Captain Duarte Rato reporting in from Bazaruto Island in Southern Mozambique…
Ulrich and Frans then fished three days of excellent flat calm weather and Bazaruto´s Marlin fishing at it´s best. The first day we raised five Marlin on the lures, had four strikes and hooked three fish. Unfortunately we pulled one about 400 close to the boat but released two. The second day we raised one on the lure but did not get a bite out of it but then tagged and released two Blacks on live bait. The last day was slower and we raised 3 Blacks, had two bites but could not hook any of the fish….but I saw no one complaining and the guys left with a smile and a promise to be back next year!
EPIC MARLIN trip for Ulrich & Frans – and more incredible photography by Captain Duarte Rato
Ulrich & Frans arrived at the tail end of a really strong low-pressure system and seeing their first day was a blowout to go out for Marlin I suggested we did a half-day of light tackle inshore. The guys took this literally and the next day pitched up on the boat with bass tackle…stupid ultra light gear! We headed off and fishing spoons and drop shoot for a two hour session from the boat got various different species of rockcod, queenfish, garfish, a nice brassy kingfish, two great barracuda and then Frans hooked to the fish of the day on his bass rod which took him more than 30 minutes to land, a respectable size yellowspotted kingfish.
We then headed for another spot and fishing from the beach proceed to finish the day releasing 9 small GT´s which were an absolute blast with the light gear!!!
We first met Matt & Nick in early July when they come up from Maputo for a couple of fishing days to target sailfish. Seeing the water was green on the inside we decided to head out deep on our second day and they raised a 700 pound Blue Marlin and got a 72 kg Yellowfin tuna that we believe is the biggest ever caught on Bazaruto. Anyway this time they come for Marlin and they had a great trip. On their second day they raised 3, lost a 600 pounder right by the boat and then proceed to release a fish about 300 pounds. They finished it off with a 250 pound fish on the last day.
Fresh news in from Captain Duarte Rato on Bazaruto Island just as the season is getting into full swing…
After Louwtjie´s giant Black Marlin estimated at 900 +++ pounds on the 15th October we had two lay days and then started with our good friend Carl Jankowitz on the 19th. Carl is no stranger to big fish and amongst many released he as also weighted two granders with us, one which weighted 1107 lbs and the other 1098 lbs. But his last really big fish had been three years ago and he sure was ready for another. We started the day with a 27kg YFT, followed by a 18kg wahoo and some more smaller YFT in between. However it was Marlin we were searching for and just after 1pm a great fish inhaled the long left lure. This most magnificent fish proceed to gibe us an hour of great entertainment with some spectacular jumps a few of which on the leader. The fight then went down and dirty with Carl having to push the pre set on the 80W all the way and fought this fish on absolute maximum drag for the next hour. Finally after a 2-hour fight we had the estimated 900-pound fish by the boat for a release…
Spectacular photography by Captain Duarte Rato. This Black Marlin looks like it would have gone over 1000 pounds. (c) Captain Duarte RatoCheck at the shoulders on this huge Black Marlin caught and released off Bazaruto Island (c) Captain Duarte RatoVery big Black Marlin (c) Captain Duarte Rato
Incredibly big fish being encountered at Bazaruto this year…reported in from Captain Duarte Rato on location…
Louwtjie and 5 of his mates come up for 3 days of fishing in mid October. Although they mostly wanted to do some plugging, fly-fishing, spinning and light tackle game fishing they ended up experiencing a hell of a Marlin bite. The charter started with a sailfish on light tackle right off the bat. Then the guys got into some beefy GT´s on jig and ended the day releasing a 250-pound Black Marlin. Then, the second day started with a 200-pound striped Marlin. We the spent most of the day spinning and plugging at 25-mile reef but seeing it was slow we decided to try for Marlin again in the afternoon and Lowtjie hooked a monster of a fish just after 1pm on a live skipjack. It was Louwtjies first ever Marlin but he did a brilliant job and we got the fish on the leader in just under an hour. Of course that was not the end of it and it took another half an hour of extreme drag to have it by boat side again. We think the fish would have gone over the 1000 pound mark had we decided to weigh it, but seeing we did we call it a conservative 900 pounds +++!
This giant Black Marlin was healthily released off Bazaruto (c) Captain Duarte RatoThe sheer size of this fish is incredible…easily 1000 pounds but conservatively called at 900lb ++ (c) Captain Duarte Rato
