The stunning Bazaruto island is a true all round fishing destination, perfectly suited to lure, bait and fly fishermen, indeed it is one of the few places where one can legitimately shore fish with South African style chisel plugs for the magnificent Giant Trevally. Believe me, you want to chase these fish !! We were based at the quite wonderful Bazaruto lodge; paradise on earth, I would encourage anybody to go there if you can.
Me with a puppy size GT caught surf-casting on the south side of Bazaruto. Any GT is an incredible fish, especially when they come up and nail these chisel plugs that you retrieve very fast so that they skip on the surface. But you have to believe how big a GT I saw track my lure one morning, so big and menacing that I nearly passed out with excitement. I will be back......
The classic African shore fishing scene : 14 beachcaster bent over into a train of a fish as the sun goes down. We were fishing a huge sand spit that is close to the wonderful Bazaruto Lodge; this spit juts way out into the tide and all manner of fish hunt in and around the tide rip. Sharks, GTs, ray etc., you name it, this place has the lot.
My first ever black tip shark, indeed my mate Del and I look slightly shocked at the size of it !! I knew it was a decent fish by the distance it ran when I hooked it, but in truth, any time one can catch a shark off the beach is something seriously special. There is nothing like it on this earth.
Classic fishing : casting chisel plugs as far as possible as the sun goes down on another perfect African days fishing. If you are serious about your shore fishing and can do so, I would implore and angler to spend time fishing in Africa. It is hard to come back home unaffected by the sheer overwhelming experience of a place like Mozambique.
This is a true, potentially might never see again fish of a lifetime for my good friend Del Thompson from the Isles of Scilly. Fishing in a bay on the south side of the island, this monster 80lb GT crashed into his gear and ran him something rotten for nearly an hour, right into darkness. Del was rendered virtually speechless by such an impressive fish, but in truth I do not think he really knows just how serious a catch this is. How many anglers out there have ever nailed an 80lb Giant Trevally off the beach ? Rest assured that this fish was successfully returned. Not a bad fish to catch for a fishing programme !! Well done Del (and Ricky and Sean Jacobs, thanks guys for all the help).
Messing about on ski-boats with small pirks and jigs on the extensive reef systems that lie all around the south side of the island, we caught all manner of species, including this colourful trigger fish. You would not believe just how solid they are to hold.
We have snagged and lost all our mini-pirks, so Del takes out his absolute last lure, a small green Storm Shad, and he lets it drift away from the boat, to get it down as deep as possible. And then he hooks a train of a fish that simply charges off with horrible power and speed, quite unlike anything we have in the UK. When tropical fish get big and hit hard, there is simply nothing to compare it to.
This is the end result of that monster fight on a light Greys 4-piece travel spinning rod : a good sized GT for Del. The absolute last-gasp fish of our short trip to film a programme for my new TV series, and what a way to end it. Light tackle fishing at its absolute best and another memorable fish for a good friend.
(Thanks to Jeremy Porter for the use of his photos here, www.jezcam.co.uk).
There are various people who sort out trips to Mozambique, but take it from me, you are going to have to go a long way to find a more knowledgeable, upfront, professional and downright nicer guy than Ricky Jacobs of Mozambique Tours. There are few people out there who know Mozambique better, whether you are after a romantic, no-expenses spared kind of holiday, or a die-hard fishing package where you can use every minute of every day to fish the wonderful Indian Ocean waters. It kind of helps that Ricky himself is one of the most awesome anglers I have ever met and fished with, indeed he is generally regarded as being one of South AfricaÕs top fishermen. The Bazaruto archipelago, just off Vilanculos in southern Mozambique, has great blue water and inshore boat fishing, but importantly the island of Bazaruto offers outstanding shore fishing from its extremely varied shoreline. Very easy to get there, surprisingly cost-effective, the kind of place you will want to go back to.
