Flyfishing
page 2
Plenty of watersport activities were on offer for the fit and keen
"underwater diving practise"
Rods were put out with "Rappies" and I asked who had never caught a fish in his life before. David put his hand up and he was promptly elected to land the first fish.
Over the drop-off the 30lb rod reel screamed and David was "vas"
Unfortunately David did not have his sea legs and the rod had no gimble butt. I grabbed him on the rod bucket belt and steered him around the boat. David was taking strain and the sweat was pouring down his face in buckets.
On many occasions he asked me to take over but he got no sympathy and was rudely told that he had caught the fish and he had to land it. As the fish came up from the deep it was followed by a whole lot of its mates. Unfortunately the mates were far too large and the water too deep for me to cast a fly. It was a beautiful GT that tipped the scales at 21.5kgs.
On arriving at the island David had good look around. A self-sustaining population of refugee Tanzanians populated it. They even had two basic cinemas and their own bakery.
The islander’s main source of income was from their fishing activities from their numerous Dhows.
end of a great day
The boats for the angler are certainly not those as depicted in the advertising literature. No fighting chairs, outriggers, no gimble butt rods with buckets and the one picture was taken with the very recognizable Bazaruto sand dune in the background. Most important these boats would not pass a South African seaworthy certificate simple because they have NO FLOTATION whatsoever. Fiberglass deteriorates because of the suns ultra violet rays and creates hardly visible hairline cracks. If this happens on hitting a "dumper" the whole hull can collapse and bilge pumps are of no use whatsoever.
From a fishing perspective I suspect that we had arrived at the end of the game fish season and the owners should do an in depth investigation of the characteristics for both the fly and deep-sea angler.
There is nothing worse than supplying advertising literature compiled by someone who thinks that fish come out of a fish finger box.
Sue Babich takes up the story from here.
