 GONE FISHING — The magic of Madagascar —by John Wilson
THE rich, incredibly warm waters surrounding, Madagascar — the fourth largest island in the world and actually slightly larger in land mass than France — make it a virtual Garden of Eden and home to chameleons, fruit bats, lizards, tree frogs and snakes found nowhere else on this planet (there are 80 species of snakes alone and strangely not one of them is poisonous).
The wonders of Madagascar are not only confined to the land. Indeed, the saltwater sportfishing both offshore and around the countless jungle-clad islands that comprise this huge archipelago is quite phenomenal, as a recent research trip proved.
Our base was the newly opened Turtle Bay Camp on Kalakajour Island, which lies over 40 miles southwest of Nosy Be in the island’s northwest sector, and is accessible only by boat.
Following flights to the capital of Madagascar, Antananarivo, we then took a short domestic flight to Nosy Be. From there it was a short ride to the port at Hellville where our nine man party was met by Fergus O’Brien, skipper and camp manager of Turtle Bay Camp. Close on three hours later we finally arrived on Kalakajour Island, which is literally everyone’s idea of a Robinson Crusoe existence.
Heavily clad in dense jungle and only 8km in perimeter, Kalakajour is in fact a typical “desert island” with a basic fishing camp within a stone’s throw of the ocean. The to-die-for sunset and sunrise scenes fill your soul and are free for the taking, wherever you point the camera. Built on a clearing shaded by coconut palms merely 20 metres off the beach, the camp accommodates a maximum of ten guests in five twin-bedded wooden chalets. Basic but clean, Turtle Bay camp offers a comfortable night’s rest under mosquito netting, outstanding food and a great fishing experience.
Initially we found flyfishing and spinning from the shore very difficult due to steep-sided rock faces, around which it was impossible to walk and to explore the whole island except for during a low spring tide. Fergus assured us that two small boats for exploring the inshore deep-water gully areas around the island are already on their way.
So we concentrated on trolling, drifting along the shoreline of our own and other islands, and drifting over deep water over ten miles out, close to the bluewater dropoff.
We trolled up a couple of oceanic bonito for bait and had enormous fun pulling up the most brightly coloured reef fish you have ever seen whilst drifting using two-hook rigs over pinnacles and ledges in the 40-80 foot depth band.
Read the full story in the March/April 2009 issue of SKI-BOAT
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