Quelimane - Primeiras - Fogo Island

[CRANKMAN]

So the Gods  in charge of weather owe us one…. AGAIN!

With two  cold fronts forecast for our trip, one at the beginning and one at the end, we  were hoping for a touch of fine weather in the middle – this was not to be.
From the  moment we boarded our live aboard cat’ the wind started to pump, the sea came  up and just for good measure the rain came down. This persisted for the full  eight days of the trip.



Our adventure  started at Quelimane, a fascinating and forgotten town about 10 miles inland. From  here we cruised down the estuary through thick mangroves passing occasional  fisherman in their dugouts. We took a beating at the mouth as the surf was up,  but made it safely out into the ocean albeit a bit battered and very wet.



Day one was  spent cruising north towards Pantaloon reef. A few bonito and some yellowfin  tuna went for our Rapalas, but we didn’t waste too much time trolling. We  believed the weather would improve and we would spend the next 4 or 5 days  popping, so we all concentrated on relaxing and getting a few local ales down  instead. That night it was too rough to anchor, so we let the boat drift while  we took turns to keep watch and in between try and get some sleep.
We arrived  at the first reefs on day two, and despite the churned up ocean and howling  winds we started throwing poppers. Only the biggest poppers made an impact in  the tough conditions. It was exhausting just getting the lures to work. Marty  (Fishstyx) managed to raise a couple of decent snapper, but the GT’s were not  even coming up for a look.



After a few  hours of raining poppers down on their heads, one GT finally had had enough; it  left the reef and smashed my Halco Haymaker. I was already buggered from hours  of casting, so felt lucky to have landed the fish. My first decent GT measuring  104 cm!




Man those  guys are strong. I had tightened up my drag as much as I dared to keep it out  the reef, but nearly ended up overboard as a result. At times I definitely  think the fish had the upper hand in our tug of war.



A bit  knackered after the tussle I picked up my lighter stick and spent the rest of  the day on dropshot. It turned out to be a wise decision as virtually every  cast resulted in a fish, I think I managed over 20 species for the day and had  a ball doing it.



The rest of  the crew persisted with popping and Marty was finally rewarded with a 99cm GT  on a huge 200 gram homemade lure. Knut (the other Sean) and Niel had a few  halfhearted strikes on their lures, but nothing stuck. Niel and Knut (with two  broken fingers )got tired of throwing poppers and joined me pulling in all  sorts on dropshot.




That night  was spent drifting again with the boat getting tossed about more violently as  time went on. We motored further north on day 3, working the reefs as we  crossed over them, but with the surface in such a mess only dropshot and spoons  fished deep were having any impact. Niel had a good hit on his popper, but  after a hard fight it turned out to be a shark of some sort.




We passed  over a deep hole known as Skull reef and with good showings on the finder we tried  a bit of jigging. After 4 hits I managed to land a reasonable bluefin trevally.  Knut got bitten off by something big, but otherwise it was only snapper and  matahari that came out.




By late  afternoon we reached Sylvia shoal. You can see this is GT heaven with ragged  reefs and a wreck. The previous crew just two weeks earlier managed 17 GTs  here. We worked the area for a couple of hours and despite a few monsters  coming up to look, only Marty managed to land a GT, a beautiful specimen of 101  cm. Knut got a good fight from a bluefin and just before the weather beat us  into submission, Marty had a massive barracuda take his popper. Tired, wet and  cold we decided to make a run for Fogo Island to hide out and get a full night’s  sleep.




We woke to  find ourselves surrounded by trawlers. There are sixteen Spanish and Chinese  prawn trawlers that work this section of coast – fifteen of them were at anchor  around us! If those massive ships of up to 64 tonnes were hiding, it gives you  an idea of how rough it was out there. We took our little duck and motored out  to one of the bigger ships to get a weather forecast update from the captain –  it was not good, they were going to be sitting there for three days.




With no  other options available we loaded a cooler and headed for land. Soon we had a  fire going on Fogo Island, and before long the Rum and Raspberries had us in  fine spirits! The sun even shone now and then and we managed to dry out our  bedding and clothes.




We realized  that we had no option but to wait out the weather till the last minute, then make  the long haul of 40 hours nonstop back to Quelimane. The last few days of our  trip would be spent here.




Our skipper  mentioned that his deckhand had caught a bonefish while at anchor here on his  last trip. I scratched around in the bottom of my tackle bag and found a few  small circle hooks; I rigged one of these with a sliding sinker, added a small  piece of tuna fillet and cast it out with my flickstick. I had not even made it  to the fridge to grab a beer and my reel was screaming. After a good clean  fight lasting about 10 minutes with multiple long runs I landed my first  bonefish! Soon we were all pulling in bonefish. The speed and stamina of these  fish is quite amazing. As fast as a tigerfish, but they never give up. Big too!  I have seen many bonefish landed on fly on the TV, but these guys were huge in  comparison.



So that is  how we spent our last couple of days - at least there were bonefish to keep us  busy, damn good company to while away the hours with and a well-stocked beer  fridge that needed emptying.
On the long trip back to Quelimane I landed a  nice barracuda on stickbait, which was a great note to finish on.



Although  there was some relief when we finally entered the calm of the estuary, I must  admit I was not ready to go home. The wind died down on que and the sun popped  out, conditions looked perfect to go fishing!

[Prego]

Thanks for taking the time to do a report Shaun and congrats on the new PB's and the many new species.

Man you guys have had bad luck on your last 2 exotic trips weather wise, hopefully the weather Gods play ball on your next outing mate

[WalkersKiller]

Thats awesome, thanks so much for this report 

[REEFMAN]

Brilliant report and some great pics, great fish! Shame about the weather, but you guys did well nevertheless! Well done!!
 

[MIKE PIKE]

Awesome  stuff  chaps , looks like u had a blast regardless of the conditions ..some great pics and fish + report .

[Lofty]

Thanks for the report,enjoyed the read...pity about the weather though

[peterblace]

great report...shame about the weather

[andrewpalang]

Awesome report, unlucky with the weather! I was meant to do this trip over the exact same time last year but had to pull out last minute. The guys who went also had the same type of weather and also not too many fish caught. They seem to push the trips over this time of year up there when the winds really can be very bad. I wish they could do these trips in October/November as the weather is a lot more settled, however I think these boats all head up to Lazzie then.

Anyways, awesome trip! I still NEED to do this!

[CRANKMAN]

Awesome report, unlucky with the weather! I was meant to do this trip over the exact same time last year but had to pull out last minute. The guys who went also had the same type of weather and also not too many fish caught. They seem to push the trips over this time of year up there when the winds really can be very bad. I wish they could do these trips in October/November as the weather is a lot more settled, however I think these boats all head up to Lazzie then.

Anyways, awesome trip! I still NEED to do this!

The group 2 weeks earlier than us hammered the GTs - 2 anglers got 37 Gts, all on popper! The area just looks like GT heaven. I think if conditions are better then chances are good. I think the trips are run at this time as a bit of a gap filler between the Laz and Madagasgar seasons.

[Bwana]

Great report and excellent pics  , such a pity about the weather. Looks like a top class destination if the conditions are right!

[colin]

  great read .

[andrewpalang]

Awesome report, unlucky with the weather! I was meant to do this trip over the exact same time last year but had to pull out last minute. The guys who went also had the same type of weather and also not too many fish caught. They seem to push the trips over this time of year up there when the winds really can be very bad. I wish they could do these trips in October/November as the weather is a lot more settled, however I think these boats all head up to Lazzie then.

Anyways, awesome trip! I still NEED to do this!

The group 2 weeks earlier than us hammered the GTs - 2 anglers got 37 Gts, all on popper! The area just looks like GT heaven. I think if conditions are better then chances are good. I think the trips are run at this time as a bit of a gap filler between the Laz and Madagasgar seasons.

Totally agree! From what I have heard this could really be THE place to go and target geets! Just wish they would run the trips at decent times of the year! Having lived and guided up in Northern Mozam for a couple of years, June, July and August are always the windy months. Great if you can get a gap of good weather inbetween!

Imagine if you could get there in November! Otherwise an awesome report! thanks so much for sharing! Always awesome to see a Moz GT trip report! My FAVOURITE!

[John F]

That area is always unpredictable weather wise. Been there in July and twice in October-November for field work and we got smashed!!!

Anyway, the fish were there and you guys got some nice ones! Africa is not for sissies!

Thanks for the report!

Well done!!!

[L Hooker]

Great report pity about the weather chaps