Dear Sealine forum members, As you can probably s

[Markiss]

Dear Sealine forum members,

As you can probably see I have just registred myself here on your board as a new member.

I am a small amateur fisher, fishing mainly on carps (freshwater) here in Belgium. My (recently new) girlfriend her parents however have a house where they live in Tulear, Madagascar.

I have now been invited to come over for 2 weeks with my girlfriend in April. As a fishing fanatic I would love to test my capabilities over there. There are some problems however.

I have zero experience fishing on big (seawater) fish. The biggest thing I've caught is a cod of maybe half a kilogram (about 1 lbs). Nothing to be proud of I know but I want to change this with my trip to Madagascar. The techniques used here in belgium for seafishing (from boat as from shore) are without a doubt differant than those applied in Afrika. I think if I would use those tactics I will come home with a crab who took my bait as biggest catch.

I have therefore registred myself here on this board hoping to find some tips/tricks/advice/rig set ups/gear recommendations.



So this is my situation:

I need to buy EVERYTHING! This means I will need hooks, line, floaters, types of bait, accessories etc... Seeing I am the only fishing fanatic of the traveling company, I will not have the freedom to go ditch my girlfriend and her family to go to a known fishing village and go rent a charter.

I can either:

A: Get starting fishing from the beach while my girlfriend is tanning

B: Go fishing with their boat for an hour or 2-3. Her parents have one of those typical african boats like in the picture below. They ofcourse have an engine attached to it. I do however have no knowledge at all of the waters around the city of Tulear.

So my question to you guys is...

What are my possibilities? What do I need to buy? How do I fish? How do you think my rig should look like? What are my chances in catching a big fish?





I know your board probably gets flooded with questions like these but I would sure appreciate all the help and advice I could get from you guys!


For people who would give me some advice on gear. We work with the metric system so our lines and hooks have other measurements/names. If you would be so kind to clarify what you exactly mean that would be so, so, so awesome!



Thanks in advance!




Kind regards,


Markiss

 

[blaasoppie#1]

Markiss,

There is a big reef about 3km offshore and the best fishing will be along the seaward side of the reef.

Most of the guys in this forum are lure fishermen, so do you want to do lure fishing or bait fishing?

You can have loads of fun with a light 7-9 ft spinning rod set-up using a Shimano sustain 4000 or 5000 reel (or similar Diawa reel), 12 lb braid and lures in the 12g-35g range. There will be plenty of Blue-fin trevally and Giant trevally along that reef line and I am sure there will also be fish off the beach.

I never made it down to Tulear when I worked in Madagascar, but the fishing is fairly typical around the island and there are a lot of fish to be caught on lures. There will also be plenty bonito and small yellow fin tuna which will also be suited to a lighter outfit.



Look for gaps in the reef like this where there is a channel if you fish off the shore; this is where the Blue-fin trevally and other bruisers like to hang out and ambush bait...





Should be plenty of bonito outside the reef; just look for the birds diving about 1 to 2 km off shore and you will see the bonnies feeding below them; I never get tired of catching these things..



You can take a heavier outfit for bigger fish, but if you have never fished in the ocean before then you will have far more fun with a light outfit, as the heavy tackle demands a good knowledge of knots leaders etc. and two weeks may not be long enough to figure it out through trial and error.

What budget do you have, and where do you intend buying your tackle?

You will need proper wading shoes if you intend fishing off the reef, as the coral is extremely sharp and the urchins have huge spines.

 

[Markiss]

Dear Blaasoppie,

Thank you so much for your quick response!

I was thinking of bringing my seagear from belgium along. Just the rod, the reel and some line. Here in belgium we refer to the thickness of the line by 100st of a milimeter. The line I can buy here varies from 25/100 to 75/100. That means the diameter of the line is 0.25 to 0.75mm. I always use nylon line. Will this suffice in the african conditions? Won't the reef cut right through it? Braided lines are only used for very small fish in freshwater here.

I will post pictures of those later on (tommorrow) if you could tell me if they would work over there, that would be lovely.

I don't know exactly what you mean with the lure vs bait seeing my english fising vocabulary isn't up to date but I presume bait is (living) bait where you sit around and wait for the fish to feed on it and when you feel some movement on your line you try to snap the hook in it's mouth and pull in? While with lure you trow out, pull in, trow out, pull in etc, etc.. ?

I don't know what I should be doing. I just want to catch fish, doesn't matter how, I'm open for everything, I'd do whatever benefits me most.

The fact that I haven't fished on sea isn't entirely true. I just don't have that much experience. the only things i've caught is Mackerel, Cod , "Merlangius merlangus" and common european sole. They are caught with lead at the end of your line with 2 to 5 hooks dispersed over the end of your line.

If I would be bait fishing, will this set up work? And what kind of bait should I be using?

If you would advice me to do lure fishing, what lures would you recommend? How would my rig look like?

(am I correct btw concerning the bait vs lure fishing?)


Well I'm thinking of just delivering the gear via internet seeing I can't get tropical fishing gear here in the store in Belgium and take it along with me to Madagascar. I don't think there are a lot of fishing shops in a 300km radius around Tulear.
But let's say I have a 400€ available for spending on new gear.


I know it's a lot of questions, and if I were a veteran scouting these boards, I'd hate it to reply to all of these foolish question. That's why I am already thanking you once more in advance!!!

Kind regards, Markiss




PS.
My latest catches here in Belgium

 

[blaasoppie#1]

Yeah, lure fishing you cast out and retrieve the lure with various speeds and rod movements depending on the lure type; this is very effective and exciting especially in tropical areas.

You should look at a Shimano Sustain, Stradic of Symere 4000 or 5000 and get a Shimano aerocast rod; this will be a great value for money kit and can do the job on a good size fish.

Contact Ocean Active in Dubai and they will sort you out for gear.

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