Though I have been fortunate to fish along Mozambique’s coast many times, and learned a little something about salt water fishing, I never imagined the busy sea port town of Beira would be any good for serious anglers. Still bordering on ‘skinny’ even now, I also find the prospect of trolling lures around a choppy ocean and even fighting over-sized fish tiring and even a bit daunting, and am often the butt of jokes about being pulled overboard and using Velcro on my shoes! So, when the invite to join a “boys trip” to Beira came, I was not overly excited.

 

“No” said Bruce Cooke of Off the Hook tackle shop in Harare. “We will not be doing much trolling of lures. Our tackle is light, and though we might do a bit of bottom fishing, jigging, dropshotting and throwing lures is the name of the game.” When he said light tackle, he meant rods and reels which might be typically used for tiger fishing. Now that is more what I am used to and suddenly the idea was appealing. Bruce and his partner at Off the Hook, Kevin Cunningham were to be our guides for the trip, and along with two Falcon semi-rigids and eight anglers we set off one chilly morning late in July.

Beira is the closest sea port to Zimbabwe’s borders, and many have lamented Africa’s pioneers and border makers for not positioning Zimbabwe further east... like right on the coast 280km away. Hello Cecil... but history is history, and even though the Forbes/Machipanda border post - 270km from Harare - is a necessity, it was relatively painless and within an hour or so, we were through and on our way. Passing Manica, Chimoio, Inchope and then Vila Do Donda (where we hit what can be considered the start of the entry to Beira 30km further on), progress was good. Mediocre roads (beware as there are a few really badly potholed sections), lots of people, livestock and heavy trucks, had us slowed to a snail’s pace on this last section and the closer we got to Beira. The total 550km trip took the best part of eight hours though.

 

Our early departure from Harare was planned to ensure we arrived in Beira around lunch time, but before 3pm to facilitate a visit to the Port Captain giving ample time for the compulsory boat inspections (ensuring life jackets/safety equipment etc), maritime and navigation licenses (about US$100) as well as fishing permits (charged per angler, per day fishing).

 

Club Nautico was our destination, and aside from the rooms they offer and secure car and boat parking, they have the necessary powered winches and staff for beach launching. One can also secure all required fishing permits and other officialdom from the Club, making it a very convenient base. Our accommodation (US$110/night) was simple though comfortable, and very convenient because of the beach launching ramp at Club Nautico. The modern room sported a double bed, bar fridge and bathroom en-suite, though we added stretchers and five of us “camped” quite comfortably. We were up at 5am each day, and crashed at around 10pm after eating out, so no great time was spent in our accommodations. Daily while the boats were being prepared, we set up a Scottle on the beach, cooked bacon and egg rolls and drank steaming coffee while the sun crept over the distant sea. The stuff memories are made of for sure.

 

In spite of the relatively calm seas close to Beira, surf launching and beaching the boat (at speed) at the end of the day, were new and somewhat exciting experiences. While I am sure the ocean around here is capable of nasty things, we really were lucky to have water which never exceeded an average rough day on Kariba and was relatively comfortable. Even had it been rough, I would have pushed through any sea-sickness for the fishing we were about to experience. Being winter, it was chilly in the morning and late afternoon, but that did not seem to deter the fish.

 

Bruce and Kevin have fished Beira a number of times, and even in winter averred it would be worth the trip. With many of their spots already committed to GPS, we set off on the first morning for a feature about 30km off shore. The structure they fish here is not so much reefs, but rather significant undulations and uprisings of the sea bed, quite often piled sandbar features suspected to have come from deposits made by the Zambezi (which enters north of Beira) and rivers like the Pungwe and the Buzi which enter at Beira. One of the structures they took us to, is very angular in shape, and looks distinctly like a steel shipping container which likely fell off a ship at some stage. Other features are undoubtedly rock or coral, but cannot be considered significant in size or height off the sea bed. In general, we were fishing anything from 40 to 150 feet of water over such features.

 

Bruce, who guided our group of three - myself, Colin Osborne and Quinten Le Roux - is a seasoned saltwater angler, and a good guide. It was quickly obvious that setting up our drift to maximise time over the underwater structure was key to catching fish, and sometimes it felt like he was phaffing with boat position. As time went on, I realised this was essential, as missing the relatively small structure features by mere metres was the difference between furious activity and the odd fish here and there. The depth sounder was important in this respect too, as the fish were clearly visible and when we were over a shoal, and Bruce called it, all hell broke loose. Very exciting!