Sonar tagging Zambezi Sharks: Calum Murie could have been anything. But he chose to spend his life chasing huge sharks around with sonar tag in hand, ready to abuse the first full grown Zambezi Shark he sees. In the name of science, research and conservation, Calum’s motivation for this career path runs deep and his commitment is exemplary.
Although Zambezi Sharks are on the top of our hit list, these blacktips are also featured.
Jason Morkel gets right in on the action. Zambezi Sharks don’t scare him!
And so it was that Calum enlisted the crew and facilities at the BCSS (Bazaruto for Scientific Studies) this September, to get some more tags installed in some Zambezi Sharks and other suspects. The tags are monitored by sonar listening stations set out up and down the coast between Pemba and Cape Town. So if one of Calum’s tagged sharks goes on leave and heads off for a holiday, Calum is gonna know about it.
This behavioural study of horizontal movement is aimed at supplying decision makers with the correct information regards shark activity along our coastline. Sadly, there have been over ten shark attacks in the Inhambane Estuary just down the coast from the BCSS. It’s the poor crab ladies who are getting taken the most. They are sitting ducks working in a metre of cloudy water at best.
And so Calum is fiercely chasing Zambezi’s, the prime suspect as usual. Although bronze whalers are also on our shark tagging list for being a suspicious character. Calum is also after Tiger Sharks, but we have not been successful at this as of yet. Hopefully we can find a small one somewhere!
You can actually get involved in our shark tagging exploits if you like. The success of the project that Calum is running, has opened up more funding for his studies. More listening stations are being deployed in association with the BCSS and Dr. Mario Lebrato. And we now have another batch of tags to deploy. At over $1000 per tag, we have got responsibilities!
The BCSS was built in order to facilitate research and conservation. So if you are aligned with these objectives, get in touch to join the team for a week or two. Rates are very reasonable. And you get to stay with us out here on the edge of the whole world!
Get in touch on umzimkulu@gmail.com to make arrangements.
Fishing Benguerra: 2 Black marlin, one brown – on same live bait in same minute!
We had been catching and tagging Zambezi sharks. And recording humpback whale and calf conversations. For three weeks straight. In all kinds of seas and conditions. And so it was absolutely great to be out to tag marlin again. The core BCSS crew were aboard. Captain Bento and crew Pedro and Mario. Dr. Mario Lebrato. And me. We are all fishing mad and this heaven-sent day was just what we all needed to unwind and blow off some steam.
I wanted a marlin for Dr. Mario but when we got down to business, the sharks had eaten our entire box of 22/0 circle hooks. And we were left with our sailfish sized models. But there have been loads of small fish about, and sailfish. So when that beautiful little very unlucky skipjack found itself on the deck. I rigged it up with the small circle and let it go.It took a while to find a frigate bird way up on top, circling with promise. The bird was way above a flock of terns enjoying the action down below. And as we sneaked up on the bait ball, with action all around us, I got a solid strike. Then the fish picked up the bait and headed off with purpose. When the lines and smoke got cleared, I looked down to see the heavy shark purposed braid already melted off towards the half way mark. I pushed the lever forward and felt that almighty power as a huge black marlin took to the skies. Her bill was soooo thick. By now the reel was down to a third and it was with some relief that we all saw her throw the bait, still kicking, way through the air. We would never have turned that boat in time to give chase. But we were out for a laugh and we have been seeing so many marlin that we really, just had a laugh about it.
Then. The bait righted itself and there it was, kicking away merrily. Slowly I brought the bait back towards the boat, when bang, another strike. I was hoping it was not the same fish! And it wasn’t. A fish half the size of the first one greyhounded around us. A spritely male that also regurgetated the bait. Completely intact and still kicking determinedly we watched the unlucky skipjack fly through the again. Hitting the water with a splash we heard over the water from 30m away!
When I felt the bait still kicking again this time, I just handed the rod to Dr. Mario. Who promptly hooked a hammerhead of about 120kgs, that Mario broke the rod on, and we had to handline up. Easy job with that heavy braid.
It was super to encounter that first real big fish. She was so thick and fat. Compared to the rat that took the skipjack the second time. The reel wasn’t big enough either, even with that power braid, we would never have stood a chance. So in the end, the hook matched the tackle just fine. And it’s great that the fish got away scot-free.
Everyone else around us is also getting marlin every day. It’s an incredible scene. You can keep up by staying on top of The Sardine News’ various channels…YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter.
You can also check out Captain Duarte Rato and his marlin taming antics on their website http://fishbazaruto.com and social networks too. Duarte really has raised the bar and produces excellent results by global standards as he consistently releases marlin after marlin, species after species, up here in the waters around Benguerra Island and surrounds.
If you would like to join us fishing like this, The Sardine has many options on offer. From super budget camping and small boats. To luxury lodges and sportfishers. To live aboard mothership with 24ft gamefisher and a huge range.
You might also be interested in the goings on at the Bazaruto Centre for Scientific Studies. It’s exciting times as scientists and researchers have begun utilising the facility.
Get in touch on umzimkulu@gmail.com or try the menu item Trips and Travel above.
First marlin for Jason Morkel: Small marlin are just the best. Especially the baby blacks that frequent the waters of Bazaruto, at around this time of the year.
The small fish, under 50kgs sometimes, perform so nicely, getting more air proportionally than their parents do. Really spirited.
And they release really cool too. Like this young marlin (video below) hooked on a daisy chain meant for bait. Luckily the 50lb line gave Jason the power to dominate right from the beginning. At at the end, we got a clean release without even having to touch the fish. He even gave us a farewell leap of thanks!
The marlin season here in the Bazaruto Archipelago has well started, but the beasterly easterly is making things difficuilt. Blowing literally every day. You can notice how rough the sea was this day – in the video. But marlin like the rough seas, they certainly seem more active when the wind is pumping.
This day we also got to see one of our live baits get devoured in an instant. By a huge blackfin shark. So quick! The BCSS (Bazaruto Centre for Scientific Studies) and Dr. Mario Lebrato, supplied GoFish cameras that we have been using successfully and it really opens things up for us. We also have a big bull dorado attacking a plastic. A Cobia (Prodigal Son) chasing and close-up inspecting and even testing. And a hundred little yellowfin tuna chasing us around. We glean so much information from this technology, and it is helping us increase strike and hookup rate phenomenally. You can see that video and read that article right here.
And if you would like to join us fishing up here in these waters, we have many options for you. From 5 star to camping, we can get you out here. Check out some of our options right here.
And a new offering on the go right now, is the mothership Catsanova and her daughter Reflection. The liveaboard Catsanova can sleep 8 or more. And has a few cool options regards range and catering. She is powered by outboards and can get you to all the real interesting places. Like Pomene in the south, and to Nova Mambone in the north. These places hold treasure. Reflection is a purpose builtgamefishing machine skippered by local pro Dean Taylor. You can see him in action in this post. Click here for more.
And in between us and them, are the really big fish.
Fish behaviour studies at the Bazaruto Centre for Scientific Studies: The accompanying video features four species of fish and their different reactions to some of our trolled baits up here in Vilankulos waters.
Some days the water got real blue lately, but many other days have been plagued by a bit of green in the water. However, we have worked out distances from camera to fish nicely – the last clip in the sequence shows a huge blackfin shark come screaming on our marlin bait, chomping the wax thread that help the tuna to the circle hook, as they do.
The first clip, is that of a real nice sized bull dorado having a go at a paddle tail. Spectacular as the fish uses it’s prolific sail in the attack sequence. One of our best shots ever (thanks to Dr. Mario Lebrato for going to all the effort to get these clips).
Then a real interesting one comes on, revealing a noisy, ugly white hard plastic noisy lure, that just outright fails to convince the spritely little Cobia that came up from out of the depths to have a look. A very close look. Centimetres behind the clanging lure. And then, unbelievably, he gives it a nudge. When it doesn’t react like a real fish, the Cobia tries again until he convinces himself that it’s not worth it. And peels away unimpressed.
Then we were going slow for some reason, and a whole shoal of cute little yellowfin tuna come into the scene. The camera was upside down at this slow speed so the video can look a little confusing.
Enjoy the fish behaviour action…
The BCSS, on Benguerra Island, has been real busy hosting a group of whale behaviour scientists right now. More about that to follow…
BUT, Captain Duarte Rato officially started his season this week, and he will certainly be doing his homework and tagging and posting for us. His latest report can be seen here -> http://fishbazaruto.com/2018/09/18/early-september-18-fishing-update/, and is a real good one again featuring shoals of yellowfin, some wahoo, and two sailfish. All in days work for Duarte and crew once again on the good boat Vamizi. Who I saw moored at Vilankulos the other day – looking beyond spectacular in preparation for the season.
It’s totally wild down there as GoFish blows it up!
Gofish Cameras. Totally wild.
When we first reviewed a bunch of underwater recordings shot with GoFish trolling cameras – of fish attack behaviour, that we made out off of the Bazaruto Centre for Scientific Studies recently – some crazy sounds came booming from out of the studio.
More and more gasps and exclamations, hoots and howls from the reviewer – until he crescendoed with an almighty bellow, “COME AND SEE THIS!”
Bull shark on a Mydo trace
Myself and Callum Roberts (visiting shark scientist and the reason for us targeting Zambezi Sharks as he completes some serious scientific research work at the BCSS) bounded into his office, only to be exposed to the most eye-widening imagery ever seen by either of us. Mainly Zambezis – the particular troublesome species we have been targeting for spatial monitoring and movement tagging.
But also King Mackerel – reckless and lethal as they were hunting in packs – they operate together. Amazing to see. Even the big ones. And when your livebait starts to panic like it would after a few minutes in these waters, make no mistake your bait is being stalked and charged from all angles. What was amazing is that they turn away so often. It’s about one in ten charges – that the ‘couta actually hits the bait. The pack seems to goad one of them into eventually taking on strike duty. And they all hang around and share the spoils after the striker gets the bait off the trace! Which happened surprisingly often.
The Zambezi’s were the same, as in there was never only one of them. Up to six at a time were recorded happily sitting barely two metres below the propellers, easily keeping pace with us as we dragged a dredge and a bunch of lures around behind us, at quite some speed. Obviously, as we had a strike, it was barely a few seconds and a shark would climb on.
The Cobia acted the same. And often swam with the sharks. In amongst them. Huge fish.
As did the Talang Queenfish we were lucky enough to film off of Paradise Island. We scored an unlucky flying fish that flew onto the boat. About 5 inches long. The trace we had was too heavy for starters, but a bunch of queenfish came in and inspected, mock charged, turning away every time. A custom trace with light nylon would have gotten that strike. But we did get one on spoon, which may show a relationship between strike rate and live baits in the water.
A beautiful Talang Queenfish from the waters near Paradise .Island. Released
Yellowfin Tuna, at these initial stages of fish behaviour analyses, have been the most wary and sensible. The bonito and skipjack footage that we recorded in our wake following us – unbelievable. Like an over-stocked aquarium, there were fish everywhere, and going in all directions!
This particular application of video technology to our favorite past time of fishing has potential to completely shift the way we see and treat the ocean and it’s fish. It was far more of a thrill seeing what had happened as recorded and reviewed through the day than actually catching and fighting the fish.
The following video was compiled to study the king mackerel as they come in hot and fast onto the target. You will see that they definitely come in from the flank or rear, and that they go for the tail first. In this clip, one couta actually removes the tail completely with a lightning-fast strike. And then another of the three featuring king mackerel comes in and takes the bait right off the trace. But he hooks himself. And then, in a flash, he just shakes the trace free. All we could see from the boat, was a few dips on the rod tip. The fish never even took drag, since they were coming in for the strike in the general direction of the boat ie towards us! And for sure the camera was always deployed on a real stiff big gun. Tackle just too much for them. We lost quite a few cameras in the end. Sharks and other beeeeg fish we will never know about.
But basically, without the GoFish camera, we would have experienced none of the thrilling wildlife action going on barely a few metres behind the boat. It really has made an effect on us as we now are using this information to make new sfyle traces. But more about that in another article.
All the imagery we attained on our last three weeks of shooting underwater with GoFish cams, has been processed into data and video and is studies. Some of which you can see online at the following links:
You can study predator fish attack behaviour yourself by viewing these files, or by getting ahold of your own GoFish camera or two, at the following link:
