With much anxiety and very little sleep, Saturday arrived and we were ready to get into the big blue for a bit of fun fishing and some "re-stocking" for x-mas.
Team MAXIMVS (John F, Manuel Junior and Rui) and peterblace gathered at the club at 04h30 and we were planning to launch at 05h00. Weatherman predicted a very flat and warm day and with the neap tide upon us it was the perfect opportunity to do a bit of game fishing and also try to get a few bottoms. The B1 area (24 nm N-NE of Maputo), which has been producing a lot lately (same area we were last week), was our destination.
After a bit of playing around in the ramp (the low tide was at 05h27) which had us playing with long ropes to get the boat in the dock, we finally started moving at 05h30. Water temp was 25.2o C and the sea, as predicted, was flat. So far so good.
We had packed a combination of spinning and trolling (30 and 50 Lb) setups in the hopes of after the game fishing was over we would try for a saillie on our way back... Bait consisted of halfbeaks, 3 year-old squid (the smell!!!), Angolan carapau and strip baits. An assortment of rappies and Halcos plus some birds and konas were also there. At last minute I also packed a few of my DIY sabikis. Just in case…
As the sea was nice we decided that maybe we should try for some live bait at Baixo Ribeiro (a lighthouse located about 12 nm E-NE of Maputo). When we got there, the patches of bait were huge and three of us started spinning the sabikis around the lighthouse while Rui was at the helm. A huge manta ray passed by the boat while we were having fun with the bait. Saying that we had great fun is an understatement!
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Bait patch
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Manta ray
Suddenly Manuel Junior hooked up something much bigger than a few carapau on his sabiki. Turned out to be a couta (about 4 kg) that attacked his bait and got hooked. Was ready to gaff it after a bit of a tussle and the hook opened! Peterblace had the same fate and quite a few carapaus were chopped off!!!! Manuel Junior even caught a garfish on his belly with a Toby spoon. Good fight but not what we were there for… Once we had enough bait it was time to move to our destination… 12 nm north!
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Great fun at Baixo Ribeiro
With the sea in perfect conditions it was a matter of pushing the throttles down and off we went… got to the mark and immediately put 4 baits in the water… two short ones with a poor-man’s downrigger and two at the surface (no weight at al) a bit longer… all on my DIY bait clips and short traces for the hooks as the size of the bait wasn’t more that 15 cm. One motor just in gear, the nano beat speaker pumping and the game was on!
The waiting wasn’t long… about 15 minutes the first rod goes
… couta! Rui took the rod and the couta was on the gaff shortly after… about 5 kg.
Almost immediately, my UA
rod (Prego’s plugging rod coupled to a Daiwa Emcast 6000 reel I got from Viskop spooled with 50 Lb Berkley whiplash I won at one of the Post of the Month comps), goes zzzzzzzz… I took the rod and within one or two minutes the fish was close to the boat… “looks like a rat” I thought to myself. Immediately, a long run and another, and another… “This is not a small fish!” - I shouted to the guys. Well, a few minutes later, with Manuel Junior at the helm with a bit of manoeuvring, peterblace gaffed it! Then we got a clear picture of the croc! It’s a huge croc! Certainly more than 18 kg. It later measured 141 cm, which according to the tables, it converts to 23.5 kg. Wow, what a feeling! But hey not much time left for high-fives! Look! Another rod goes
…. Rui took it and not long after another couta!!!
Croc couta
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Team MAXIMVS at work
We kept working the area and a few minutes later Manuel Junior got a lovely barracuda which had another one following it. We put a couple of live baits in the water, but had no luck. The area was cooking with activity. We had several missed strikes and lost fish. A few bonnies were jumping here and there. We even tried casting poppers and stick baits but unfortunately did no hook a single one.
At about 10h00 the water was 26.9o C and it was getting really hot. That’s when the bite stopped. We trolled a few rappies to another spot further north but no takers. Did a bit of bottom fishing and caught a few snappers and rockcods. The guys tried some jigging and popping and even drifted large Angolan carapaus. Nothing. Around us, quite a few turtles (loggerheads) kept popping which is always a pleasure to see.
As predicted, the easterly started to pump at about 11h00. We decided to troll back and work the area where we had some good action earlier. Rappies went back into the water. About 45 minutes later a couta went vas on a Rapala x-rap silver in the short position. Peterblace did the job of pulling it and wasn’t long before I gaffed it and safely released it to the hatch. This was a good one of about 8 kg. Sea was getting a bit agitated and that’s when we decided to move a bit deeper as we were coming back home and target sailfish. Five rods were deployed: seastars with strip baits in the corners, sailure with strip bait and another seastar with a halfbeak (both with birds) on the ‘rigger and a pulsator sailfish catcher with a bird on the shot gun. Set the speed to 7 knots and with the choppy sea, the lures were doing their magic.
About an hour later as we got to the +30 m line, the black/purple seastar with a stripbait goes
… A nice jumping female dorado did her magic and caused a bit of chaos on board. As the drags were not too tight the fish took a lot of line as the crew cleared the deck. Manuel Junior took the rod and did a great job. The fish was also released into the hatch and we kept going, looking for that saillie. Flying fish were seen but after another 45 minutes with no bites, and sea growing uglier we decided to pack and go home.
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Dorado on! Clearing the deck...
The easterly was pumping at about 15 knots but as we were traveling with it was a comfortable ride home. We got a fantastic sighting of another gentle giant about 10 m from the boat: a massive leatherback turtle cruising graciously!
We got to the club at 16h00 and we were all smiles!
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The culprits with the catch of the day
All in all a fantastic day at sea, with great friends and great fishing! Some nice fish and marine life activity and a PB for me! Happy days indeed!
Thanks guys for a special day!
Here's some footage from peterblace's GoPro2 and my Panasonic DMC-TZ1Fishing tales aboard MAXIMVS: Flat seas, gentle giants & a PB couta!
