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Fishing on Honeymoon!

Theo, Sean and Paul...yellowfin tuna, yellowfin kingfish...king mackeral.For the pan!
Theo, Sean and Paul...yellowfin tuna, yellowfin kingfish...king mackeral. For the pan!

Theo and his new wife joined us for a week at Eco-Lodge in Tofo, mid December 2011. After hammering the queen mackeral at Linga, the next day dawned beautiful (for a change), and we headed south to Praia da Rocha, hoping for a whale shark and a kingfish.
Crystal clear water sometimes works against us I think, and after trolling the back reefs and finally getting a bonito for a live bait, we settled in to a slow rhythm south. By the time we got to Da Rocha, a couple of hours, with not a strike, I had enough, so pulled the bonnie in and let it go – hoping rather to find a queen mackeral or two on the backline, higher speed shallow troll, back home.

No sooner than I get all the Rapalas and stuff out – bang goes the X-Rap 10, light blue – and we finally get a fish to eat, albeit quite small. A yellowfin kingie.
Then we pull off again, round Tofinho point, and as we get amongst the local row boat fishermen, on anchor off Tofo, bang again – more for the pan – a little yellowfin! Then as we pull off again, bang! A little couta! So from broke to even on little Rapalas and feathers, and not a touch on the live bonnie?!  That’s Mozambique!

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Bazaruto Report : Nov 2011

(c) Duarte Rato
(c) Duarte Rato

Sean,

Brother I have attached a few photos of the past few weeks for the sardine.

We have just had the most insane bite here. After a slower patch in mid November due to constant northerly bringing green water to the grounds, things started to heat up in late November and we were releasing marlin on an almost daily basis.

Most of the fish on the smaller side between 150 and 350 pounds, but it still provided great fun. To mix things a bit there were unusual good numbers of sailfish around so we had a pitch bait on a small sticks ready for when a pod appeared on the spread and released a good number.
Yellowfin tuna between 2 to 20 kilos have been abundant, some wahoo and lots of dorado, but that is just by catch and we here for the Marlin and in early February it just went wild with a few big girls showing up for good measure.

(c) Duarte Rato
(c) Duarte Rato

Especially on the three days I fished with Theo and Leon who had been looking for their first Marlin for years with various trips to different destinations. But, this time they were at Baz @ the right time and boy did they catch some Marlin.

On the 1st day the 5th of December the wind was howling from the SE so we decided to leave the resort late and only do a half day (6 hours) and started at 10am on the top end of V mile reef.

10 minutes later…YES, all it took was 10 minutes and we hookup on the long left and Leon brings his first ever Marlin for a release, which we estimated at 180 lbs.

(c) Duarte Rato
(c) Duarte Rato

There was party going on the boat as we set the spread again and worked between the top end of V and bottom end of II mile in beautiful blue water. All it took was another hour and BANG we have a crash strike on a much bigger fish on the BMC 2 and Theo jumps in the chair to fight his first ever marlin and a good one at that.

Yeah, it was a great fish that did some crazy jumps and then a dog fight with Theo having to come up to sunset to winch it in…after 45 minutes of hard work we got the 500 pounder by the boat, tagged it and send it on it´s way…

(c) Duarte Rato
(c) Duarte Rato

We caught a couple yellowfin, a dorado and had another mysterious strike that did not connect and smiling, with 2M in hand made our way home…

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Bringing the luck!

Colin Thornton bought his lovely girlfriend Kate, on holiday to Barra…and boy was she luck on the boat. Her presence was all it took for Colin to climb into the fish.

Charlie in action...his first Natal Snoek taken off Linga Linga...
Colin in action...his first Natal Snoek taken off Linga Linga...

Fishing the Linga Linga channel is so much fun, especially when the Snoek are practically jumping in the boat.
With completely flat waters in that perfect Snoek Green tint, a variety of gamefish frequent this 25m deep channel, scarred with sandbanks and islands. The tides move in and out like some sort of rush hour, and these gamefish slam the poor baitfish and other juveniles without any mercy. Sometimes acres of fish rise at once. Little white dropshots (with wire) are compulsory, and light, light tackle. This area is one place you could catch a Natal Snoek or even a bonito, from the side, with light spinning gear. A good cast is all you need to be right in the mix.

All smiles for Charlie...
All smiles for Colin...

 

Introducing Paul Lawrence as our new Pro-Guide.
Introducing Paul Lawrence as our new Pro-Guide. With Rapala in the leg!

 

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Bazza!

Keith, Dave and Bazza entertained us immensely over a weekend full of fishing and fish. Davey caught his first couta, and then proceeded to catch a bunch more. Bazza was on the yellowfin trail…

 

<a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/72462837@N03/6542104829/” title=”Bazza-Tuna by Shonalanga, on Flickr”><img src=”http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7158/6542104829_4c9bf754ee.jpg” width=”500″ height=”332″ alt=”Bazza-Tuna”></a>

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