It has been quite a while since my last report… in fact the last one was in July 2023, when I reported on the sailfish fish we caught (
http://www.ultimateangling.co.za/index.php?topic=24424.0) … in the mean time quite a lot happened (including a blue marlin we caught in 2024)…
Anyway, it’s time for another report…
January was a particularly difficult month for Moz and SA... the floods were devastating and a bit of a break was definitely needed... we planned to launch on Sunday (25 Jan 2026) to chase some bills out in the deep… everything looked good… sea surface temp, wind and the tides….
As we got preparation going and all revved up, we learned that Clube Marítimo postponed their fishing comp from Saturday to Saturday. Initially we were not planning on fishing the comp, but hey, what do we have to lose?!?! Decided to register MAXIMVS into the comp, with a crew of four: John F, Manuel Junior, and my sons Matheo and Mauri.
We were at the club at 0530 ish and the call to start came on VHF Ch. 10 at 0600… 3 min later we were leaving the dock (the only boat from Clube Naval launching that day – Yolanda was already in Santa Maria and would wait an hour before moving to the grounds).
As forecasted, the sea was perfect! Our plan was simple… as soon as we got to +20 m out of the Inhaca lighthouse we would deploy some rappies + a spreader bar for some gamefish on our way to deeper water… then it would be 80 Lb gear for the rest of the day…
Almost immediately we had a double strike on the rappies… a rat couta on a x-rap silver (which we decided it was too small for the scales, so I gutted and cleaned and went straight to ice), a pretty good fish that gave us a good run and broke the red head rapala... only the metal lip came back!!!!!
We proceeded to the deep and at 0920 the first release was announced on the radio… this is what we had in the water: Short corner: Pulsator Boaster (purple/blue); Long corner: Pulsator bonito smoker (blue/while); Short rigger: Ilander Express (purple/black with strip bait); and Long rigger: Gladiator bullet (gold/black with strip bait)We were also running two tuna flap teasers off the cleats As I looked at our spread, I thought to myself… lures are running good and we need to be alert… we had just crossed the 420 m line on the Garmin chart…0926 the long rigger exploded and we had a big splash followed by a long run!!!! Marlin on!!! 
After the initial chaos my son Matheo fought the fish in the chair and within 24 min I had the bill in my hand, the released card was in the frame and I pulled the hook. Called the release at 0950. This was the third marlin of the day! MAXIMVS on the board!!!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApJrWzhmtJAVid 1: Blue marlin release
Hi-fives all around but it was time to go back to the grind… other boats were announcing releases so the game was on! A week earlier we fished the 400 m area and got no bites. The bites were happening at the 500 m mark. So we figured this was a rogue fish so headed out to the 500 m area…. Spent about 2 hours there… no bites!!!Hum, maybe we should head back to the area we actually got the fish… the old saying “don’t leave fish to find fish” kept ringing in my head! So we headed back to the 430 m area…. Trolled for about 30 min and then had a double strike of very angry striped marlins! One attacked the ILand Express with a strip bait and the other took the bonito smoker on the long corner! A couple of violent strikes and we ended up losing both. Also lost the iLand Express as the fish run towards the boat and fell on the leader of the short corner lure!!! Oh well, at least we know they are here…. Replaced the iLand Express by another in orange/black (with the trusted strip bait) and kept working the area. We set our cut off time to 1500 to start heading back as we needed to be at the Clube by 1700. At 1450 a triple strike of striped marlin brought absolute chaos to the boat!!! The Pulsator boaster was attacked in the short corner, and both rigger lures: the iLand Express and the Gladiator bullet!!! Only the bullet got stuck to the fish and this time my brother fought the fish for 25 min. I kept looking at the time as our absolute cut off time was 1530 or we would not make it in time and would risk losing it all! The fish came up tail-wrapped and barely alive… we revived the fish for 20 min and eventually it got its colours back and started stroking its tail!!!! https://www.youtube.com/shorts/olwmWksZmoMVid 2: Striped marlin release
Called the release at 1537 and immediately starting gunning to Maputo… the crew organized the boat and we did 28-29 knots all the way! We made it to the club 4 min shorts of the 1700 deadline and both releases were validated. In the end, the couta weighted 4.64 kg (which would probably pass the minimum weight 5 kg – to give us the 2nd place)!!!!We ended up winning 3rd place tied with two other boats (with 2 marlins each) - time of release of the first marlin being the deciding factor a got some cash prize that was well received by the teenagers!!!!!
Lessons learnt:1. Don’t leave fish to find fish2. Always carry scales on the boat! All in a Great day out and a fantastic result for my team! 
