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Fresh in from Cpt. Duarte Rato: Marlin Black ‘n Blue

IMG_5640Tim and Ross from CT had been here on a 3-day trip three years ago and in that trip released three Blacks up to 450 lbs in horrible conditions. Still today I talk about it as the absolutely more shity crappie water I have ever caught a Marlin. The water was not green, it was brown!!!

 

It is uncommon and not to such an extent but, three days before they got here the water went completely off-colour. The night they arrived it finally turned SE but not knowing the water had seriously moved in we spent a couple of fruitless hours in the early morning on the inside catching bait.

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We had enough of it and set a spread of lures and planned to go deep for Blues but as soon as we got to 90 meters the water turned an electric Blue (which seriously put a smile on my face). Fifteen minutes later a dark shade materializes behind the long corner lure and after trailing it for a while finally inhales it properly and stuck. Ross made short work of it and in no time at all we had this very frisky Black to deal with by the boat. We released it and called it 150 LBS.
IMG_5643The second day was alive at Lighthouse. We released a bunch of Yellowfin and bonnies and got a nice wahoo. Everything looked in place and early morning Big Bob hooked up and released a nice 600 pound Black just to the outside of us. An hour later we got a 350 come on the spread, knock the long corner and then come snake like billing the long left and fade away. Later we live baited and got sharked by a massive bull.

 

The third day started with a big YFT and a dorie. But it was nowhere as alive as the day before although we did get a lot of YFT on the blind. At 11am we decided to go deep for a couple hours and worked the 300-line counter for a while. I got a call from Steve on Wave Walker about a drifting commercial FAD they were working on a few miles down. When we got there it was gamefish mayhem and the boys had an hour of fun on bonnies, YFT and wahoo. We left to go shallow and work the afternoon incoming tide. On the way in 240 meters a very aggressive fish took the long left lure from the inside out and went off for the races. This Blue did all it was supposed to do, that is go absolutely insane after the bite, warping off at lighting speed, then turning and jumping towards the boat like Hell and then just decide to dash away into the horizon. This hysterical behavior soon settled down and we quickly got on top of the fish and released it at probably a dash over 550 LBS for Tim Bacon.

Very cool to catch a Blue as we, for good reasons, do not normally venture into their territory…

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FIRST BLACK MARLIN FOR 13 YEAR OLD, ANDRES ATKINS

FIRST BLACK MARLIN FOR 13 YEAR OLD, ANDRES ATKINS

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Aaron´s oldest son joined us today to try and catch his first Black Marlin. At 13 years of age André as already got a sailfish, striped Marlin and an elusive spearfish under his belt. Knowing that a big southeasterly would move in at noon today we knew would be forced to cut the day short and I worked south so that I could tak with the wind when the front moved in. We had a slow start with only a mysterious strike on the long rigger lure. We then found a finger of good water south of II mile and worked shallower where we found some yellowfin tuna. We had a quadruple strike but the sharks quickly moved in. We then tried to live bait one but again it was sharked within 5 minutes. At about 11 the wind started pushing quiet strong anda n hour later it was gusting 20 + knots. The sea was on it´s head and I slowly started tacking north to got to the top end of II mile to make our way back. At 12h45 the unepected happen. We had a strike and a hookup on a Marlin, but not on the big rods but on the small TLD 25 / 30 pound line bait sticks. We now had 30 knots of ravaging wind and a Black Marlin on the end of a bait rod…this was going to be fun!

It was only a 100 pound rat but it did put up a good fight and lost of work for young Andres, who did a beautiful Job. Driving the boat in the big swell was no easy Job, especially trying to get on top of the fish when it come to the surface. Eventually after 50 minutes of Great fun we got it by the boat and let it go…it was so rough we could  not take pictures. Bazaruto delivers again…this for a teenager 4th species of billfish!!!

The day’s adventure did not end there and on the way back we saw this dhow battling the wind. When we got closer they all started waving frantically and it was a dhow with no wind or engine that had been caught in the wind. There were 6 local kids on the boat, the oldest probably about 12. They were obviously unable to row against the ragging wind and were being pushed away. Crazy stuff man, we obviously towed them back to the Island but not without making sure my deckhand Alberto, gave them an earful for being out there when it was so obvious this front was coming.

All ended well in a truly memorable day…just another one at the office at Bazaruto 🙂

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500 pound Black Marlin for 17-year-old Billy Brake by Captain Duarte Rato!

Hey Sean,

Another report for the sardine from this morning…this place is just EPIC!!

Cheers,

Duarte

 

500 pound Black Marlin for 17-year-old Billy Brake

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500lb Black Marlin released (c) Duarte Rato
500lb Black Marlin released (c) Duarte Rato

 

Richard and Billy Brake have been fishing with us every single year since 2001. In that time they have caught numerous Marlin up to 850 pounds. Billy caught his first Marlin with us when he was about 12 and four years back he fought a fish for 3 hours that was sharked on the leader that we estimated at 6oo plus pounds. Well, they have just arrived on the first of their two trips to fish with us at Bazaruto this season and after an initial slow first day, we got a great fish for 17 year old Billy today.

We started the day game fishing and caught a few cuda and Yellowfin tuna. At 8h30 we put a live bait out which was sharked within a few minutes. After catching another 2 yellowfin we live baited another and after a 2-hour wait Billy hooked up to a nice Black Marlin that we eventually released and estimated at 500 pounds.

All in a half days fishing off the Bazaruto Archipelago!!!

 

 


Duarte A. Moreira Rato

Cel (Mozambique):            + 258 82 805 7160   /   + 258 84 639 0466

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EPIC start to the Bazaruto Marlin Season by Duarte Rato

Duarte Rato Bazaruto

EPIC start to the Bazaruto Marlin Season by Duarte Rato

Even though we only really starting the Marlin Season of the Bazaruto archipelago on the third week of September, we had our good friend and loyal client Carl Jankowitz come up with his family during the last week of August to have an early go. August is a windy month and this year was no exception and we only fished 2 days over the course of the week, but they were EPIC to say the least, especially this early. On the first day and after catching some game fish on light tackle we hooked a Marlin about 250 lbs on a #30 pound stick and a TLD 25. Unfortunately it broke off 55 minutes later. We set the konas on the heavy gear and got some yellowfin tuna and just before lines in had a crash strike on the short corner lure followed by a sizzling run. Carl got in the chair and brought in a frisky 250 lbs Black Marlin for a release. The next we caught some serious size wahoo, yellowfin and then missed a Marlin mid morning. We persisted and just before noon we hooked a 300 + pounder that gave us some awesome jumps and a really hard time. It took us just under an hour to get it alongside the boat for a release. 2 Marlin out of 4 for Carl Jankowitz in two days this early in the season is really encouraging and we cannot wait to get out there come late September!!!

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GT´s stand for GIANT Kingfish…

Can you just imagine the sound of the line being ripped off the reel here? (C) Rato
Can you just imagine the sound of the line being ripped off the reel here? (C) Rato

The boys were well under gunned for most of the GT´s we encountered. The tackle they brought was way to light to stop those fish from reefing us and all of the really big Giant Kingfish we hooked were just to strong to stop!!! The boys did however release some decent fish up to about 12 kg on poppers and stick baits as well as some other species.

The pick handle...(c) Duarte Rato
The pick handle…(c) Duarte Rato
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