I recently had to do a proposal for an Ultimate fishing trip, so I thought I would put it on the blog for further comments, discussion, and for interested parties.
The brief was: Plan the Ultimate Fishing Trip in Mozambique for a week, for 8 guests. Budget wasn’t mentioned……
I’ve been fishing in these waters for 27 years, and it didn’t take me long to figure out what I would do. I’ve covered most of the 2800 km coastline, and there are few places I don’t know about here. I also know most of the fishing operators and what they do. What they do well, and what their shortcomings are.
Firstly, I didn’t want to be close to any towns. Local population fishing pressure is worse than ever. We have an exploding population here in Africa, and many people turn to the ocean for daily survival… Catching close in is becoming more difficult.
I wanted to go far away, to a remote place, that has little fishing pressure, and for that I needed a live aboard. I spoke to a sister operator, who has a 50 ft. Power cat, and we discussed ideas. I thought of Australia, and the Great Barrier Reef and how they Marlin fish there……. They usually mothership, because then they are right where the fish are……
What if, I can be in a place where there are a lot of fish, and be there with the possibility of not seeing another fishing boat, but without having to travel long distances each morning and night to that place? Also, I want a chance at a Broadbill at night.
Pantaloon One and Two, Baixo Davide, Baixo Acorn, Baixo Lacerda, Ilha Fogo, is a place just like that. This is the Primieras and Segundos Islands north of Quelimane. It is part of a reef system that is 160 km long. It has high spots of 10 m, with drop-offs to 1000 m within a mile- (1.82 kilometres). It is also a min of 35 kilometres off the coast, with no big towns within 120 kilometres of the start and end of the reef system. My kind of place….
What’s the drawbacks? Having to run big distances daily to get there and back……. Fish are on early morning and late afternoon. The way to solve that is to Mothership, but still have the Sport fisherman boats to ensure fishability. Usually, when we go liveaboard in Mozambique, we loose fishability because we are on a yacht. When you are trolling for Marlin, and get a hook-up, you don’t have a Marlin chair to fight from, must get a sail down to turn around, and have plenty of sail stays to obstruct manoeuvrability. That’s why you still need a dedicated Fishing Boat.
This proposal is about getting picked up in Quelimane, at the airport, and steaming up to the reef overnight on the liveaboard, where you will be by first light. The 50ft Power cat has all the space, bedding, and luxuries of a hotel. Combining with this is then to have two Sport fishing boats in conjunction with the mothership. So, in the mornings, we transfer 4 people to FV Bounty, a 36ft Marlin Sportfisher, and another 4 people to a 30ft Lee cat, with twin 250 hp Suzuki’s. FV Bounty would be a dedicated Marlin boat, because she was remodelled specifically for that, and is equipped with 6 x 80-pound rigs, Outriggers, Centre rigger, Flybridge, Tackle and Marlin Chair. From the group of 8, there would be some who maybe would prefer to target other fish, so the other boat would be for that then. Fish all day on the Sports fishing Boats, and retire as night to the mothership, for comfort and space, a gourmet meal, and to reconnect with the other group of 4. The mothership moves to the area where the fish are, so in the morning, you are ready to fish at first light immediately. You fish all you want, and get in the afternoon shift…. Those hard-core fishermen then go for Broadbill through the night…….
Now, what’s the cost? If you do a similar thing in Australia, you can budget on US$2000 per day per person. In the Seychelles, you can budget on US$1600 per day per person.
With me over May/ June/ July 2018, budget on us$ 370 per person per day for a 7-day trip- i.e. US$2500 per person ex flights, or US$20 000 for the group of 8. This excludes the Broadbill supplement. Space is subject to availability, so once again, speak to me soonest and reserve the dates, because now we need to take 3 boats from their schedules, and reserve them. Boats are being booked guys, so the longer you going to wait, the less chance we have of making this happen. This is the trip guys- EPIC fishing….. Bucket list stuff. We can cater for smaller groups. Let’s go Fishing.