PLACES
By Duarte Rato; photos by Duarte Rato and Gretha de Wet
I
T was another sunny, flat calm, winter day on the banks, but at these latitudes that means little. The sun was merciless; the speed and intensity on the boat was extreme. With all the tackle and bait rigging, hookups and releases we’d done I overlooked ensuring I had enough water and shade. For the first time in thirty-odd years of fishing the tropics I experienced sunstroke. However the 22 sailfish we released out of 42 raised for the day made up for it. Multiple, triple and even an insane quintuple hookup filled our day. We also released many other gamefish including big wahoo, dogtooth, GTs and yellowfin tuna up to 35kg.
Worn-out, we finally headed back to the yacht for a shower and a well-deserved drink. We watched the sun set from the bow, light spinning outfit in one hand and a GT-ice cream in the other. First cast and I had a hookup on yet another saily... I thought I had died and gone to sailfish heaven! A few years ago a regular client-friend who has fished with us at Bazaruto aboard Vamizi for over fifteen years told me about the remarkable numbers of sailfish they were seeing on their annual winter popping trip to Madagascar. He promptly invited me to join him and guide them to target sailfish specifically, but due to other commitments I was only able to do so in July 2018. Less than ten minutes into that trip we had a pack attack
