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.
Announcing the BCSS (Bazaruto Centre for Scientific Studies)
Announcing the Bazaruto Centre for Scientific Studies:The Bazaruto Centre for Scientific Studies was opened by Governor Dani Chapo of Inhambane Province in Mozambique, in December 2017.
Enjoy the following video clip…shot on site, in the Bazaruto Archipelago. By Dr. Mario Lebrato and his team.
The multi-faceted installation is a facility designed to facilitate all kinds of scientific studies and projects, including, but not limited to;
underwater observatory
sonic tagging of sharks
coral, water and plankton sampling and analysis
recycling of beach plastic
social improvement programs including swimming and ocean survival
gps mapping of sea life
PADI diving
Paying volunteers are invited to join in with these projects and the many more coming up. There are daily and weekly packages available on the newly launched BCSS website.
Prices are very reasonable from 75$/person/day including all (excluding some leisure items), and
include first-class cooking and catering by local Chef Fernando. Three meals a day are served.
Warm and cold drinks too. Don’t think it twice, this is a life-time experience.
Accommodation is in the real deal safari tents, or in single and double sharing rooms. The facility is built right on a beautiful beach and bay, on the north side of Benguerra Island. Views are over the channel to Bazaruto Island. A thousand shades of blue.
Volunteer activities will take up half your day, the other half you can swim, snorkel, hike, game view, fish…anything you please. There is a surcharge for activities involving boats or vehicles.
If you wanted to get on over to the very edge of the world, this is one very cool way of doing it. The prices are a fraction of what it would cost to stay on the highly exclusive Benguerra Island. And you get to do something and learn some cool things about how we can all help conserve the environment that we live in.
Activities appeal to all ages really, but it’s the get-up and go type of volunteer we are looking for!
Bazaruto Centre for Scientific Studies Website
The BCSS website has recently been launched. Take a look at the following link:
Are you looking for a Holiday Home in Tofo? Check out Casa Frenzy…
Casa Frenzy is a super cool and big enough house for diving and surfing families – who want to take a relaxing break in a Holiday Home in Tofo
Ideally situated on the shoreline only a few clicks north of the marvelous Praia do Tofo beach and partying town. Casa Frenzy is set snugly into the indigenous vegetation directly behind the primary beach dune. It’s a 100 meter walk and you are in the warm clear Indian Ocean. Swimming or snorkeling your time away.
Then you might be prepared to hit the deep blue, and jump with the whale sharks, mantas, and dolphins that Tofo has become internationally known for. The reefs and ocean life in Tofo are rich and fascinating. There are heaps of reefs and dive spots between far Barra in the north, and Manta Reef, in the south. In between these two extremes, must be 20 named scuba spots.
Enjoy this cool video by ArtSurfer, shot by Renske Massing, with underwater companion Zito, a little while ago – in December 2017.
More about the enthralling town of Tofo…
Loads of dive centres to choose from
snorkelling or scuba
surf lessons for beginners and advanced
Island trips and dhow travels
Beachcombing
sport angling
vehicle and boat rental
Inhambane City visits
nightlife
local and international cuisine
fresh seafood daily
fresh foods grown right in Tofo
Coconuts and cashews
Tipo Tinto Rum and 2M cerveja
There are really so many things for everybody to do in and around the Praia do Tofo area. The Inhambane Bay allures with it’s enchanted islands and purple blue channels. Complete peace and quiet and accessible to everybody in the family or tour group. The swimming and snorkeling at Barra is terrific and you may even become a close acquaintance with a little seahorse or two.
So click on over to our newly updated Casa Frenzy page and connect through the easy as form…
Fresh in from Bazaruto Island: Captain Duarte Rato has been hard at all February, and rounds it all off with a fantastic trip he got together with his Dad and his son. Spanning three generations, the effort was serious enough, but with the help of Duarte Jnr’s mom Gretha, those yellowfin were really in deep trouble!
“As all who fish with us know my Dad, Jose Duarte, is a true salt, a real old man of the sea who spent his life in the Ocean, mostly on commercial vessels. He took me to sea from a very young age and, from a very early stage in my life, when my friends wanted to be Doctors, or fireman, or engineers, I knew I wanted to be a charter Captain. My oldest son, Duarte, who just turned 5, as definitely inherited the passion of the sea from us. Or should I say obsession! The boy dreams fishing, watches fishing videos as opposed to cartoons, spends huge amounts of time looking at my BlueWater, Ski-boat and Marlin Magazines and, at five, can easily identify between a Blue, a Black and a Striped!”
The yellowfin tuna have also made an appearance of Tofo recently. Acres of birds enjoying the feast of small sardine-like fishies all over the place right now. Judging by some of the smashes going on, visible over a few kilometres even, there were some big fish on the hunt. Voracious attacks on the surface!
In the backline at Tofinho were the bonefish again. They looked like they could have been spawning as every now and then one lolled over another and a flash of underbelly was occasionally seen. Very cool to see them all so tightly knit and floating along just shy of the waves. If they were not spawning, then I am not sure what they were getting up to?! And no, they were not lemonfish!
Along the beach at Fatimas the bonefish pros were baiting up with prawn and squid and getting a handful of foot longs each. These guys just seem to know exactly when and where these fish decide to show up. This was a few days ago, as a front came through.
The markets are overloaded with lovely gamefish like couta, kingfish and tuna. The weather has been crappy, but aytime the row boats get themselves out there, they bring back nice fish.
Catching Yellowfin Tuna in Mozambique
Well the biggest one caught up in these tropical waters here so far, has to be this 72kg monster, by Duarte and crew, taken on a marlin rig, a few years ago. This fish caused quite a stir, as on this same day, they were all over the place. These huge yellowfin tuna, out of nowhere! And on a mission to smash into everything they could. Luckily this fish held on right to the end. Quite a few got away!
This is the biggest Yellowfin Tuna caught in mozambique by anyone we know. Yes Captain Duarte Rato again!
At around the same time, bigger class yellowfin tuna were being encountered up and down the East Coast seaboard of Southern Africa. Even Durban got a fish over 50kg’s. A new club record for all the years of that clubs existence.
Traditionally, yellowfin tuna just don’t hang in these tropical and warmer waters at all. Once they reach sexual maturity, which is 35 to 40kgs, they shoot over the horizon and into the “tuna lanes”.
But, tuna, all of the species, are well known for their feeding patterns. They can stick to a regimen like clockwork, often traversing hundreds of kilometres in a day as they migrate between feeding spots. Feeding spots that these highly intelligent fish know are going to produce at those times. And they can change feeding habits and patterns, completely.
Bluefin tuna used to use False Bay as one of their spots. These fish were most likely Southern Bluefin, which we still get in quite prolific numbers, right off our coast. The Transkei Wild Coast regularly sees legal longliners from Japan, there are two of them, catching Southern Bluefin Tuna, within cellphone signal distance from shore. These ships are based out of Durban and can be monitored on any AIS app, anytime. They catch serious fish. Billfish and Southern Bluefin. but the Bluefin that vacated False Bay in the seventies – have never come back!
Weirdly enough, Bluefin started pitching up off Ireland a while back. After a very long absence. Local anglers were amazed to see these huge fish coming right up to them, as they plied their regular fishing techniques right offshore. Soon, these guys were posting online, questions on how to catch Bluefin Tuna. And sure enough, they caught quite a few!
So the influx of bigger tuna to these shallower and more tropical waters, could be seen as an adjustment to their feeding patterns. An adjustment to the adjustments made as so many variables have to line up for natural events like sardine runs to occur.
So tackle up this next season. Keep that heavy duty popper at the ready!
Bonefish, bluebottles and easterlies in summertime Tofo
Surfing Tofinho in the predominant easterly winds of summertime can still be a blast. The sand on the point still sends little wind swells reeling along just fine.
The clean warm water has also enticed shoals of bonefish and blue-tailed mullet. They were swimming right into us as they porpoised down the face of the very waves we were catching. Chasing hapless little anchovy looking fishies all over the place. The boneys use the free power of the wave to ambush with. Spectacular.
Bonefish are a staple in this place. Using handlines and small hooks baited with prawn or squid, local anglers know exactly when and where to get a bag full of footlong boneys. They get really big here. World record size. See featured pic of Jimmy the local angler from Tofinho with a bus. Sometimes they vie for attention with the magnificent milkfish. Chanos chanos. A slab of muscle adorned with a huge tail. Which can be seen as they hunt right on the surface. They seem to enjoy the same feeding conditions as the bonefish. Small creatures right on the surface.
Both species will chase your spoon or dropshot. But they always turn away at the last minute. But they will gorge your tiny white fly.
Best have at least a 9 weight for this battle…
Rounding off…this is officially the details of the largest ever bonefish caught…just down the way in Zululand…
Weight: 19 pounds
Line Class: M-30 / All Tackle
Angler: Brian Batchelor
Location: Zululand, South Africa
Date: May 26, 1962
Fight Time: N/A
Lure/Bait: Prawn
Tackle: Atlas line; Penn 49A reel; Sealey Heavy Surf rod
