January 4th, I fetched three guys, Alessandro, Giacomo and Willy, ex Italy, from a delayed flight with LAM (our national carrier) who were routed through Dubai and then Maputo, before coming through to Inhambane airport. A long trip in anybody's language. They would be with me for 11 days, 7 days fishing, depending on the weather.
Right from the beginning I saw that these guys were well prepared, and experienced. Strong guns, strong float lines with enough length bungees and high flotation inflatable buoys. This was the middle of summer and they had just come from the snow and cold in Europe.
Temperatures in Mozambique in January hover around the 32 deg Celsius mark daily, so it is quite an adjustment with temperature.
Soon equipment was prepared and we were off the next day in search of what the Mozambique reefs had to offer.
We started off in an area where the reef is between 15 and 25m, just north of Silver Fish Lodge. No game fish, but we saw quite a few reef fish, and the usual green Job fish. Terry served supper of fresh Job fish, and the next day after a light breakfast we were off again. Wind still NE, which makes the water dirty, but keeps it very warm- 29 Deg Celsius. This day we got a pair of trevally (Bludger Kingfish), a Great Barracuda and another Job fish. Giacomo's aim was off and he missed a few. I offered him another flasher, but he told me in broken English- it's not the flasher, or the gun, it's the man... Now this is a man who makes his own Spear guns, so he should know. Willy got most of the fish in the first two days. He was on form.
There is a place where all spearfishermen will go when they come to Silver Fish Lodge. It's called Diablo (The devil) and it's a creepy place. It's in deep water, holds a lot of fish and has a resident big bull shark, about 3.5 – 4m in length that owns the reef. We call him Patrao (which is boss in Portuguese) There's a bump that comes up to 28 m, from 40-50m. When the wind doesn't blow and there is no current, there is no fish. We went there over six days, daily. Sometimes there were no fish, other times full of fish.
Now Alessandro has been around in his 57 years. He's an old sea dog. Dived all over the world, done competitions, shot trophy fish, and generally seen it all. The one day, afterwards, he told me the story about this Patroa of the reef. He says he was diving and coming back up to the surface, and in midway, yet to shoot, when this monster started swimming towards him. It came directly towards him from the front. When it was 3 metres away Sandro started barking at the shark. First it was just a woof woof, but the shark still came. Then he increased the volume WOOFFF WOOOOFFFF, and still it came. He said he was just about to show this shark his teeth about a metre away from him, when he pressed the spear tip into the shark's face, and the shark turned, to his relief. We all had a great laugh about it afterwards, but it shows you we are in their territory. Spearos eyes get big when they see this shark, because it is massive, has no fear, and generally takes your fish without asking. There are many stories about this Patrao, and probably will be many more in time to come.....
Generally, gamefish weren't there in numbers. We got to see a lot of Yellow Spot Kingfish (trevally), Big Eye, Bluefin, Bludger, and some GT's. We saw a pair of Sailfish earlier in the week, but they were too far away and swam off. There were plenty of Snapper, Malabar rock cod, Potato bass, Coral trout, reef fish, other rock cod and Job fish. Few Wahoo and Cuta around- maybe the water was too warm at 29 Deg C.....
The last day the weather was rainy and windy. Poor conditions, but we did have good visibility for the 7 days diving. Giacomo shot a sailfish with a perfect shot on the last day, which was the highlight of the week.
On the way, back to Italy, the connecting flight between Maputo and Inhambane was late, so they got back to Italy a day late. Maybe it's better to come straight through Johannesburg, then direct to Inhambane. Less flights, less aggravation...
I hope to see these guys again soon. You got to put in the time, and then you will get your fish. Weather always plays a big part in our sport. We did have great vis of between 20-30 at times with the SE wind.
A week later we had 250 mm of rain dump on us for a week. Welcome to the tropics in rainy season.