It all started off with an idea to go and visit our good friends Derek and Wendy over December. After a few emails and phone calls in November we were set to go. I was to leave my boat behind and fish off Derek's Buttcat as we were only going for 10 days.
We left Boksburg at 10:30 am on the 24th expecting chaos at the border. We arrived at a very quiet border after 4 hrs later and after the usual formalities we were through. It was really nice travelling without a boat for a change , which meant I could enjoy a relatively stress free drive. We decided to use the Moamba north road , which was an awesome drive. It had washed away a week earlier , however it was open and a pleasure to bypass Maputo. Later this year I will definitely use this road again even with towing the boat. We hit the EN1 south of Xai Xai and the Christmas eve traffic was hectic. We decided to call it a night at the honeypot for a shower and a few cold
's. Early next morning we headed up north and arrived at Cashewbay Lodge around 9am on very quiet roads.
Christmas day was spent relaxing around the pool , getting tackle sorted and jerry cans fuelled for the following day's fishing. Current petrol price in Inhassoro is a hefty R19 / litre. Guys , please use the Total filling station on the EN1 just past the Inhassoro turnoff , the fuel in town is very dirty. Its 18km from the lodge so not really an effort to drive up for fuel.
Next day we headed to 25 mile reef and the Blocks and trolled halco's and rappies. Due to the festivities the local netters were not fishing hence I couldn't get fresh bait. After no success we jigged and managed a few nice fish. I got my PB yellowspot kingfish , and my wife got a nice green jobfish along with some smaller reef species.
We had some hassles with the boat motors and some windy conditions the next few days so spent our time doing a bit of sight seeing and swimming. It was extremly hot and humid the first few days which required a lot of liquid refreshment to overcome
We then spent 2 days jigging betwwen Baz and Paradise island as we were still struggling with the 1 motor , and didn't want to head out too far in the event we lost a motor. We have a few marks that we fished which rewarded Derek and myself with some smallish GT's. We headed out in relativley windy conditions and some welcome drizzle. By this time my son was getting very anxoius at the fact that he hadn't caught a fish as yet. I assured him to be patient and keep working and he will get rewarded. He was even using mom's 50lb jigging setup with squiddie jigs trying to entice a bite. He did manage a few on/off's though.
We drove to BD point on the 31st and spent the day braaing and swimming in the beautiful lagoon. It was the first time we have been up there and it is truly a must do. We headed back to the lodge and prepared for an awesome new years party. The fireworks were clearly visible from Bazaruto and all along the coast.
Everything came together very nicely on our last day as Derek , Sheldon and myself headed out towards Baz. My wife was not keen to get out of bed for a sunrise departure. Sea conditions were near perfect and the boat performed flawlessly. We had the big jigging gear onboard and headed staright for the deep amber holes. The tide and drift was perfect and we managed to jig until our arms felt like jelly. Almost every drop produced a hit with Derek getting a nice rockcod and a nice Amberjack. I had a hit on my second drop and the fish managed to stick. It felt like a nice amber until I got it to about 90m (we were jigging in 135m of water). There must have been a russian U boat doing patrols around there and the fish started doing very funny things and eventually got stuck in the torpedo intake of the submarine. All hell broke loose and I was properly VAS. The jigstar katana rod and alutecnos reel was under some pressure , even locked at full drag the fish was comfortably taking line. Thankfully after about 10 minutes the leader was bitten through. I dont think it would have been a very enjoyable tussle getting that shark to the surface.
We then headed out to the shallower water and it wasn't long before the first reel started screaming. Sheldon insisted on taking the rod and after some guidance from Derek ( more like holding Sheldon from being pulled over ) whilst I was clearing lines , I gaffed Sheldon's first ever couta. A nice fish of 8kg. After resetting the lines again we managed 4 more couta , allowing Sheldon to bring them all in. After this it was back to some shallower water jigging and Derek got a massive barracuda next to the boat before it bit through the leader......
We headed back after a long but rewarding day's fishing to get packed for our aerly morning departure the following day.
As always , a fantastic destination with wonderful friends! See you guys in a few month's.
Some pics , hope you enjoy.
