As the reality of work kicks in I can at least reflect on a fantastic trip to Mozambique last weekend.... after months of watching everyone or hearing about everyone catching fish I finally got a few of my own. As my Saturday1am alarm went off beating our resident Hadeda at it's own game.... I nudged the wife to get up and make some coffee, Ya right!!!

Waiting in anticipation at the end of my drive in the pitch black of morn for Mark, my lift to Mozambique wondering whether he really had stayed up to watch the end of the Lions Super 14 game and if he had as many beers as it sounded he was going to have... I came to realise just how lucky we are to live where we do and that I'd be fishing in another country in only a few hours time!! 

Anyway Mark was on time..ish and it wasn't long and we were hitching up the trailer at Mick Clarke's house where I got to meet Paul another member of our crew for the weekend.

To save you all the boring details we met up with the other vehicles, Bogart and Jacque, did the pleasantries organised ourselves and headed North.

The border post was a breeze and before long we were on the sand road to Malongane, the usual beer at the border became two as it was so hot but no one seemed to complain. The boys were keen o get fishing and after settling in we were all on the water for an afternoon session.

The water was nice but very choppy with the wind and swell moving in different directions the perfect recipe for chumming, Bogart got a big Bonnie which he released and that was about it for the afternoon... This was Marks first time on a ski and he seemed a little concerned about the conditions and the general lack of concern from his fellow anglers... as he starts to fish more and more he'll become more familiar with the conditions we now consider normal.

T-bone steaks, trace tying, some story telling and a few beers followed the afternoons fishing and with alarm clocks set for 4am it was off to bed.....

Sunday morning was perfect, the water was like glass with brilliant shades of blue revealing the reefs and drop offs.... I fished with Mark, Paul and Mick headed for Ledges, Bogart and Jacque headed for the horizon.... Bogart got the first Couta, Jacque a nice, and his first green Job fish....I go really excited when I thought I was into a nice Prodigal Son ( My favourite eating fish) unfortunately as I got it to about 3 metres I realised it was a large Remora ... they have the same two white stripes along their sides.... can catch you out if the remora is big enough. Mick, Paul, Bogart and Jacque spent hours throwing vertical jigs and drop shot catching all sorts of species but it was to Bogarts Couta that made it to the dinner table. Once again as he did on a previous trip Jacque took control of the spatula and whisk and made a truly fantastic meal for us all...

Monday was to be our day on the water .... it was Paul who started off the morning with a 10kg plus couta followed by a second only minutes later. I finally found some form with 2 quick shoal couta on one of my favourite marks... I call it my Couta corridor and it didn't dissappoint as it produced a third couta just as I was pointin out my land marks for Mick. Mick finally got a Couta and a large bunny but it was one of those days for him when every fish seemed to hit the trace between the trebles.... funny how that happens. Mark headed in early and missed the action.... With bait finished  I volunteered to head home for more bait... on my return Paul got another Couta and jacque finally got into the action with the biggest Couta of the morning. After circum navigating Australia Bogart finally returned but he had failed to trouble the scorers.

After Mark heard all about our mornings fishing he was ampt to fish the afternoon....

The afternoon started where the moning had ended... Bogart getting three Couta on three Mackerel ... I lost a bus of a Couta, it bit through the #8 wire just below my first treble. Jacque got two and then got into a big Kingie which he later lost. The man of the hour was Mark who landed his first Couta.... but who later flagged me down to reveal that he had just had a double up and he thought they were both Kingies. I packed up my tackle and took his second rod but the fish had gone into tbe bricks and the line snapped. He still however was well and truly into the other fish. He had commented that it had jumped ... which Kingies don't usually do... it was about 20 minutes later when he got the fish closer that I could tell that he had a size Queenie... If you meet him on the streets of Jhb he'll convince you it was 38kg's and after fighting a fish for nearly an hour it certainly may have felt that way but I would say it was closer to 10kg's.

With the sun setting Mark finally got the fish to the Ski where Jacque did his amazing tail grab and the battle was over... enjoying the whole experience and the beauty of the fish it was released back into the warm Mozambique water to fight another day. A late afternoon dash to the beach saw three of the four of us swim the last few metres but it was a humuorous way to end off a fantastic days fishing....

That evening the stories flowed with Mark now having a  fishing story of his own.... his ESPN debut just around he corner.

As usual it's hard to pack up and leave but with the thought of another trip in March.... a spark of excitement is already lit for next months adventure.

Cheers Anton