line around my hand and walking up and down the beach stretch; I had carved out a path with the continuous up and down while pulling him in and retrieving more line each time.
I finally started seeing more and more of the ignobilis which was a good sign that I was slowly getting closer to beaching him. Finally I was at a stage where I could feel myself starting to lose grip of the line and it was as if the man above looked down and threw me a lifeline; a wave appeared out of nowhere and helped bring this buster of an Ignobilis a little closer. I saw my son, who was with me, run into the retreating water and grab it with both hands, with the help of some of the bystanders. Finally seeing my trophy ignobilis safe on the beach, I fell backwards tired, shacking and with one very sore right hand. I just looked up and said thank you…..!! Trying to catch my breath and the bystanders shaking my hand and congratulating me, my son said “You did it, Dad, a whopper!”, as I laughed at him and thanked him for his contribution in helping me. Finally landing it safely 57min later, according to my son is how long I struggled and battled with this exceptional GT that gave me my best fight yet.
Getting my breath back I knew this boykie would be exhausted too. I had to get him back into the water as quickly as possible and revive him so he could return to the sea healthy, but first I wanted to tag him before returning him. I got my son to get my kit from my bag while I dragged him closer to the waters edge so that I could get the sea water to pass over his gills reviving him back slowly. I measured him quickly, measuring at a 106cm and then tagging him. My son and I got him into an upright position and carried him into deeper water holding him up so the water could pass through his gills even faster. 10min into reviving him I could feel him getting stronger, eventually his tail was starting to get movement back and in no time he was on his way back into the blue.
When we got back from our weekend up at Salt Rock that afternoon and finished unpacking and cleaning up, I sat down with my Length- to- Weight & Identification Guide to Southern African Angling Species Booklet by Chris De Vries, I went straight to the Ignobilis page to check out the size of the trophy GT I had caught Saturday afternoon. Running down the weight chart I finally got to see the size of the Ignobilis GT I had caught, which had seized my reel and gave me the fight of my life.There it was 106 cm and the weight was my best yet sitting at 23.2 kilos of solid muscle. Wow I was amazed, I had finally conquered my most sacred fish. Knowing deep down inside I had just conquered a piece of the Holy Grail and knowing that out there there are Ignobilis’s of up to 50 kilos and heavier waiting to fight and challenge any angler that crosses his path; the fighting passion that a Kingfish of that size can give a person is so pleasurable if set free to fight another day. So remember always let the big boys go to secure our breeding stocks for the younger generations to come and enjoy the moments that you so treasure, the memories of that big GT buster that didn’t get away on that special day where you got the privilege to earn a little piece of that sought after species of the Holy Grail.
JP Bartholomew and his GT on fly
Tigh Lines and let your fish roam free….
Cheers JP.”
Once again JP, many thanks for putting a huge smile on my face, as I read about you releasing such an amazing catch. And you caught it on fly? Kudos!
Paradise conditions being experienced down on the KZN South Coast. Its that beautiful time of our year again. The wind calms down. The sun comes up earlier. The water stays clean.
And the Garrick are here!
As noted by Darrell Hattingh who never misses out. Living smack bang in the middle of the action on the KZN south coast, Darrell has been biding his time this year, waiting for that bus Garrick to swim around the corner.
KZN South Coast: Darrell Hattingh gets his handful of garrick each year. Spends many hours in the water on the hunt for them, you got put in the hard yards to get a fish like this bomber.
And here it is! Not sure of the exact weight but it sure looks 20 to me. The season has been characteristic of bigger Garrick. Some absolute beauts have been coming out on rod and reel too.
Its almost National Garrick Day, but we got to take care of the Garrick at this their most vulnerable time. Just don’t allow anyone around you to take the piss and take too many. Even though the bag limit allows two Garrick, one is more than enough.
There are now more photos doing the round’s on Facebook, of the senseless slaughter that goes on in the Transkei. This time two idiots were photographed posing with a whole shoal of baby Garrick.
Once again, get in touch with Daff, and report any of this activity.
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Another great catch off Margaruque this time by Captain Gallop (aka Robin Beatty), deep off the islands on an amazing pinnacle full of these angry fish. They destroyed 6 of our live skipjack before we wised up and targeted one or two ‘Hoo. Captain Paul Saayman skippering his boat Shades of Blue got us onto the fish.
Wahoo are reputed to get 75kmh, and their strike is legendary. But once you get the toothy monster aboard, that’s when things get even more crazy.
Trying to get a photo of the wahoo whilst it still had it’s lights on, I hoisted the fish and got whacked in the arm by it’s tiny front teeth, never mind the lashers further back, where my other hand was – trying to control the angry animal.
Get in touch on umzimkulu@gmail.com if you want a fish like this!
