Mauritius Big Game Fishing

Dave Lewis writes....

Mauritius ranks as one of the worlds great big game fishing destinations, yet despite fishing extensively throughout the Indian Ocean during the past 20 years my November 2011 trip was my first visit to the island; it will not be my last trip! I spent a week sampling the variety of sport fishing options on offer courtesy of Beachcomber Tours who work in partnership with Black River based JP Henry Charters, who have been operating here since the mid-1970’s;  You only have to study the topography of the local seabed to learn just why Mauritius is such a productive big game destination. The first drop off lies incredibly close to shore with depths swiftly plummeting to 3000ft. Soundings of 4,500ft, the famous Le Morne drop off, are found just 3 miles from the iconic Le Morne mountain, which is located on the south western tip of the island, just a few miles south of Black River. Here strong oceanic currents push nutrient rich cold water upwards, which sustains masses of small baitfish and squid. These attract immense shoals of skipjack and other species, which in turn attract the oceans major predators.

On my first day I had fished aboard ‘Moana 2’, an immaculate locally built 42 footer powered by twin Caterpillar turbo diesels. As I looked around my impressive ride I assumed she was relatively new, perhaps as much as 5 years old: how wrong I was! Moana 2 first started pulling lures over 20 years ago and it is a credit to her crew that she has been maintained in such pristine condition. Truly she is immaculate without even the slightest whiff of stale fish or diesel anywhere, hell even the heads are showroom clean! This, I was to find, is a trademark of all boats within the JP Henry fleet.  We trolled lures on 50, 80 and 130lb class outfits until we found the shoals of skipjack, caught a few, and switched to slow trolling live baits. This I was to learn is the most productive technique in Mauritius, though some day’s boats will fish lures exclusively. That first day the skipjacks failed to work their magic, but our lures caught a stunning 140lb yellowfin and a decent wahoo, while two other boats released marlin.

My time in Mauritius was spent exploring all fishing options on offer, notably popping and jigging for which there is huge potential. While I was there, Marlin were caught every day, and this was early season. On our second days fishing we unfortunately lost an estimated 400lb black marlin we had hooked on a live bait and on another day we fished a morning half day on one of the smaller boats in the fleet and lost a small blue, but the same boat went back out and caught a 585lb blue that afternoon. The island record blue marlin stands at 1,355lb, just 21lb below the current all tackle world record, and this fish was taken by an angler fishing with JP Henry Charters.

The main big game season runs from late October through early April. A few blue marlin are around all year, prime months are January through March. Early season is best for black marlin, though again, these are always possible. Sailfish and striped marlin are occasionally caught, as are rare short-billed spearfish, Mauritius ranks as one of the top destinations in the world to catch these. Mauritius is one of the best places in the world to catch very big, 1000lb plus, blue marlin. Other key species include big yellowfin tuna along with various smaller tuna species, wahoo, dorado and big sharks, notably mako’s.

Beachcomber’s partner fishing company also run a large fleet of game boats and in addition to blue water fishing you can arrange to jig for dogtooth tuna, cast surface poppers for giant trevally or fly fish for a plethora of other species. All the fishing options can be prebooked in the UK through us with your holiday package and paid for in sterling.

Sample prices for a 7 nights stay at Paradis Hotel & Golf Club in the peak fishing season from £2100 per person sharing.  This includes dinner, bed and breakfast, Economy Class flights with Air Mauritius and private hotel transfers. Paradis offers luxury accommodation, a choice of eight restaurants, a superb Clarins Spa, an 18-Hole golf course, fantastic family facilities and is set on one of the best beaches on the island.  The famous Le Morne drop off is just 3 miles off the beach at Paradis so the fishing is literally on your door step.

Fishing costs; 5/9 hours, includes tax, fishing gear and soft drinks/water.

42 feet Deluxe Cabin Cruiser - half day £480, full day £605 (8 max)
34 feet Cabin Cruiser - half day £395, full day £515 (6 max)
26 feet Sportfisher - half day £350, full day £435 (4 max)