Andy´s first Marlin & Sailfish in a few hours…
Your first Billfish release surely is a very special moment.
But, last Thursday, the 15th of April, Andy Marchussen did it way better when he released his first Marlin & Sailfish a few hours apart.
The last two weeks fishing at Vilankulos and the Bazaruto Atchipelago have been pretty special and you can see the last couple of reports here;
https://fishbazaruto.com/2021/04/13/bazaruto-march-21-gamefish-feast/
I first met Andrew and Brendan Marchussen when they come for a three-day charter with us @ Bazaruto in October 2013 to celebrate both their 40th anniversary – which make us all the same age!
I remember it well.
It was a good trip.
Good chilled people, and to top it off they both got their first Marlin.
We went 1 for 2 on the first day with Andrew releasing his first Black Marlin.
Missed a Sailfish and got a bunch of wahoos and YFT for the day.
Brenda released a big Zambezi (Bull) shark in the afternoon.
On the third and last day it was Brenda´s turn to catch her first Black Marlin and we missed another two.
Like most of them, big or small, I remember that fish like yesterday.
We hooked it on the express.
It was only a #250 fish but foul hooked on the shoulders – no easy feat!
A big Stormy front was coming in from the South and we were at the bottom end of V Mile.
Got some amazing jumps on that one and very aggressive work to get the release quickly.
Brenda was a machine on the chair.
We just managed to escape being trapped in that storm!
April 2021
Andrew and Brendan contacted me to get back to Bazaruto once again during the Marlin Season last year October. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic we had to postpone that one and they will, hopefully be fishing with us in mid-October this year.
Meanwhile, they come on holiday to Vilankulos this April and we planned a few days fishing. Along with them where their two sons, Oscar (26) and Andy (20).
After a long spell of flat calm seas, the weather had been unseasonably windy this last week.
We did not find ideal conditions on our first day, the 14th April.
It was quite a challenge to go through the washing machine and we found a pretty sterile and messy sea out there with absolutely no surface or bird activity.
With only two dorado and a couple of bonito it turned out to be the least eventful light tackle fishing day I have had in a few years at Bazaruto…
Just shows the quality of the fishing we have to deal with 🙂
But, although not firing, every day is different out there and the next day turned out to be much more interesting, especially for Andy, who caught his first Marlin & Sailfish in a few hours…
Once again, we picked them up at 6am at Archipelago and run out to the fishing grounds. Conditions where much smother and soon we were trolling south.
Nothing much happen so we changed tactics, brought out the spinning and light jigging outfits and went shallow.
On the first cast…
…we had a sailfish take the GT ice cream on the light spinning stick but it was a short encounter.
But, it was good fun and drift after drift we released some Yellowspotted trevally´s along with a couple King Mackerel. It was beautiful to see the whole school of trevally´s in the gin clear water and sandy bottom. Sharks were also around and we lost two to the tax man.
Then, we had another bite but this time the fish took off and jumped in the air. Andy was hooked up to a small Black Marlin in 18 meters of water! Pretty cool. Perfect light tackle for this beautiful little fish that just went airborne time and time again before being released after some quick pics.
What a great start to the day.
Early morning and in amongst a light tackle session on King Mackerel and a bunch of Trevallies´s Andy Marchussen hooked and released his first ever Billfish. A small Black Marlin in 18 meters of water on a light stick. A couple hours later he released his first billfish for the day, this time a Sailfish.
It went slow there so we once again. Put the trolling outfits out and trolled down south to n.3 pinnacle picking up a dorado and a nice kawakawa on the way.
Back to spinning and jigging and we caught some nice fish including bonnies, blue trevally, yellowpotted and great barracuda….and a rocking cod!
Time had flown by so we decided to put the trolling gear out again and work south to finish the day with a jigging session at Best. We were still putting them out when the short Ilander went screaming. Andy was again on rod duty and this time he hooked up to a sailfish.
And, just like that the young lad released his first Marlin & Sailfish in a few hours…
Second billfish release for the morning for Andy, a Sailfish which took the Black & Purple Ilander / ballyhoo combination not within a minute of setting it up…
We picked up another dorado, a kawa kawa and pulled the hooks on another big fish which was probably a wahoo. I decided to go shallower as and as we worked the 25-meter line a couple miles north of Best we a couple sailfish come on the spread. Hooked one but unfortunately it pulled the hooks. We decided to ditch the jigging and spend the little remaining time we had targeting sailies but unfortunately could not find them again and only caught another bonnie to end the day.
Once again, not fireworks and much quieter than it’s been for the past few weeks.
But, with some good light tackle fishing and a first Marlin and Sailfish for Andy and especially after the previous slow day there where smiles all around.
Great people to be out there with anyway who just appreciate all of it.
Really looking to fishing with the Marchussen again in October…
A big blow from the SE after that brought in some colder water turned the fishing around and it’s been difficult out there with little to no surface activity and with the Sailfish and wahoo bite slowing down.
On the 23rd and 24th we had some more cool light tackle fun on Darren Fisher´s 38ft SuperCat Rocksteady… we did really well given the conditions.
On the Friday we had a short afternoon session with Darren, his wife Bretha and his 4-year-old son, Mathew.
We started with a kawa kawa triple strike and had Bretha catch her first deep sea game fish, a solid fish on the light spinning tackle on the Stella 5000. We caught a couple more and went for a swim inside Linene. The afternoon hour session was fast & furious and ended with 14 game fish. Darren even twice catching two fish on the same rod on the daisy chains – once a big eye trevally and a kawa kawa.
We had a late start on the Saturday and it was a quiet morning.
But, as soon as the tide change the bait come up and we had some chaotic times with up to quintuple strikes with dorado, Yellowfin tuna and skipjack all feeding together.
Also caught a few King mackerel, big eye Kingfish and loads of kawa kawa…
That´s it for now, let’s see what May brings us hopefully some more Sailfish and wahoo as it is their normal peak time and we hoping to get a few days on the heavy tackle and find some Marlin!
Cheers for now…
Duarte A. M. Rato
Fishbazaruto.com
Sportfishing Charters @ Vilankulos & Bazaruto Archipelago
Email: dudas7mares@gmail.com
FB: fishbazaruto.com & MarlinMoz Sportfishing
Skype: duarteamrato
Phone: 00 258 84 639 0466
