Tag: handline

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Fish Profile: Blue Tail Mullet

Blue tail mullet caught on handline off the Inhambane Pier in Mozambique

Fish Profile: Blue Tail Mullet

Fish Profile: Blue Tail Mullet – staple diet for communities in many tropical places throughout the Indo-Pacific, the blue tail mullet also puts up helluva fight on hook and line. Which in Mozambique and similar 3rd world countries, means hand line.

Life Underwater – Blue Tailed Mullet in the Umzimkulu Estuary (youtube.com)

Blue Tail Mullet foraging in the Umzimkulu Estuary in Port Shepstone.

Mostly though, these fish are caught in a huge net deployed from a dhow.

These blue tail mullet were caught in a net in the Inhambane Bay in Mozambique.

These fish above were netted.

But we saw an amazing display of fishing skills on the Inhambane Pier a few years back. Using handlines with tiny prawns as bait, local subsistence anglers expertly fight and subdue these fine-looking blue-tinged fish – they are so full of colour in the water. This guy must have run 3 or 4 kilos. However, we have seen some that look even bigger around here.

Blue tail mullet in Inhambane, Mozambique.

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Jimmy Bonefish!

Jimmy Bonefish!

Anyone who has fished the point at Tofinho, in Inhambane, Mozaambique, will have been impressed by Jimmy Bonefish’s skills. Fishing with a rod and a handline, he consistently produces  the best catches…sometimes hauling in two fish at once. I have seen Jimmy coming back from fishing at night with 2 queenfish, 2 kingfish and a huge couta!
Subsistence fishing rock n surf must be one of the biggest challenges available as far as career choices go. But Jimmy handles it with aplomb. Targeting big gamefish at night, off a 20ft high point made of razor sharp rock! On his own!

Jimmy Bonefish with another potential world record bonefish, that frequent his local fishing spot at Tofinho
Jimmy Bonefish with another potential world record bonefish, that frequent his local fishing spot at Tofinho often

These huge bonefish weigh around 10kg’s are are readily encountered, and caught, in the surf zone, all around the Tofinho headland.

Other subsistence guys fish off the cliffs right into broken and foaming white water, where they pull out smaller bones by the bunch. Perfect live baits for kingfish and other mean backline predators. These guys only have handlines.

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