Angola Competition Season
- Thread starter Pargo Man
- Start date
Ahoi Gerhard,
Lobito has come and gone.
A bit laborious and tense in terms of preparation, but once we had arrived at the FERROVIA boat marina on the Lobito Restinga, we were in good hands.
Sail and marlin are at home in the Benguela "Gulf", it seems. The frequency of sailfish bite was something I had heared about, but experiencing it in a 21' open boat is somewhat revealing.
Our natural ballyhoo on the small Ilander bullet heads and also on the 12-20cm Moldcraft soft heads really did the trick. Yet, it took quite a while before we understood to read the sailfish bite and to "free spool" the bait into the predators beek. Once that learnt, we had double strikes on sailfish, one even a small marlin together with a sail, wonderful animals, that then race at enormous speed towards horizon. Two fish we got to the boat, filming one "tailwalk" just a couple meters from the boat. A hugh marlin also took our small bait and broke off in 650m distance with a bang. The WA50/50WLRS TIAGRAs and the 80 lbs lines otherwise did excellent work. Only the DAIWA Tournament 50W has lost its ratchet and the breaks seem gone... I got a couple of nights to open the housing and fiddle a bit... before we need all reels in shape for the next tournament here in Luanda.
Every day fishing in Lobito we brought in halvadozenorso dorado, 15kgs the largest, which then went under the balance and onto the scoreboard, before being handed to our hotel staff... all smiles.
If we only had had one more angler on board, I believe we could have scored three more sails and one marlin. That's next year then. This year we came in 28th of 50 competitors.
The event organisers and sponsors are preparing a DVD documentary. I'll buy a couple extra for my friends back home in Teutonia. Should be interesting to watch... want one too?
Season is still on in Lobito, perhaps for another two weeks, before the cold Benguela Current dominates and drives the shivering bills toward us... just in time for the Luanda GRAND SLAM Tournament April 18/19/25. Have a word with your boss, please, Gerhard, because we'll try to participate with the "Malta da Kianda" Team. Let's see what the lectures in Lobito can do for our home ground fishing...
"Djamila2" will be our team ride from now on. We got time enough to fit her with flushmount rod supports for rigger bases, that should come in from Germany this weekend. Nothing against the "Factory" Ska Rumba, but the propwash of "Djamila2" is more compact and allows to run the ballyhoo closer (and more visible) to the boat. Once fitted with the old surfmast-riggers she should be a fish factory herself.
Gerhard, that Marlin's got your name tatooed on it's bill!
Lobito has come and gone.
A bit laborious and tense in terms of preparation, but once we had arrived at the FERROVIA boat marina on the Lobito Restinga, we were in good hands.
Sail and marlin are at home in the Benguela "Gulf", it seems. The frequency of sailfish bite was something I had heared about, but experiencing it in a 21' open boat is somewhat revealing.
Our natural ballyhoo on the small Ilander bullet heads and also on the 12-20cm Moldcraft soft heads really did the trick. Yet, it took quite a while before we understood to read the sailfish bite and to "free spool" the bait into the predators beek. Once that learnt, we had double strikes on sailfish, one even a small marlin together with a sail, wonderful animals, that then race at enormous speed towards horizon. Two fish we got to the boat, filming one "tailwalk" just a couple meters from the boat. A hugh marlin also took our small bait and broke off in 650m distance with a bang. The WA50/50WLRS TIAGRAs and the 80 lbs lines otherwise did excellent work. Only the DAIWA Tournament 50W has lost its ratchet and the breaks seem gone... I got a couple of nights to open the housing and fiddle a bit... before we need all reels in shape for the next tournament here in Luanda.
Every day fishing in Lobito we brought in halvadozenorso dorado, 15kgs the largest, which then went under the balance and onto the scoreboard, before being handed to our hotel staff... all smiles.
If we only had had one more angler on board, I believe we could have scored three more sails and one marlin. That's next year then. This year we came in 28th of 50 competitors.
The event organisers and sponsors are preparing a DVD documentary. I'll buy a couple extra for my friends back home in Teutonia. Should be interesting to watch... want one too?
Season is still on in Lobito, perhaps for another two weeks, before the cold Benguela Current dominates and drives the shivering bills toward us... just in time for the Luanda GRAND SLAM Tournament April 18/19/25. Have a word with your boss, please, Gerhard, because we'll try to participate with the "Malta da Kianda" Team. Let's see what the lectures in Lobito can do for our home ground fishing...
"Djamila2" will be our team ride from now on. We got time enough to fit her with flushmount rod supports for rigger bases, that should come in from Germany this weekend. Nothing against the "Factory" Ska Rumba, but the propwash of "Djamila2" is more compact and allows to run the ballyhoo closer (and more visible) to the boat. Once fitted with the old surfmast-riggers she should be a fish factory herself.
Gerhard, that Marlin's got your name tatooed on it's bill!
