It’s been a busy last three months fishing, hence the delay in updating my blog. Sorry guys- priorities….
It started late January with my old Nomads fishing club, and fellow South African team provincial angler, Andrew Lillico, coming to visit me after been away or more than a year with various injuries and operations. It was like a breath of fresh air, just spending time on the water together again. Proven strategies that we used to use in competition were once again explored and I got invigorated with new energy and mojo. Thanks Andrew for the visit, and King Neptune smiled on us favourably when you got that Marlin after a few days, which we obviously released.
Next father and son, Rob and Shaun Richardson from Durban joined me for a week, and what a week it was…….. We were delighted to see so many Yellowfin Tuna around, and fishing was easy. We ate Seared Tuna steaks in excess, and pulled plenty fish. The highlight was when we hooked an estimated 100kg Black Marlin on 15 kg line, on a halfbeak, close to the top of Barra reef, Inhambane. What a fight- Shaun was on the rod, and he did everything right, only for the hook to straighten after an hour of a real tug of war. The leader was 8 feet away, and I was waiting for the next time he got some line so that I could leader it. So close, and yet we couldn’t count it……. He will remember that day for the rest of his life. Absolute pleasure to spend some time with these guys, who knew how to pull fish, and chose the right week. There were three of us on Raptor and we got a triple header on Yellowfin Tuna in 70m of water shortly after we lost that marlin. Each fish was around the 17kg mark, and we got all three. That helped take away some of the bitter taste of losing the marlin. Although, only some….
The week after that Danie Neethling, and Damon Durant from the Cape Province, South Africa, came to visit. The Yellowfin Tuna were still here in numbers, and once again, we ate Seared Tuna steaks like they were on special. Alex, our chef, prepares them just perfectly with a little soy sauce, wasabi, and picked ginger to round it off. Seared on the outside, and pink on the inside…It’s now my favourite fish dish, and I can remember eating it 4 nights in a row- out of choice. Now Damon was a DJ, and he kept us entertained with his vast collection of music, and stories too numerous to mention. There wasn’t a quiet moment on Raptor, and just when things were getting quiet, he would get us going again. Its times like this that are special to me, that I enjoy. We laughed, got our fair share of fish, and generally had a great time.
Beginning of March, Pedro, Leonardo, Alex, and I loaded FV Bounty, and steamed 60 miles north to Pomene to meet up with the first group of Brazilian spearfishermen. We would be away for 7 weeks. The first four weeks were booked for spearfishermen, with the last three with line fishermen. There were three groups coming, hosted by my old friend, Marcelo, and then Diego came with the last week in March. They come every year, and it’s good to work with professionals. It’s great when you see familiar faces from previous trips, which means you doing something right. Pomene, Mozambique, is favoured by the spearo because of the vast network of shallow reefs. Reefs in the ten to fifteen meters are in excess, and a large variety of game fish, groupers, parrot fish, red snappers are available. There are huge numbers of trevally- bludger, yellow spot, bluefin, big eye- some shoals up to 500 fish strong. We were after the ultimate, the GT. They proved scarce, and we had few opportunities. Bernard was rewarded by getting his first, a fine specimen of 32 kgs after much diving. Funny enough, he got him in 8 meters of dirty water, on the inside of the estuary. Never give up, one last dive…..
After a few nights of eating fish, I would suggest a steak dinner, only to be told that the group would prefer the fresh fish we speared that day. I’ve never eaten so much fish back to back, but Alex did a perfect job of keeping us well fed and loaded with energy, with variety and always kept the food interesting. Fresh fruit was bought daily, which keeps the energy up.
This year we didn’t see as much billfish as last year, and we didn’t get a chance on them. Spearfishing is a game of chance…., and luck.
First week of April I was joined by returning clients Theo Lombard, his son, and Tiaan with his son. We were on Bounty for four days. Two father and son teams. We wanted GT’s, and fishing turned hard. We put in the hours, threw hundreds of poppers, and weren’t rewarded by good fish. It was very humbling because the last time we were out we got a Marlin and a sailfish on the same day. What can I say? We tried, but sometimes this sport of ours makes you humble. I was especially disappointed because of the young sons who were full of enthusiasm and energy, but we certainly tried……
On the last day, we saw something that we had all never seen before. Two massive whale sharks and four giant manta rays were feeding on a colour line, in 15 meters of water just off the old hotel. At one time, all six beasts were within 50 meters of themselves. We got up close, and the guys got into the water to snorkel with these magnificent animals. What we saw that day made us privileged, in what I think was a once in a lifetime experience.
The 13th April five returning guests, Gert van Reenen, JJ, Johan, Willie Anderson and Janneman from the Free State, South Africa joined me for some line fishing on FV Bounty. Fishing was slow, and for some reason the fish weren’t taking plastic. Once we got bait- carapoa, fishing improved, although it was still slow. We raised a marlin on the first day on a skip bait, but didn’t get the hook-up. The rest of the days bait was hard to come by and konas weren’t working. Fish were skittish and Tuna dived when we got close with Bounty. Once again we threw lots of spoons, and fished hard. We however did get a good wahoo of 17kgs, quite a few cuta, a job fish, a queen fish (that we skipped for the marlin) and some kingies. We saw plenty of fish, but they weren’t feeding. Maybe it’s mating time, and fish are distracted, who knows?
So, our annual tour to Pomene ended on the 21st April, and we limped home with Raptor and Bounty. The timing chain on the Honda of Raptor snapped, and bent valves. The powerhead is currently in pieces, awaiting spares from Japan……. Between Pedro and I we got 9 fish on the way down to Silver Fish Lodge, and I found some good reefs again.
Next year March and April, we will be back in Pomene again……Africa is always an adventure…..