Fishing Tales from MPT Bay aboard "Micaela": 12 March 2011

[John F]

We (John F, peterblace and our friend Miguel Sousa) launched at 5:54 and the promised flat seas did not materialized! We had bumpy seas all the way to the grounds with a 7-9 NE blowing all the way till about mid day! This slowed us down and made us waste more fuel!

Water temp was 27.4o C in the morning and 28o C during the rest of the day. In the deep the water was clear and we found some floating river debris with lot's of baby dorado (1-2 kg) playing with our large konas but not committing!  Didn't waste too much time with them as this was a billfish comp!

We went straight to the deep 150 m off the Inhaca lightihouse and made our way North to work the southern mark BV gave (thanks again!).

With the wind dropping down the trolling conditions improved and the lures were doing their thing properly. My spread was:

Short corner: Pulsator (Black/Purple);
Long corner: Demon Slant 42 (Blue/White)
Riggers: Pulsator "moldcraft chuggers" (Pink + Blue)
Shotgun: Williamson squid daisy chain


I also had 2 DIY teasers: my pink squid spreader bar (http://www.ultimateangling.co.za/index.php/topic,3405.msg39057.html#msg39057) and the mudflap tuna teaser (http://www.ultimateangling.co.za/index.php/topic,4326.msg51480.html#msg51480)

At about 1:00 pm on the 350 m we had a marlin (70-80 kg) fire the blue Pulsator "moldcraft chugger" and then went straight to the shotgun daisy chain.....  I eased the drag a bit and got the rod in my hand.... after a few seconds, told the man to push the motors and increased the drag! NO HOOK-UP!!!! Damn!

The squid lost an eye and the leader was really scratched. We missed our chance!!!! I think the bloody squid had too much "meat" and the small hook was too buried into the squid, thus making the hook up more difficult!

We continued fishing hard and eventually decided to turn back with sailfish lures and halfbeaks.... Nothing!  At the end we run 88 nm and spent 80% of our time in the 150-400 m area!

Three boats released bills. Lesson (re) learned: hooks should be really sharp and EXPOSED when billfishing!!!!!!

There are still 2 legs of this competition and Micaela will work even harder! And that's a promise!

[whodat]

Those dorados are awesome bait. Which boats released bills do you know?

[John F]

Yes I know... we switched lures to small feathers, daisies and small strip baits but weren't interested... just playing, chasing and no bites!!! We gave up and worked the area for the big mama....  

The three boats that released bills were:
Cormorant - not sure probably a marlin (Clube Maritimo), Nakisai - sailfish (Clube Maritimo) and Oliver - sailfish (Escola Nautica)

[peterblace]

The three boats that released bill were:
Cormorant - not sure probably a marlin (Clube Maritimo), Nakisai - sailfish (Clube Maritimo) and Oliver - sailfish (Escola Nautica)

I confirm...Cormorant released a Marlin and won the competition.

[John F]

Correction there peter... they didn't win... they are ahead on the comp with 1 marlin... the winner will be found at the end of the three legs, in December!

This is a 3 leg comp!

[peterblace]

well...at least they won something
true...it's a 3 leg competition
although organized for the first time it's already the billfish classic....
so the reason to be named classic is:
- the age of the competitors;
- the age of the fishing boats.
 

[John F]

...or the classical "dismal" fishing!!!!

[peterblace]

I'm starting to get used to that...I don't know anymore if this is the right sport for me
when I start playing golf I felt the same...
....it's soooooooo frustrating!!!!!

maybe we could create a folder with the same concept as AA called FA (not fishing adventures) but Fisherman Anonymous where frustrated fisherman can reunite and talk about their unhappiness when out fishing

[Prego]

I'm starting to get used to that...I don't know anymore if this is the right sport for me
when I start playing golf I felt the same...
....it's soooooooo frustrating!!!!!

maybe we could create a folder with the same concept as AA called FA (not fishing adventures) but Fisherman Anonymous where frustrated fisherman can reunite and talk about their unhappiness when out fishing

Peter try targeting different species other than billfish just to get you going, I met someone recently from the Vaal & he only goes fishing off Inhaca, so obviosly there is an abundance of species to target, which I tend to agree.
Try jigging, drifting, drop shot,the fish are there mate just need to work a little harder.

I myself am dead keen to come visit the area again.

[John F]

Till the next billfish-only comp I'll be doing other facets of fishing... couta are thick at the moment.... wanna try deep live-baiting for tuna and croc couta...

peterblace you know you can come along anytime man... just bring the food!

But hey... I'm not done with those  yet!

And I still have one last ultimate secret weapon.... this will put team Micaela on top!!!! Trust me!!!!

[MarlinMoz]

Cormoranīs Black Marlin release on saturday...

[benniejordaan]

Cormoranīs Black Marlin release on saturday...

Great stuff, well done! Thanks for bringing the pics to us!

[MarlinMoz]

John F,

You mention you want to try to fish live bait for big cuda.

One thing I never tried here but is by far the best way to catch croc cuda off bazaruto is to use tropedo scads on downriggers as live bait.

These baits which are unlike by many are tough, you can troll them fast and they so not seem to be eaten by sharks as much as other baits. Easy to catch at danae, B 24, jeremias etc...

All I used to do was a small 7731 rigged on the eyes with a 240 lbs trailing trace with 2 x sliding 4/0 trebles.

Besides the biggest cuda I have ever caught, also got loads of big GT, snappers, all sorts of big rockcod, great barracuda etc using this method. The beauty of it is that you can use one bait down, one on the surface and still other surface baits with say, sardine or reverse rigged garfish for the darts...

...and I have even caught my share of Blacks and sailfish on these.

Just be careful you donīt catch a real croc  !!!

Just a tough!!!

[John F]

Thanks Duarte! Will definitely give it a try!

[MarlinMoz]

Hey Guys,

Been traveling last few days but below a couple pics from last Friday aboard Kambaku fishing out of Maputo.

The water was still pretty green so we spent most of the day out wide (100 to 350 meters of water) pulling lures in search of elusive blue water. Even tough we mostly fished Marlin lures we ended up catching 16 YFT and 2 wahoo.

Had we specifically target  with halcoīs & feathers it could have been a real slaughter. We found them early morning in 50 meters of water and there were schools all the way to 300 meters of water...all over & all day!!!

[MarlinMoz]

There was serious action with the YFT and we also pulled hooks on two big strikes that we never ID, first on the Bonito Smoker and then on the Island Express. But, not having seen a single Marlin we moved into shallower green water to live bait a small YFT outside a pinnacle north of Baixo Danae.

Not two minutes after we had put the bait and in 48m of water we saw a shadow, which we mistook for a hammerhead  (not easy with such green water). We pulled the bait as fast as we could and with the swivel on the rod tip and leader in hand a very aggressive Black  which we estimated at 350 lbs charge on the bait a mere 4 meters from the engines ...

We dropped, strike and hooked up with the fish taking off to the races and coming out half body 150 meters from the boat. Didi got in the stand up harness and got ready for battle when unfortunately the fish spit the bait…which was still alive!!!

Hard luck but what a show!!! That fish got seriously pissed off when we pulled the bait away from him and was pitch Black and with a serious attitude when it took that bait!!!

We put lures and went pass Jeremias late afternoon where we had a triple strike catching another nice yellowfin, a wahoo and losing another that cut off the mono leader our so productive Legendīs merlin  :sadd

Cheers