St Lazarus Banks - October 2017

[CRANKMAN]

St Lazarus Banks – Oct 2017
This was our second trip to the banks – in 2015 we were  beaten up by the weather and left St Lazarus feeling short changed.
Our crew consisted of 3 from the original trip, myself,  Marty (Fishstyx) and Rich (Flyguy) and new additions Sean Collett, Paulo  (Prego) and my brother Kev. We were aboard Pelagic 11 from Island Adventure  Charters http://www.islandcharters.co.za/ with Captain Brent for our 3^rd trip with the outfit.




We had a trouble free flight from Johannesburg via Maputo to  Pemba. After a couple of cold beers on the beach we boarded and set of for the  The Banks at sunset. With the boat on auto pilot and us all taking a turn at  watch, we travelled through the night against fairly strong currents and a bit  of a headwind and reached the fishing grounds by 9 the next morning.




Things started with a bang. I think it was Marty’s first  cast (with a big homemade popper) and he was smashed by a huge Sailfish. After  a good tussle the Sailie eventually through the popper with a headshake - it  was just too heavy for that kind of treatment.
That first day produced excellent top water action. I got a  couple of GT’s around the 85cm mark and my first Dorado on popper. Brother Kev  got his first ever GT and Prego his first Yellowfin tuna on popper. Marty, Rich  and Sean C were also busy with the tuna and the odd Bluefin trevally.




Days 2 and 3 were much the same. We concentrated on popping  and when knackered we scaled down to dropshot. We had a few more Sailfish take  an interest in the poppers and even a couple of Marlin come nose around, but  the Tuna and GTs made up most of the catch. Although changing to dropshot was a  nice break from casting those massive poppers, the hard work kicked in when the  hook ups happened. Most of the tuna hooked on plastics were in the 20 plus kg  range, with Marty and Rich both landing fish between 30 and 35 kgs.




The Wahoo were abundant and hitting both poppers and  plastics, that said our loss rate on these guys was high – loads of bite offs  even with wire.
Jigging was sadly not very productive. Admittedly we  generally only tried when nothing else was working. Prego had a good fish on  for a while, but it bit through the Kevlar assist before we could ID it –  Doggie maybe, but it could also have been a size Wahoo.




We had decided as a group to limit trolling, only going down  that road if nothing else was working. However on day 4 in an effort to get a  Dogtooth tuna we pulled some deep diving Rapalas for a few hours from before  sunrise till about 8 through and area where the last crew had landed 4 in a  similar fashion. I’m not sure if the Dogtooths were absent or just outnumbered,  but we couldn’t keep the yellowfin off the lures so gave up after a while.




As Friday progressed the sea flattened to a pond, the wind  came to a standstill and so did the fishing. The birds had buggered off and we  knew from our 2015 experience that this meant trouble (read my 2015 report here  http://www.ultimateangling.co.za/index.php?topic=20661.0) In the distance we  could see a massive storm front heading our way so decided to make a dash for  the Quirimbas Islands to hide out.




Although I am sure there are some great fishing grounds  around the islands, we could not access them with wind now pumping and the sea  on its head. We tried some light tackle stuff in the cover of the islands, but  I fear these same areas have taken a bit of a hammering from subsistence fisherman  so we did not get much joy.




To be honest we were all pretty buggered and bruised so  contented ourselves with boozing and laughing as we made a slow (2 day) and  very scenic trip back to Pemba. On route, Martin landed a nice GT of 100 cm,  sadly for him it was on the troll, but a nice fish all the same.
All in all, a great trip with great guys. We fished hard,  partied hard and had a damn good time doing it!




Thanks to Island Adventure Charters (https://www.facebook.com/islandcharters.co.za/),  Captain Brent and Eddie for looking after us.
To our crew, Marty, Sean C, Kev, Rich and Paulo – one of my  best, thanks guys!

[andrewpalang]

Awesome! Thanks so much for the report! Great to read and well done on the fish. The Quirimbas are my old stomping grounds and some great GTs around there if you know where to look!

[REEFMAN]

Great report and pics Sean! Looks like you guys had a blast! 

PS... where did you store the photo's?
 

[FishStyx]

Thanks for posting matey... Great trip, but a little heavy handed on my numerous strafdoppe 

[CRANKMAN]

Great report and pics Sean! Looks like you guys had a blast! 

PS... where did you store the photo's?

Facebook, it's free and super simple. Used Chrome to open them, right clicked and copied image address as you recommended.

[CRANKMAN]

Thanks for posting matey... Great trip, but a little heavy handed on my numerous strafdoppe 

Most were well earned  mate....

[Bwana]

Excellent report and some quality fish well done 

[stickleback]

 
Man,that looks like fun - bucket list stuff, great report

[WalkersKiller]

Superb report!!!

[Dewald Posthumus]

Thanks for posting matey... Great trip, but a little heavy handed on my numerous strafdoppe 

He he, who deserved to wear the pink PEP shirt "I think I'm pretty awesome", or did Brent keep that one for himself after we left?


Great report guys, good to see the sheer amount of fish coming out on the area. We are already planning next year's trip.

[colin]

  great report 

[FishStyx]

He he, who deserved to wear the pink PEP shirt "I think I'm pretty awesome", or did Brent keep that one for himself after we left?

Fortunately the pink shirt never made it onto our trip 

[Prego]

Pop julle po#/e!!!!!

Thanks for putting a report together for us Sean.

A memorable trip with a great bunch of lads.

[Plugger]

Looks like an amazing trip. Great report. If only I could find a cure (other than a tree) for my woosie seasickness.q

[ianf]

Great report....and awesome pics. They say a whole lot more than the words do.

[Half-Pint]

Lekker report guys

[Umpa Lumpa]

Great report, quality fish landed, well done.