Mozambique Fishing trip

In May 2009, after lots of planning, I left London to fly to Port Elizabeth (South Africa) to meet up with two of my best friends, Thys and Hugo. The idea for our fishing trip started with one too many beers around a campfire and was finalised via many many phone calls and emails.

We left Port Elizabeth 1 May 2009 at 3:00 in the morning and travelled all the way over the Mozambique border to overnight in Casalisa. From there we did the 2nd leg of the trip to finally reach our destination which was Pomene after a gruelling 2400kms! For this trip we were very heavily packed and all that was amiss to create the perfect pictures would have been a chicken cage on top of the bakkie with a few chickens in it! First of all there was Thys' Colt 2.4litre petrol bakkie (aka a pick-up truck or SUV for the English folk) and behind the bakkie we towed a 14.2ft boat called Skipjack, which is Hugo's pride and joy. The boat was fitted with a 60HP Mariner engine and loaded with 8x50litre drums of petrol which came to a total of 400 litres of petrol! The boat was covered with a blue canvass to hide all the evidence. The distance to our destination was 2400kms one way, so we ended up doing 4800kms in total for the whole trip! We had to take turns driving the bakkie so we always had the driver and co-driver in the front to keep him company and someone sleeping in the back. After the driver had done about 4-6 hours it would be time to rotate and his turn to sleep in the back.

On top of the bakkie we had a cage fitted where we loaded our fishing rods and half a forest of firewood for our copious amounts of meat that Thys organised for the trip. For washing down all the meat, Thys and Hugo decided on 2 cases of beers and one bottle of hard liquor (with mix of course) per night! Needless to say, we were well fed and jolly all the time, except for missing a very important item commonly known as "vegetables" which Thys somehow missed from my carefully laid out shopping list. At least he didn't forget the potatoes and we ended up cooking these in every possible way imaginable. We finally had to admit defeat in the end and buy some vegetables from the locals. We came back partly successful with 4 tiny bananas, 10 baby tomatoes, a few lettuce leaves , a pumpkin and also 4 very large crabs.

Getting to our destination wasn't fun at all. Not only was the drive long and tiring but we were also left a bit shell shocked after the blatant corruption and bribery at the Mozambique border. As if the border wasn't bad enough, there are also a lot of road blocks - each with their own corrupt guardian who demanded some sort of "compensation". This part of our trip was not nice and left a slightly bitter taste in our mouths. The further we drove into Mozambique, the worse the roads seems to get and dodging potholes became the norm. After which seems like eternity, we finally reach our turn-off on to the dirt road for Pomene Lodge. After the bad roads we encountered, I naively thought that we had already encountered the worse but I was proved wrong. About 20km's before Pomene we reached the "sand jungle" which, as the name suggests, had a lot of sand and more potholes of course. We had to deflate the tyres and put the bakkie into diflock for most of that stretch and promptly got stuck whilst driving up the first hill. The bakkie dropped in a pothole and we spent a long time digging it out of the loose sand. This left us with only one option in the end and that was full throttle all the way! The full throttle approach was, however, a double edged sword as every time we raced up the hill the momentum would carry us successfully all the way to the top but then we would hit a pothole and the bakkie would bounce up and down like a spring-time billy goat. Ultimately the inevitable happened and the whole "cage" on top of the bakkie tore loose taking with it all our wood and fishing rods. On that occasion we were fortunate that nothing broke and after some creative fastening and verbal "support" from 3 very tired travellers, we were soon up and running again. This terrain is definitely not for a 2 wheel drive and I would recommend anyone else doing this trip to use a 4x4.

We finally reached our destination, Pomene Lodge, late that evening. Pomene is situated on a peninsula where river meets sea and the main lodge consisted of the reception, bar, restaurant, swimming pool and the riverside cottages which were built on stilts on top of the water. When the tide comes in the whole cottage stands above the water. Then there were also the fisherman's cottages and we opted for a 2 bedroom thatched cottage situated right next to sea and overlooking the river mouth. The view from the lodge was beautiful and we saw some really stunning sunsets while sitting next to a fire and sipping our never-ending supply of cold beer. The cottage was fitted with 2 toilets, 2 showers and a open-plan area which had the kitchen and lounge. The cottage had electricity (although some of the most shocking wiring I've ever seen in my life!) and there was a freezer for all our fish and meat. Hugo also proved himself a hero by bringing along an ice machine, which ran non-stop to keep up with our unquenchable thirsts. The electricity was powered by a generator which was stopped every night at 21:00 and started again at 12:00 the next day. Therefore we had to keep the freezer closed as much as possible to keep our food frozen at all times.

The species of fish that we were targeting were GTs (giant trevally), king mackerel, queen mackerel, rock cod, barracuda and if we were so lucky a sailfish! For this trip we had to have 3 various outfits. Our gear consisted of short spinning rods which were between 6ft and 9ft long and the reels fitted on those were mostly Daiwa Exceller fixed spool reels with braid around 30lb. For trolling lures and live bait, we had short boat rods which were around 20lb and the reels were mostly multipliers with thick line for bullying out the bigger fish. Our last outfit consisted of a heavyweight "popping" rod with a strong fixed spool reel and some heavy braid which was around 50lb. I also brought along a salt water fly rod which broke on the third cast.

Our main aim going to Mozambique was of course catching lots of fish and very soon we followed a routine of getting up early (around 4/5am) with a quick cup of coffee and rusks and from there off to launch our trusty little boat Skipjack. Exiting the river could be quite interesting and every day was different according to the wind tides. Sometimes there would be huge swell rushing into the river and then Hugo had to time the waves and hit the throttle when it was safe to do so. We once got it wrong and were airborne for a few seconds after hitting a huge wave head-on. We were fortunate on that occasion and after our hearts starting beating again we were off to our first stop which was always “Live bait reef”. This reef was, as the name suggested, a small reef not far from the shore that was always teeming with small bait fish. Every morning we used to catch these with small feathers for our quota of live bait for the morning’s fishing to follow. These we used for drifting over reefs while spinning with spoons, vertical jigging or drop shot fishing. Every now and then, one of our multipliers on the live bait rod would scream off and attached to it would be a nice king mackerel or barracuda.

Even though we were all very keen fishermen, we did take some time off to explore and were very grateful when Amos, one of the locals, offered to take us for sundowners upriver into the mangroves. On the boat we loaded a very large coolbox which was filled with ice and stocked with a ridiculous amount of cold beer. The river itself twisted through a forest of lush green mangroves which had their twisted white limbs exposed in the low tide. Sharing the river with us were large amounts of birds which kept a watchful eye from the treetops. The river running through the mangroves that evening was a mirror which reflected the lush green forest and was emphasised by the crimson colours of the setting African sun. The times when we switched the engine off we were met with a stillness so complete it was almost frightening and with the darkness slowly engulfing us it was time to head back to camp. One thing that I’ve come to learn is that African memories will leave with you intoxicating experiences which become part of you and haunt your memories until you cease to exist one day.

On one of these days I nearly had a heart attack when I looked down from the side of the boat and saw a massive whale shark right underneath our boat. The shark was absolutely massive and dwarfed our tiny boat! It was swimming just below the surface of the water and could have easily toppled our boat over if he was in a bad mood. These sharks are however very friendly and merely inquisitive and it is common for divers to swim with them. I was gutted that I didn't have my diving goggles with me that day although this whale shark was sharing the water with some less friendly sharks who would absolutely have loved to have me for lunch. This was in fact confirmed when one day I was reeling a fish in and suddenly felt a violent tug at the end of the line. I reeled in to discovered a dead fish at the end of my line with some serious teeth marks along it's flanks! It sends shivers down my spine just thinking of the various types of sharks roaming these waters with their formidable sets of dentistry.

One of the highlights of our trip was definitely the second last day of fishing. Up to that point we had been catching fish daily but not nearly as many as we were hoping for. That day started off the same as the others: wake up at 4am, have some coffee with rusks, launch the boat and make our way to the live bait reef. After we caught our quota of live bait we were on our way to one of the reefs when we saw the seagulls diving in the water (which is a tell-tale sign that there are predators feeding and pushing the bait fish up in the water). The ever present locals were also busy fishing from their kayaks and we could see them catching fish so we headed straight for that area brimming with excitement and hopeful that today was going to be the day. The first thing we did when we arrived was the get the live bait out and we trolled them slowly behind the boat whilst spinning with slim spoons on our light rods. My rod with the live bait was the first one to scream off and I landed a small barracuda, our first fish of the day. After that it was mayhem as suddenly it was as if someone flicked a switch and the fish started feeding! It all started with a few "chases" behind our lures. You cast your lure and start reeling in and then all of a sudden there would be an explosion of water behind your lure when the giant trevally tries to hit it. This happened a few times to all of us and I was the first one to hook one of these

magnificent fish. My 7ft spinning rod doubled over and my little Daiwa Exceller reel with 30lb braid screamed like a banshee! These fish have phenomenal strength and they sure don't like a hook attached to their mouths! The fish was taking lots of line and I was getting nervous that the fish might strip my reel of all the line. Luckily I was able to turn it's head and after about 20 minutes I finally landed a beautiful giant trevally. Words can't describe the feeling of absolute raw exhilaration and excitement one feels when adrenaline is coursing through your veins and your heart feels like it is going to burst through your chest! This is what makes fishing special; this is why I love the sport so much. You never know what you might get and when you do, it can be very rewarding. We were quickly off again and positioned the boat so that we could drift over the reef. Hugo rightly pointed out that this was the time to get our heavy popper rods out and soon we were chucking large poppers on top of the water. Almost immediately I was in again with another big fish and a few seconds later so was Thys! This time we were ready for the GTs and because of our heavy gear we were able to land them much quicker. Hugo wanted to catch a GT on a light spinning rod and when he hooked his first fish it took him 30 minutes to land his! These fish are great fun to catch and we had a great time doing so. We caught around 15 GTs that day and released most of them for someone else to catch another day.

Back in camp it was time for a well deserved cold beer and we sat there grinning at each other while mulling over the events of the day. Mozambique was a great experience and one that I can recommend to anyone. This is Africa at it's best and a place where you can still enjoy unspoilt beauty. I will miss the lovely views over the river mouth and sea; I will miss watching the sand crabs racing around as if on rocket fuel on the beach; I will miss the warm friendly smiles of the locals; I will miss the dramatic sunsets and most of all I will miss the fishing!

This was one of the crabs that we got from the locals. They were absolutely massive and filled a whole large plate! Tasty as well!

Sun set in the mangroves.

These are the GTs that we caught on our second last day. They were around 15 kgs of pure muscle each but in GT terms that is still relatively small. I will have to return one day to catch their daddys! Until that day I will continue to dream...