Lazarus banks September 2017 Report

[stickleback]

   WOW , thank you for sharing your experience with us, brilliant report - really great that you caught on your poppers (makes all the prep.time & effort worthwhile). How did the jelutong / tarbender built lures hold out against the toothy onslaught, were they tough enough?? (I'm busy with a lure build at the moment using the same materials - is there anything you would change?)

[Dewald Posthumus]

The lures held up just fine, they took some punishment from the GT's and the shark, but all in all, not bad.


One thing I would change is to make them a bit lighter and apply two coats of Tarbender. I used Gamakatsu GT recorder 5/0 hooks on them which added to the weight as well. We even had a GT recorder open on a big fish...these hooks are pretty strong though..

[stickleback]

Cool, thanks man, so I guess you're already planning your next trip?   

[Dewald Posthumus]

Cool, thanks man, so I guess you're already planning your next trip?   

Absolutely!


We are looking at entering the Fogo islands competition for GT's..

[FishStyx]

We are looking at entering the Fogo islands competition for GT's..

That's a lovely trip... From reef system to reef system. Sadly the fish were not playing ball when we did it last year but I have seen the potential of the area. Had a lot of fun catching bonefish at Fogo on light tackle. Crankman did a report on the trip. http://www.ultimateangling.co.za/index.php?topic=21399.msg364480#msg364480

[Dewald Posthumus]

Thanks Martin,


Will check it out. The cost is quite a lot more thank for Lazarus, would be really disappointing to have bad weather for this type of trip.

[CRANKMAN]

I see all my pics in the Primeras trip report have disappeared?

[CRANKMAN]

Found them here http://www.ultimateangling.co.za/index.php?action=media;sa=album;in=278

[L Hooker]

congrats looks like you guys had an epic trip

[Dewald Posthumus]

Hi guys,

I had a request to break down some of the actual costs for this kind of trip, so I will gladly share it here.

Herewith a breakdown of  costs:
 
  Vessel:
  6 nights on the yacht at around R75k, give or take, split  that into maximum 6 guests. It includes transfers to and from the airport, all  meals incl tea and coffee, soft drinks and water. It also includes all the fuel  etc. It works out to around R12500 pp.

  Flights:
  Connecting Flights from JHB to Maputo to Pemba via LAM, R5800  per person. SA Airlink is a round R13k! The reason why we extended our stay on  the boat is because LAM changed their flights to Thursday's only. So you have  to stay a week. You can set up in a local lodge if you only want to be on the  boat for 5 nights, but who the hell wants to lose out on a day's fishing in  Lazarus banks??

  Extra's:
  You can buy beer from the new Shoprite Liquor store - it is  directly across the road from where we boarded the vessel. You can find all the  local stuff as well as things like Castle Lite, Black Label etc. Expect to pay  between R200-R250 per case of beer - local beers are cheaper than SA brands.  They also have things like Ciders and all other brands of liquor. We bought  expensive drinks at duty free for the evenings, another R500 per person.
 
We boarded the vessel at Nautilus bar and restaurant, we  opted to have a late lunch and a couple beers before boarding - an extra R300  per person. Also, we returned very early in the morning and had to kill time  until 12Pm before we could head off to the airport, so again, return  breakfast/lunch at Nautilus and a couple of G&T's, another R300-R500 per  person.

  Tip for the deckhand/ staff on the boat, another R1000-R2000  for the group, depending on staff numbers.

  Tackle:
  NO COMMENT!

  On a serious note, we overkilled on tackle.

  Let me rather give you an idea of lost or broken tackle, we  lost around 8-10 jigs (broken off on reef or bitten off by wahoo on the drop).  We lost 3 poppers (broken tip guide on one rod which cut through the braid and  wind knots casting, no fish that broke us off). Lost/ used plenty dropshot, one  fish, one dropshot. Also, one bite, one dropshot, wahoo would nip off just the  tail and the lure is gone.

  We also lost one tip of a popping rod and one tip guide ring  - you have to take a backup popping rod between the 6 guys, more than one would  be perfect.

  So, for next year's trip I will be taking 5 poppers, 5 jigs,  5 bucktails, 5 spoons, 4 GT ice creams and a bunch of dropshot. Take a couple  of packets of inline singles, jigging assist hooks, split rings and so forth, I  took 5 packets of jigging assists, and lost one hook! Don't overkill.

  So in total you are looking at around R22k (without tackle),  depending on your drinking habits.[size=0pt][/size]

[Shaka]

Hi guys,

I had a request to break down some of the actual costs for this kind of trip, so I will gladly share it here.

Herewith a breakdown of  costs:
 
  Vessel:
  6 nights on the yacht at around R75k, give or take, split  that into maximum 6 guests. It includes transfers to and from the airport, all  meals incl tea and coffee, soft drinks and water. It also includes all the fuel  etc. It works out to around R12500 pp.

  Flights:
  Connecting Flights from JHB to Maputo to Pemba via LAM, R5800  per person. SA Airlink is a round R13k! The reason why we extended our stay on  the boat is because LAM changed their flights to Thursday's only. So you have  to stay a week. You can set up in a local lodge if you only want to be on the  boat for 5 nights, but who the hell wants to lose out on a day's fishing in  Lazarus banks??

  Extra's:
  You can buy beer from the new Shoprite Liquor store - it is  directly across the road from where we boarded the vessel. You can find all the  local stuff as well as things like Castle Lite, Black Label etc. Expect to pay  between R200-R250 per case of beer - local beers are cheaper than SA brands.  They also have things like Ciders and all other brands of liquor. We bought  expensive drinks at duty free for the evenings, another R500 per person.
 
We boarded the vessel at Nautilus bar and restaurant, we  opted to have a late lunch and a couple beers before boarding - an extra R300  per person. Also, we returned very early in the morning and had to kill time  until 12Pm before we could head off to the airport, so again, return  breakfast/lunch at Nautilus and a couple of G&T's, another R300-R500 per  person.

  Tip for the deckhand/ staff on the boat, another R1000-R2000  for the group, depending on staff numbers.

  Tackle:
  NO COMMENT!

  On a serious note, we overkilled on tackle.

  Let me rather give you an idea of lost or broken tackle, we  lost around 8-10 jigs (broken off on reef or bitten off by wahoo on the drop).  We lost 3 poppers (broken tip guide on one rod which cut through the braid and  wind knots casting, no fish that broke us off). Lost/ used plenty dropshot, one  fish, one dropshot. Also, one bite, one dropshot, wahoo would nip off just the  tail and the lure is gone.

  We also lost one tip of a popping rod and one tip guide ring  - you have to take a backup popping rod between the 6 guys, more than one would  be perfect.

  So, for next year's trip I will be taking 5 poppers, 5 jigs,  5 bucktails, 5 spoons, 4 GT ice creams and a bunch of dropshot. Take a couple  of packets of inline singles, jigging assist hooks, split rings and so forth, I  took 5 packets of jigging assists, and lost one hook! Don't overkill.

  So in total you are looking at around R22k (without tackle),  depending on your drinking habits.

Hoping to get a bite on this old post...
We are going to Premeira's in July and I wanted to get some more info on the exact tackle (rods and reels) you took as I am a total noob on jigging and popping.  I have no clue on which rods to get etc.  Do you perhaps have a list of the tackle you guys took with?

[FishStyx]

I've done quite a few dedicated popping/jigging trips and I generally take far too much tackle with me, but it's always that FOMO of not having the right thing at the right time. But since you are asking for specifics... My first few trips were like this:


Popping: Turbulance PE8-10 with Old 6k Saltiga z model
Flick stick: Berkley Air 9' xh with 5k Stella
Jigging: Shimi Trevala with 6k Spheros.


Over time, it has degenerated into approx the following:


Popping: Black Hole Cape Cod Nano with 18k Stella.
Stick baiting: Turbulance with 14k Stella
Plugging: Temple Reef BD100 with Tranx 500
Light plugging: Phenix Blue Diamond with 6k Gossa
Flick stick: Black Hole Suzuki Special with 5k Stella
Jigging: Jigstar PE 4-9 with Alutechnos Gorilla 12c
SP Jigging: Major Craft N-One PE 1-2,5 with Tranx 400
Playing around: Shimi Beast Master Special Tiger with 4k Stella.


I generally take a few backup reels as well, but it's become a problem... It's just too much tackle. I might even have had more fun in the old days with vastly simplified kit... Less to obsess over. I have a trip to Lazarus later this year and I want to see if I can reduce to 4 outfits. I don't know that I have the will power though. Skippers generally don't like you bringing entire tackle shops with you, unless you plan on leaving them on board when you leave.

[CRANKMAN]

Like Marty says, you always over cater on tackle for these trips. I reckon going with the basics might actually work out for the better.
1 x popping rod, around 8ft with a 10 000 plus (Shimano sizes) reel.
1 x jigging stick, around 7ft and not too stiff (especially if new to jigging) with a 6000 plus reel. The Shimano Trevalla 50 - 100lbs is perfect, so are the Assassin
 Duels.
1 x flick stick, around 9ft with a 5000 reel.
A spare rod and reel across the range is handy, but split that up across the group.
Do bring spare braid - 80lbs popping, 65lbs jigging and 40 lbs flicking.
Obvously a selection of poppers, jigs (not too heavy, 100 to 200grm), plugs and icecreams, dropshot plastics, bucktails and a few casting spoons.
Mix it up, don't get stuck on one discipline. There is a massive variety of fish on that section of coast.
Bring some small hooks and heavyish ball sinkers for when at anchor behind Fogo island, you can have great fun with some big Bonefish on your flick stick using small bits of tuna as bait.