Bazaruto Light Tackle Season Update – May 2025
Bazaruto Light Tackle Season Update – May 2025: Been a while since we reported on the fishing at Vilankulos and the Bazaruto Archipelago so here´s a short synopsis of what has been happening all round…
We had some gorgeous weather in April with loads of flat calm days but also much warmer water than usual for this time of year which is not very conducive to good surface activity.
Towards the middle of the month the water was still in the high 28c which is the highest I have ever seen it at that time of year ever – and they say Global Warming is a myth! 
This warm water had unusual numbers of skipjack Tuna off shore mostly between the 50-to-140-meter mark and as usual they provided great sport on light spinning sticks and the 1 ½ to 2-ounce GT ice creams again proving absolutely irresistible on those.
The good news was that at times there were also some good size Yellowfin Tuna in the mix, especially early morning which was a treat for those who made it out at or just after sunrise.
Otherwise, until around the third week there was not much other surface activity but jigging was pretty eventful until the water clarity went absolutely mental deep electric blue which slowed things a tad on that side.
However, by mid-month the three species which we all anxiously wait for this time of year started showing up, still in relatively modest numbers but still providing great fun on the light tackle.
A beautiful Black Banded trevally, not the biggest but very rare to catch however we had a day with Niki and Max (below) where we caught a number of them and got smoked by some pretty good fish on the jig including a big GT that pulled the hook-on Niki after 20 minutes of heavy struggle!
Not the biggest but how beautiful are these Bluefin trevallies!?! – this one caught on a drop shoot!!!
We had a couple great days with Brendan Fisher (above) with a good number of these missiles!!!
The Wahoo is a species which can be caught year-round on the Archipelago but early winter to around September is their peak time with June and July normally being the peak and, with the right tackle, those insanely fast pack attacks are something to behold and experience especially when the really big boys start to show up.
Ethan (above) and Diogo Landrey (below) with yet another wahoo caught in April – they can be caught year-round on the Bazaruto Archipelago but show up in (sometimes) insane numbers between May and July (sometimes up to September) of every year!
Nicky with a decent early April cuta….
There has also been a good number of good King Mackerel (AKA:Cuta) around and the big boys will not be far behind once the jube jube´s (their preferential bait) start showing up in their normal zillions.
Between May and July, the last two years we have seen some of the best BIG cuta fishing we have experienced in the last decade with abnormal size crocodiles with a good number of fish going over 30 kilos.
Here some cuta reports from last two years;
Some Cuta / King mackerel from this past month including this one caught on a light spinning stick Clone Lures trident 140 in sardine color with 80-pound Fluoro mono (rather be lucky than good )
As is normal the Queen Mackerel (AKA: Natal Snoek) have also started to show up giving great fun on light spinning tackle in their normal shallow spots on the outskirts of the bay. Their numbers will only get better as the water temperature subsides.
Sailfish numbers are still unexceptional but pretty good this early in the season and a good premonition for this to come as again the numbers will improve exponentially as the water cools down and the biomass of exception large numbers of bait pull in the winter. But still boats are seeing and hooking them on a daily basis.
There has also been a good number of dorado around and although not specifically targeted some small Black Marlin have been hooked and caught on the wahoo and sailfish baits and the very few boats who had ventured out wide have seen some Blue Marlin action which can be so good this time of year.
The Gang down at Santa Maria with a small Blue tagged a few days ago…
We did not spend much time popping these days except for some cast on the way or out – depending on tide which produced a few small GT´s and some monster barracuda and some other critters but the last couple weeks heard of some decent Geet´s being released.
Anyway, this is just the beginning of the best light tackle fishing on the Archipelago and we will start fishing next week solid and if its anything like the last few years we are in for some exceptional fishing in what is normally the most placid weather of the year…
Tight lines….
The 38ft SuperCat – Drop Your Rods – these boats are the absolute best machines to fish this time of year, their 16ft beam makes them a truly light tackle machine and the comfort is unparalleled – and the onboard barbecues are not too shabby as well!
While jigging with Nicky and Max in early April we always had a couple dead or live jube jubes out for cuta – but one was taken by the taxman which the boys both took turns to catch on the light tackle!
Duarte A. M. Rato
Fishbazaruto.com
Sportfishing Charters @ Vilankulos & Bazaruto Archipelago
MOZAMBIQUE
Email: dudas7mares@gmail.com
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Phone & WhatsApp: + 258 84 639 0466
