Game Fishing In Vilankulo, Mozambique: Day 2
Intro
Following an incredible day out on the water for Day 1, with everything but billfish, it was time for day 2. I said it in the post before, and I'll say it again: Mozambique might have some of the most exceptional fishing in the world with the diversity and size of the species that patrol the water. However, the one thing that we were missing from the day before was a billfish, so it was time to go get one.
By the way, if you are looking to book with Duarte, here is his website: https://fishbazaruto.com/
The Experience
Most of the time, I am the person that dreads when an alarm goes off. However, this morning, my alarm was set to go off at 5 am, but I was out of bed and ready to go, all by 4:45 am. Fishing is my favorite thing in the world, even more so than traveling: it's game time.
Duarte picked me up from my accommodation right at 5:15 am, and we motored down to the launch point, just like the day before. The crew had arrived around 30 minutes prior to make sure that we were ready to push off right at first light.
Soon enough, the supplies were loaded, and it was time to make the 50-minute run out of the fishing grounds (this morning, we started a bit closer to shore). The front end of the CAT has a small place to relax, making this the perfect way to motor off to the fishing grounds while watching the sunrise.
Beer in hand, by 6:15 am, the rods were in the water. If I'm fishing, I'm drinking 😅.
Mate, it couldn't have been 5 minutes after we set the spread that we had a sailfish pack attack come up. The left corner went first, then the right, then the shotgun, my gosh. It was mayhem on deck as we hooked two but lost one, leaving the one on my line the only one still on.
It was a nice but short fight against this sailfish. After its initial run, it decided to become quite lazy, so within 6 minutes or so, we had it on the leader. However, it decided to take off running again and ran under the boat, cutting the line in the outboard engine. That's certainly the easiest way to release a fish, isn't it?
20 minutes after putting out our spread, we got on a billfish. However, I wanted a black marlin. In the past, I've caught a blue, striped, white, and sail, but never a black. Duarte had brought along a couple of big guns to put out, as well as the marlin teaser. It was time to go hunting.
All of a sudden, it became quite quiet after the morning tide changed. We had a couple of bites, but none of them converted, and then BOOM, a small mechanical issue happened.
After 30 minutes or so, we ended up fixing the small issue and put out our spread again. By this time, I was getting hungry and decided that it was time to grill some steaks for the day.
I swear, the steaks had just come off the grill, and I was ready to eat when that reel started screaming as if it had just won the lottery. We were hooked up, and it wasn't a small fish.
That f****r stripped line and wouldn't stop. By the way, it was behaving well. We knew it was a wahoo, but it had to have been a nice one. After a decent fight, we boated it and headed back to enjoy the steaks that we had been so rudely interrupted eating.
By this time, I was thinking that it was time to head in for the day, as the football was on that night, and Spain vs Italy was playing (as well as England). 5 minutes later, another bomb went off on the Rapala, and we were hooked up to the Wahoos older brother. Another big strip of the line, and we eventually landed this one as well. Talk about exhilarating stuff.
A nice fish, but nothing will compare to the 94 LB Wahoo I landed off the coast of Montauk at the age of 12. When we came back to the port, few people believed that there was a Wahoo that big in the area.
I digress; we packed up the lines and motored our way back to the beach. There is something special about Bazaruto that no other place in the world has. The location where you catch these behemoth fish is no more than 5 miles from shore. You can see the sand dunes and, at times, people walking on the beach (yes, you are that close). It's the most beautiful place I have ever fished by a long shot.
Yes, many more celebratory beers were shared... 😉
We arrived back at the beach, and there was a certain sadness filling the air. My time fishing in Mozambique had come to an end. On the flip side, I feel like I did quite well on my two days out on the water, catching 8 different species of fish, a billfish, and a chunky wahoo.
Finishing the day, I met with my hosts from Airbnb and Duarte, and we kicked it at the bar to watch the game. Where else will you get your hosts from the Airbnb (more friends now) and a fishing captain (now would also consider a friend) to come out and watch the football together? The people in Mozambique are the nicest in the world.
Final Thoughts
This wraps up my two days of fishing out of Vilankulo on the Bazaruto fishing grounds. While I came at the time that wasn't heavy tackle season, I still had a tremendous fishing trip with Duarte. To me, this was more than just fishing; it was a whole experience. Sure, the fishing was great, but it felt more than a business transaction, which is what most charters seem to be. In fact, it was so good that I decided to book a trip that same night to come back in November...
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