Dave MacLean has fished with us for years and on his last trip in early October 2011 he had a brilliant trip, including fighting a fish well over a 1000 pounds into the drak for nearly 5 hours that unfortunetly chafed through the 650 lbs leader. He missed last year but a couple of months ago he phoned me but all I had left was three days in December, which he took straight away.
Unluckly, after a month of beautiful calm weather he arrived on the 5th, along with his sister and brother in law, Andrew exactly at the same time as a low pressure system moved in. However, despite the strong SE we decided to give it a go the next morning and by 6h30am were trolling a spread of lures down south in a very uncomfortable swell. As we tacked north we finally started to see some baitfish on the surface, mostly skipjack and caught a wahoo and released a nice great barracuda on the lures.
It was Andrew´s first ever deep sea fishing and I had given him all the in´s and out´s and finally at 9am the time come for him to get in the chair as a nice Black Inhaled the Blue & Pink Williamson BMC2 on the long right. The fish took off in a series of jumps and put us on the backing straight away. We quickly cleared and we in hot pursuit with Andrew puffing and sweating as he quicky recovered line. As we got close the fish made another series of jumps and trashed on the surface which gave us a break to get right on top of it. It then went down and I told Andrew to put up the drag, go to low gear and start the real work! Eventually the fish come up, gave a couple of jumps and just before the half an hour Alex got the leader on a still very green fish. We got a couple pics, tagged the fish and let him go.
Late April can sometimes be a treat in Southern Mozambique when pockets of warm water cruise randomly about in the Mozambique channel…bringing back in the Dorado, Sailfish and Striped Marlin. Diversity Scuba has 26 degrees noted on their conditions board. And this nice dorado was in the market yesterday…
Setting out from Pumula at 4:30am, we made Swaziland in great time. The roads are good and the Sunday traffic was minimal.
Not too many journeys feature Giraffe families along the side of the road… Passing through Pongola into Swaziland we encountered this adult and a bunch of smaller guys a little further into the bush. Monkeys and bird life kept us entertained driving through this piece of Zululand.
Swaziland featured more cops than wildlife. But again…the traffic was quiet and soon the Goba border post came into view. Mozambique!
The Frenzy checking out the biltong shop in Pongola…
We stopped for a layover at the awesome Casa Lisa, north of Maputo. Great all round experience.
And finally made Tofo. 15 hours of driving over two days, Barry Krause of Fairwinds did a sterling job and only got speed trapped once. 1000 mets fine. Got receipt. Evidence of the recent floodwaters was everywhere especially in the Xai Xai area, but on the whole the affected places have recovered completely and life is back to normal.
Tofo Point in the morning…
March weather is just around the corner but it’s still hot as hell here. This is certainly the quitest time of the year for Mozambique. Everyone just biding time until the next holiday/season.
The fishing is very good though. Loads of couta…a few big ones. The sea alive…all kinds of baitfish in the netter’s catches. The water is 26 to 28 degrees and blue blue blue. We normally have a little sailfish run at this time…let’s see!
(above) Netters rowing past Praia da Congiana this morning…
Up in Southern Mozambique, and right down the coast into Southern Natal, the seasonal “Dorado” are coming out regularly. Local boats in Tofo are getting 4’s and 5’s interspersed with the usual small couta and the odd sailfish. Yesterday Jose Rungu hooked a big marlin that towed him and his rowboat around the bay for a few hours.
In the photo…Alan Ngobo and Themba hold up their catch, made off the Umzimkulu River mouth area.
Because they are so delicious, cooked any way you prefer, seafood chefs worldwide refer to Dorado as The “Chicken of the Sea”. It also goes by the name “Dolphinfish”…and in the Pacific – “Mahi Mahi”.
Chad Leavitt’s first sailfish, released off Morrungulo, on the way to Pomene (c) BoaGente
Pomene in semi-southern Mozambique has always been our ultimate destination. Featuring the best Mozambique has to offer – the diving is incredible – with acres of reef, the fishing is fantastic, the beaches pristine and deserted with amazing surf, the local community friendly and so much to explore and photograph.
Getting there by road is not so difficult. The EN1 past Massinga, a few clicks and you can’t miss the Pomene Lodge sign to the right. This 54km dirt road become sand as you wind your way through the Pomene Nature Reserve and then behind the huge primary dune north until you reach Pomene.
But. We wanted to go by boat! Mainly to gain experience, explore the areas north and to test our brand new 2nd hand Interceptor 250 Cat. Getting a team together left us with a soon-to-be motley crew of capable and fit traveller types – some from Tofo, some from all over. We spent the Thursday beefing up our safety gear and procedures, scrambling for fishing tackle, and almost heated planning and debate.
Early Friday morning with 250l of fuel and a tonne of crew and cargo, we made a good launch and headed north in a blustery southerly sea, which would follow us the entire trip.
Captain Paul Cook on the helm for the first 6 hours straight (c) BoaGente
At 1900 rpm we use about 10l an hour giving us 12km’s or so at 6 knots. However with the current this time of year being a torrent, measuring up to 3 or 4 knots and more sometimes, we had to stay shallower, in about 20m of water to compensate. And we took a load of extra fuel, in fact our range was 250kms, and we were only traveling 120kms this day. It was easy enough to get more gas in Massinga – the nearest town to Pomene, with the local chappas (taxi), that runs through there every day.
The first fish of many. Robin Beatty, Sean Lange and Charl Mikkers (c) BoaGente
Our first fish came after we had left the Barra area and were past Linga Linga. The couta came one by one and then increased voracity…eventually we stuck to 3 rods only, and were even then getting full house strikes. We lost a lot of tackle and fish due to chaos and a crowded boat.
Great weather half way and the tuna came on the bite. (c) BoaGente2 by 2! With Anna, Charl and Paul (c) Boa Gente
Eventually we were catching too much fish for our purposes, so went down to two rods only. Chad Leavitt had been spectating a bit while Charl Mikkers, Robin Beatty and I grabbed the rods every time. Great having no charters sometimes! Then the rod went again so we volunteered Chad to the rod and there come the sailfish…bounding around and causing chaos. Clearing the boat got us into the fight and in a few minutes shaking shaking but determined arms pulled the fish alongside where Charl pounced upon it with his sarong. Robin (Capt. Gallop) removed the Rapala?!?! and the fish swam away unhurt and full of beans. Well done Chad! Whoops of joy all round!
Chad Leavitt’s first sailfish comes to the boat, off Morrungulo (c) BoaGente
Release! Captain Gallop removes the hooks whilst Charl Mikkers holds on tight. The fish was very much alive and well when we let it go (c) BoaGente
But. In the meantime a squall started appearing up ahead and in our path. So we decided, in the interests of safety, to up lines and steam the rest of the way. We also seemed to be taking water on our starboard side…so bungs out and on the plane. Very comfortable for a degenerating ocean. Rain came, the wind turned more onshore, the sea got more holes in it and bang! the port side prop is spun (the rubber bush holding the prop together is meant to absorb sharp impacts and prevent them from shearing the drive shaft – but under heavy load or use, the rubber fails…leaving you with a maximum speed on the engine of 2000rpm.) So we had to back off to that speed with both motors and hunker down. The rain got worse…but the GPS showed Pomene 10kms ahead.
Stormy weather caught us 20kms south of Pomene. We upped lines and ran at this stage. We never wanted to catch anything more! (c) BoaGente
Arriving in almost too late visibility, but armed with GPS and spotlights, we found the channel, surfed a few waves in (she surfs like a champion) and walked her up to Sathane’s camp. Beautiful. relief all round – 12 hours at sea is not easy, physically or mentally. Paul Cook and I were responsible for the boat so slept aboard. To our misfortunes. At about 2am, the tide reached us again, and in our slumber swung the boat alongside the shore. Waves came through the channel, the rain increased, the wind was wild – and waves were breaking against us, some splashing right into the boat, causing cooler boxes, tackle boxes and all sorts to float around! Paul and I struggled for over an hour, getting the boat in a position where we could remove the water and the boats contents. We were done by 4am, at first light. Exhausted and cold, we both lost our core temperatures, and even a fire could hardly help. Luckily the sun came storming out, but too late, I got the flu and Paul got malaria. The next day we spent passed out trying to recover.
The morning after. An incredible place is Pomene. (c) Boa GenteThe view from the campsite (c) BoaGente
And so Pomene literally absorbed us. The sun shone, the breeze blew. We had so much fish on ice, and spent the next few days eating as much of it as we could – to get strength back up for the return trip, which we delayed twice, finally deciding on the Tuesday. No-one complained!
Our 4 Jack Mussells enjoyed the trip to Pomene the most! Stinky, Steamer, Oscar and Chelsea (c) BoaGente
Eventually Paul was looking malarial, and our support vehicle – driven by the Knight in Shining Landrover, Branko was on his way with more drinking water and fuel, so he and Marie and Heidi grabbed the far quicker ride home. This left the boat with 6 up and a lot less cargo.
We launched at 2:30am in the light of stars, at a very high tide. Drifting with baits got us a few strikes but first light soon got the Rapalas out and we were up to 6knots again. The ocean was idyllic and we traversed acres and acres of fish. Everywhere you looked were fish. But. They were not interested in the Rapalas at all. Charl was even throwing his dropshot right down the yellowfin tuna’s throats and they spat them out. Eventually we got 6 fish together, but it was a totally different story to the upways trip, when we were against the current.
The current did help us save gas and we made it home with plenty to spare. Aside from some water again in the starboard hull, the trip was safe and uneventful.
When we dropped off the bulk of the crew at Flamingo Bay, as they looked back at us, we looked like a refugee boat with shade-cloth and life-jackets strewn around to make shelters and comfortable spots for humans and doglets.
Summary: what a trip!
We have designed a new package for the above adventure – details coming soon!
Call Sean on +258 840 666 471 or email umzimkulu@gmail.com
FIRST MARLIN FOR ANDREW WHITEHEAD
