At last, here's the report. Sorry chaps, but the past week has been hectic...
Well, it all started on the built-up frustration from the last few trips we did. Fishing has been pretty dismal all around southern Moz and we have been getting fewer and fewer fish. I wanted to try different things/spots...
The weather forecast was good for the weekend and I texted my brother how he felt about hauling all the way to Baixo Sao Joao?!?! It's 38.5 nm from Maputo (via Hell's Gate), right at the heart of the Ponta Reserve (off of Ponta Chemucane). Hell, we pretty much cover these kinds of distances going north so why not try and give it a go going south?!?
Preparations were completed on Friday and by 06:20 (just before sunrise) we were on our way. We had a 6-8 SW breeze all the way to Hell’s Gate and within an hour we were ready to launch. Low tide was at 09:20, so we were there 2 hours prior. As some of you may know, Hell's Gate and ebbing, spring low tides is not a very healthy mix. Anyway, with not so much wind it was either risk it or go around the island. We got there and the launch seemed very reasonable. Got all prepped and took our time. After a set of 6/8 big ones, we got a gap and made it trough with very dry clothes.
The plan was to fish hi-speed all the way to Baixo Sao Joao. That took us an hour and half doing 14 knots. We got there and set an exploratory spread of 2 rappies and 3 konas with teasers. The wind died out and by 11:30 the sea was flat as a mirror. No signs of bait, birds or any life at all!!! After a while we went further south and almost reached Mili. The lodge being built there encroached at the top dune is progressing really fast now.
Anyway, it was pretty dead here as well. Took the rappies out and down went some swimming half-beaks on planers and weights. Zero!
Went to Sao Joao again and saw 2 ski vees coming from Chemucane with 3 spearos each. They spent about an hour at Sao Joao, and I tried to stick close to them with my HB and see what would come out (if anything at all!). Nada! Eventually they packed and went south! When the spearos pack and go, you know it’s time to go.
By 12:30 we had zip and no activity whatsoever… that bug in my gut was telling me it was time to do something…. After a quick discussion, we put the hi-speed tackle in and went all the way up to try and see if Jeremias (off of Inhaca Lighthouse) held any fish so we could at least get something to eat that evening.
Got there and went back to my initial spread:
Short-flat (right): Rapala x-rap silver
Long-flat (left): Rapala x-rap pink
Short-rigger (right): Pulsator (pink/white) exciter with stripbait and bird
Long rigger (left): Seastar (black/red) with stripbait, daisy chain and bird
Shotgun: Bess lures small slant head kona (blue/white) with bird
Went over three pinnacles (Jeremias is basically a chain of pinnacles), and as we almost got to the lighthouse we had nothing to show for our efforts. Time: 14:00. If by 14:30 we were still in that position we would pack and go.
At 14:09, all hell broke loose!
The right rigger fired and as I looked behind I saw commotion and splashing… took the rod out of the rod holder, turned the tip down and lowered the drag down to freespool… Locked the drag after about 6 seconds and handed the rod to my brother. Immediately a bill and whithish belly showed up and I shouted: “it’s a sailly… it’s yours!”. You see, I offered my brother as a gift for his 16th birthday, the first bill on MAXIMVS. Well, I’ve tried to fulfill that promise all this time and so far my debt was piling up… so this was another opportunity to settle that score!
The fish took line and jumped several times as it disappeared in the horizon. We were fishing 30 Lb outfits and this was an easy run for the fish. I cleared the lines while trying to steer the boat and even had to buckle up my brother with the Alutecnos belt. Turned the GoPro on, only to last 20 seconds of battery! Damn!!!
Anyway, after the initial run of about 300 m where a couple more acrobatics were seen far in the horizon, we settled into recovering line and enjoying the fight. At one moment we had the fish running parallel to the boat with a big belly of line… line was recovered quickly to avoid slack line and losing it! As the fish got closer, about 20 min since hook-up, the fish had one final run under the boat which caused some interesting bending and cursing …. After that suddenly it stopped fighting.
A few minutes later it surfaced dead with the belly up, leader all wrapped around its body. This was a fighter!
Pulled the fish in and there was a big moment of exhilaration and hive fives and hugs and pics! Total fight lasted about 25 min.
We packed everything and went home with flat seas.
The water is still relatively warm (max temp was 23.5o C), but looks like the predators are all gone.
We got to the club and no scales… all locked up…. Oh well… Initial estimates were around 80 kg … took measurements and the final figure was 77.5 kg.
We took the fish home and spend about 2.5 h cleaning and filleting and packing everything in individual bags so friends and family could enjoy it. We saved the head and tail and took it to the taxidermist…. We expect it to be ready within a couple of weeks. Will keep the trophy at Cueva del Capitan!
In the end, we did 106 nm and used 120 L of fuel.
What a day!
Score settled and now on with new challenges!
