LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
This is actually a fishing report of sorts - just a bit more of a story, so sit back, grab your cup of coffee (or whatever our poison) and read on... more submission will follow in due course - I just want you to soak them up one at a time and then come out to Kenya to live the dream!
Mountain Trip 19-20 November 2008
(Fishingfundi - Guest Skipper)
Another dawn broke gently over a tranquil Shimoni. The Pemba Channel Fishing Club (PCFC) / Lodge boats swayed gently at their moorings as the four red flags and the T-flag were removed from the starboard outrigger of Jasiri where they had boasted yesterdays’ successful jaunt out to the rich, clear waters just north of the ‘mlango’ (entrance) to Shimoni culminating in four tagged and released Sailfish. A light breakfast was taken at a leisurely pace as I sat on the pool steps with Sandra and contemplated the trip ahead.
It was 12 years, two months and 13 days since I had last been on one of the exciting trips to the Shimoni Mountain (as I had named it in my GPS) that lies 54nm (approx. 100 km) east of PCFC. On that previous sea safari we caught two Shortbilled Spearfish, a large Striped Marlin and an even larger
Broadbill not to mention the numerous Dorado, Skipjacks and, when we arrived on the Mountain, lots of Big Eye Tuna. We had also “dropped” a couple of Sailfish and a big Black Marlin which, had we managed to tag them, would have been the first ever recorded Grand Slam of five Billfish in one trip. Would this trip live up to the last? What was the weather like out there in November? Would there be any problem with Somali Pirates? (Only joking but a super tanker was hi-jacked by Pirates just two days before from the Kenyan waters 450 miles off Mombasa.) How well would my satellite telephone work out at sea and more to the point, would it be required in anger?
My client for the next 33 hours was a pleasant young man from the Netherlands called Mario who had come out to Kenya not only with his mother but also with six new "bent-butt" 80 and 130 outfits matched with Penn International reels and a whole bag of brand new trolling lures that looked ideal for the days ahead. Mario’s desire was to catch a BIG fish (hence the heavy tackle) but he was also fisherman enough to know the fun of fighting a fish on lighter line and for this he had a seven foot Ken Thompson Steel Shaft Pro spinning rod and a Daiwa Boss fixed-spool spinning reel with 400m of 10kg line.
At 0645 hours the Caterpillar engines were gurgling away gently as we transferred from the dinghy to Jasiri, a ten metre sport fishing Bertram complete with flying bridge and 'Tuna Tower'. Captain Mohammed Baraza and crew, Cosmos and Hamadi had everything ship shape so with our arrival the mooring was slipped and we cruised serenely out to the crystal waters of the Indian Ocean. Our initial plan was to zigzag around the ‘bait patch’ area, pick up a few Bonito, (Kawa Kawa) and Yellow-fin Tuna and keep our eyes peeled for the packs of marauding Sailfish that had been active the day before. The plan came together as we first caught the Bonito and then out of the blue a Sail snatched at a tiny 3-inch lure with a small 4-0 O’Shaunassy hook that just happened to be on Mario’s spinning tackle. The Suli-suli (Sailfish) performed its aerial ballet, made a searing run into the deep but was eventually tamed after 20 minutes of patient persuasion and Cosmos carefully pricked in an African Billfish Foundation tag (ABF #31858) and after a brief period of revival the beautiful creature swam strongly away into the azure blue.
Small flocks of birds (Terns) diving at Sardines tempted us further and further out to sea and occasionally one of the reels would scream into life announcing the strike of another fish. A ‘smelly’ Barracuda was tempted, fought and released and occasionally the shout from the bridge was a ‘heads-up’ that a shoal of the turquoise green and yellow Falusi (Dorado) was about to crash through the spread of lures (normally at right angles to the direction of travel) which always raises the adrenaline and often causes a spider’s web of lines that need to be carefully juggles to separate the lines from ‘burning each other off’. After the frenetic pace of the fishing near the shore the long transit to the spot somewhere over the horizon seemed to slow the action and we had to really concentrate to keep our eyes scanning the pattern of lures for the dark shape of a bill-fish gliding up behind one of our lures. Hourly, we would get a call from base requesting the Habari (News of the fishing) and between 0900 hours and 1100 the reply was “Jasiri Negative”. This never tells the whole story because just before 1100 hours, the crew and myself had been embellishing tales of previous exploits as we watched the numbers tick down on the Navman GPS/Echo-sounder when Cosmos suddenly called, “Marlin!, Marlin!” He pointed into a roughish patch of water some 100 metres ahead of the boat in about the 10 o-clock position and sure enough we all saw the iridescent blue of the lit-up pectoral fins of a Striped Marlin as it banked in the water in preparation of an attack on our live bait Bonito and ‘plastic’ lures. The Stripy took a cursory glance at the plastic before focussing on the Oceanic Skipjack that was on the port outrigger line. It seemed to give the Skippy a gentle prod with its bill, sized up the meal and then, much to our immense disappointment, it sank slowly out of sight. We knew it was in the area and waited with baited breath to see if the Skippy on the down-rigger would be swallowed or perhaps it might enjoy scoffing the little Yellow-fin that was on the flat-line at the rear of the pattern? The eagle-eyed, Baraza spotted the dark form behind the long line and it was frustrating to see an excited fish following our lures for about five or six minutes without committing to a strike. However, eventually the marlin turned away and slipped back into the beautiful ‘Cobalt-blue’ waters much to everybody’s disappointment.
During the next few hours it was generally quiet, punctuated by solitary strikes by big, bull Falusi, one of which we eventually decided to keep for the pot and I immediately cleaned, filleted, skinned and portioned the “chicken-of-the-sea” placing the fillets in a cool box ready for a delicious hot meal, cooked in the galley later that afternoon.
About 1400 hours I left the bridge to explore the delights of the delicious fare that had been prepared by Sandra and her kitchen staff and having chosen a roll with various meats and pickles I filled a gap that had been rumbling in my stomach! I had been ‘below’ for only about 10 minutes but on returning to the bridge it seemed that we had entered a different ocean! The wind had risen by ten knots and the calm sea had suddenly sprouted white-caps and was forming into a north-easterly chop. At this time of year the Kaskazi starts to blow during the afternoon and heralds the arrival of the traditional, trading dhows from the Arabian gulf. This wind also normally brings good fishing, but to be honest, I was rather hoping that the sea would remain calm because night fishing in a smallish boat is hard enough trying to control a big fish without the added complication and discomfort of three metre waves rocking us and slapping the side of the hull, showering us in salt water when we get caught broadside.
Unusually, (drawing on the experienced Baraza’s knowledge) there were a significant number of large ships in the area. At any time we could count up to a dozen ships either on their way to or from Mombasa or just cruising to some other East African port. This knowledge gave us both comfort in that should we encounter a serious problem then help was just a Channel 16 radio call away but also slight concern that in the dead of night one of these ‘container-monsters’ might not spot us on their radar and spoil our day by either ramming us or ploughing through our spread of lines. We would all have to remain vigilant as it was going to be a very dark night until the quarter-moon showed above the eastern horizon about 0200 hours.
Dusk turns rapidly to lack night in the tropics and at 4 degrees south and 040 degrees east the brief sunset with pink and orange wispy clouds gave way to the too-bright glow of the echo-sounder and red glow of the compass light and the sparkling twinkle of the night sky with Venus being first to show. The water at the “Mountain” was barren on arrival. No sign of the expected birds and worse, not the frenetic action of the Big-eye Tuna smashing our lures but thoughts turned to Broadbill and getting the fresh squid baits set with a chemical light-stick at the top of the leader and another in the bait. We set a spread of four baits, one on each outrigger, a flat line and the nearest one on the downrigger at about 100 foot depth. I started with an ‘expanding-square search’ of the area around the centre of the mountain peak taking care on the turns that a wave didn’t catch us broadside, especially in the ‘rip’ north-east of the mountain. On one of the southerly legs at about 2100 hours we had the first strike as the Penn International 80STW reel “grrrrrd” into life! Strikes by Broadbill tend to be prolonged affairs with an initial enquiry followed by silence. The line may be held in your hand to feel if there is anything still attached and most times you will feel tugs that prove that a fish is mouthing the bait before deciding to swallow the morsel and hunt for another. When this does happen the line starts peeling from the reel, the angler picks up the rod and sits in the fighting chair (unless he is using ‘stand-up’ tackle), the drag is pushed to the strike position and the hook set in the soft mouth of the Broadbill and the battle commences. Unfortunately on this first enquiry the fish let go after a short run but the position had been marked on the GPS and I concentrated on this area for the next half hour or so. Sure enough on a pass about 300 metres west of the original strike another fish took a fancy to the bait on the down-rigger and this time it seemed to have hooked itself on the take. Mario was in the chair with the rod even before the crew had time to jump down from the bridge and we could all feel the tension in the air as we hoped that Mario would catch his first Broadbill and that it would be worthy of his new, expensive bent-butt tackle. The remaining three lines were quickly reeled in and I took the port engine out of gear to minimise the forward speed but still retain directional control of Jasiri. Baraza barked the odd direction to me to assist Mario with fighting his fish and helped by indicating where the line was peeling away into the inky depths. This was obviously a good fish and giving Mario a great account of the quality and strength of the deep-sea gladiator. For 25 minutes the fish stayed deep, occasionally stripping line that Mario had just recovered and forcing him to work hard to bring the fish under control. Then suddenly, without reason or warning the line went slack and the fish was off. Huge disappointment all round but hope also that more fish would hit our lures during the rest of the night.
We had two more enquiries but without hook-ups before a solid strike just before midnight, followed by a slightly extended period of free-spooling ensured that Mario was back in the chair and I was back at the helm with one engine in gear. After a fight lasting 20 minutes Mario brought a fine fish to the leader. The bill alone was about five foot long and impressively broad at the base and after tagging the fish the 12-0 hook was removed, the razor sharp bill (or so it appears) was held by the gloved hand of Hamadi as we gently motored forward to increase the flow of oxygenated water through the gills and eventually it was hand-shakes all round as the bronze creature estimated at 70 kg blended into the depths away from the glow of our spotlights on the water.
During the rest of the night we found that transiting slightly west of the mountain we were getting more strikes but unfortunately even these were tentative and we failed to increase the tally of tagged fish that evening. Owing to the lack of birds on the mountain the previous afternoon we had decided to work our way south towards the northern tip of Pemba Island and hope to catch some bait-fish there and to live-bait for marlin or shark.
With Pemba light on the horizon and following the edge of the banks we cruised around in search of the expected shoals of Tuna. A good sized female Falusi about 15 kg struck out of a weed line and again had the decency to hit Mario’s light outfit thereby increasing the enjoyment of the fight. A few more strikes during the morning brought us hope that we would hit into a large fish but things slowed down again and we criss-crossed expectantly into rips, beside thin weed lines and continued to search for diving birds and splashes of fish that might give us some much needed live bait to use for Mario’s monster. It was to be a slow and frustrating morning. We did spot a huge Tiger Shark (over 500 kg) cruising near the surface and had out some perfect live-baits but paradoxically the shark ignored our offerings and avoided a conflict with Mario’s heavy tackle!
A little later about mid afternoon the adrenaline flowed again as Baraza and I both spotted a big Black Marlin creeping up on one of our (by now dead) tuna baits. It knocked the line from the outrigger clip and the reel started to growl in its rachetty way, but only with the sudden drag of the water and the pull from the boat. Sadly this was yet another missed opportunity and what might have been only goes into the yarns of “if only” and “nearly but not quite”. Fortunately this was not the end of the fishing for Mario because he had a day to recover before he swapped boats to fish on another of the PCFC Bertrams called Shuwari, on the second of three 33 hour marathon trips to the Mountain in search of his BIG fish.
Did the trip live up to my expectations? Well nearly! The fishing was sporadic and too quiet on the mountain but maybe that was because of the rough water or perhaps the dreaded “long-liners” have been raping the area at the mountain? However, if we had tagged every fish that we hooked we would have had a truly amazing trip. Two Sail, two Striped Marlin, about six or seven Broadbill Swordfish, a Black Marlin and maybe a huge Tiger Shark as well.
The weather was typical for a December/January day/night so was a bit rougher than I had expected for mid November. As for Pirates, they were obviously too busy hi-jacking more wealthy ships further up the coast so they left us well alone. The Thuraya satellite telephone worked fine (although for some reason it would send sms messages but didn’t receive any even though they were sent). The boat stayed fully serviceable and there was no requirement to call for help on either the radio or the ‘phone. I’ve another 66 hours of fishing with Mario to come so hopefully I’ll be able to report on a more successful search of his elusive monster fish in the days ahead.
Reply With Quote
MY FIRST SFC READ WITH A 10 MINUTE INTERMISSION
YOU CERTAINLY ARE NOT SHY ....YOU SIGN UP HERE AND BANG! INSTANT NOVEL! 
NO LURKING AROUND....."THAT'S WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT!"
''MATE-TRIX Sportfishing''