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.
FishBazaruto’s game-fishing video playlist getting bigger and better
Game-fishing for the camera! It’s real cool when the kids take over and just thump out cool little edits of your day at sea for you! Well this has been happening more and more as the young ones embrace technology – especially cell phones and video. Captain Duarte Rato of FishBazaruto up in Vilanculos, Southern Mozambique, had some real keen and talented young crew on his boat Vamizi this last week – The Watt teenagers – movie makers and fishermen!
Young Benji Watt and his first sailfish is the first clip.
As you can see from these classic clips recently added to FishBazaruto’s YouTube playlist, authentic and quality video is a cell phone or a GoPro away. All these tools come with editing software these days – totally intuitive and built into the hardware. You can trim video right in your phone’s gallery, and assemble the whole lot with titles and if you really have to, put music on top.
Throwing a track over your hard earned authentic sound bytes is a no-no! And you lose out on the copyright of your own material. Any revenues generated go to the artist who originally recorded the song. Use original sound wherever possible. You can bleep out the swearing!
You also don’t need to commentate at all. You can but don’t talk to the camera. Do that afterward with a voice over helping to tell the story. Filling in any gaps. But mostly, the story tells itself, especially if you can tie off a shot and record the whole lot on a wide, and use another phone or camera for the close ups.
Too easy!
Assemble on your phone or your computer. Then upload to YouTube. And this is where all this extra cool new content is coming from! You! YouTube is awash with every fishing video you could dream to watch. Instructional stuff is all over and so well done. Knots. Traces. Fighting fish. You can glean so much from watching these videos. Often they are series’ of themed video- just like a TV show.
So what’s next from us?
Live from the boat! As the season kicks off in Bazaruto this year, there are some spots that have enough signal, to get a live stream going. Both Duarte and ourselves (The Sardine Team are operating up in Vilanculos through to January), will endeavour to get a live tangle with a marlin going.
Stay tuned via our Facebook pages, if you Like our pages, you will be notified when we go live.
Learn more about FishBazaruto at their content rich website over at http://fishbazaruto.com. Duarte and his team update the site regularly – in fact every trip Duarte has done since 2010 or so, is documented on the website. With photos.
As we move into the video age – when everyone has access to the equipment, and the interfaces become easier and more intuitive, it’s gonna be a very colourful – Future of Fishing.
FishBazaruto.com is taking Bazaruto 2018 bookings now!
FishBazaruto.com is taking Bazaruto 2018 bookings now! After another incredible year fishing the waters around the Bazaruto Archipilego, Captain Duarte Rato has opened his booking calendar up for 2018.
Duarte has also opened up the spread with many more options for you to choose from. From the really big and comfort laden Supercat 38’s, to this year Duarte has worked hard on getting smaller boat packages together, that are real affordable. He has broadened his accommodation offerings too.
Vilankulos, where FishBazaruto operates from, is really quite a drive for anybody convinced on taking their own boat all that way up north. And fishing with Duarte and his decades of experience really puts you in right on the action.
Sunrise overlooking the Bazaruto Archipelego
You get to enjoy the Archipilego thoroughly, with Duarte and crew relating historical, geographical and all things fishing regards this most interesting area, and country. All of Duarte’s team really know the place super well, and are first class pros, in big game fishing – and making sure you have a great day out.
Now here’s the thing. 1000 Pounds. The grander. The big momma. She is there. And up for a fight. Black and blue marlin. You can actually choose which to hunt. The bad tempered stripeys also make their rodeo appearances, as do shoals and shoals of willing sailfish. Some big ones, even going over 50!
A few pics from the old days…where release wasn’t as compulsory, as it is nowadays…
The increasing mean size of yellowfin tuna being encountered inshore has rapidly increased lately in KZN waters. They even got a 48 off Durban?! But last season, Duarte shocked everyone with a 72 off the island! Luckily it grabbed ahold of a kona rigged on an 80, and it came home before those dumb sharks got it!
The 72kg yellowfin tuna that has gotten everyone very excited. There were a whole shoal of these things when luckily they hooked up on just this one, and got it out!
And that’s another thing about fishing Baz. It’s wild. Really wild. You might even encounter a dugong. Or a whale shark. A friendly school of dolphins. All sorts of whales. Even orcas.
Fishing out the back of Bazaruto Island gets you in the hot seat for a marlin on plastic, or a 10kg yellowfin to rig and try keep out of trouble until a marley comes along. Wahoo are real mean as they knock the sense out of any live bait rigged that weighs less than 10. The wahoo are huge. And if it ain’t the wahoo, you also have to watch for goliath GT’s that also love to swallow a bonito whole. And then there are the sharks. Nuff said. So back to plastics and hope for that huge big and loud strike.
Seeing these huge fish come charging into the wake at blurry speeds, smashing into a kona, pulling line and then leaping and greyhounding away is what every angler should experience. It’s diabolical. It’s insane. It’s something you need to see and absorb. The power. The grace. The magnificense of it all.
In bad weather, Bazaruto waters hold another ace. The channels between the islands are clear and deep, and in the completely flat water. Wave action out to sea, and island either side of you, and you can catch king mackerel, sailfish, Natal Snoek – until you are blue. On spinning tackle! Too much fun. And we do end up fishing in these highly technical fishing areas quite a lot. Knowing where and when to find the hot spots and times, is all the fun! There are very many places where, if you pay your 500 Met park fees, you can walk and spin fish for all sorts from kingfish to rock salmon.
Right, there you have it. I could add the islands themselves, the unreal snorkeling in the lukewarm crystal palace water, the palm trees and coconuts, the delightful and unspoilt wetlands and river, the quaint little party town of Vilankulos that recently welcomed Sylvester Stallone, Jeremy Clarkson and his little mate…and back in the days…The Kennedys, Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger and host of other stars. The Donna Anna, the hotel in which they partied, which has been restored to a level of glory, and yes you’ll go there too!
You can get the ball rolling and get in touch with the team at FishBazaruto at his website link below:
Catching marlin on a pitch bait with Captain Duarte Rato in Cape Verde
Duarte and crew are having a great time with great results on the pitch bait craze. Fishing Cape Verde puts them right on the money for big blue marlin…you can take the long way via Facey…
Carl Jankowitz, fishing with Captain Duarte Rato out off Cape Verde, really wanted a marlin on a coffee grinder. Well, not just any coffee grinder – his trusty Stella. Which you can also use to winch your boat up onto your trailer after fishing, if you need to!
And so, the reel filled with some high powered braid, and attached to a solid jigging type stick – the team proceeded to raise and bait a hot tempered blue marlin or two. Resulting in one very good release, as the Stella and Carl were able to put the required amount of drag and pressure.
You can read the full story on over at http://fishbazaruto.com where updates from Duarte’s fishing adventures are posted. And bget in touch there if you want in on the marlin action, as Duarte follows them around the world – Cape Verde, Ascension Isles, Great Barrier Reef, Madeira, and of course, his favourite – Bazaruto.
And check this video out of how the guys in Cape Verde release their marlin…
The show moves back to Bazaruto in September, and there are a few slots still available. Bazaruto has long been the favourite for producing new world record sized black marlin – the current IGFA record by Alfred Glassel was caught in Cabo Blanco over half a century ago…1560 lbs!
