Posts
April 13
Madagascar – Day 14
Granny organized most of this great adventure and I must say she may be in charge for life. I simply picked places that geographically should have fish and she took care of the logistics of getting there and where we stay. She’s’ been on enough Jeff Currier “wing-it as you go” trips. “No more” she says!
This morning we flew from Antananarivo to the small island of Saint Marie. If you look at a map it’s on the east side of northern Madagascar. It’s a long thin island and if you look at the bottom there’s another island called Isle Aux Nattes. That’s where we are. If you Google Earth this place, you will see why I
chose this location for fishing. It’s all gorgeous palm tree lined beaches, flats, coral reef, channels and the bluewater is close.
We landed on Isle Saint Marie before 8 AM this morning along with a South African family. All of us then took a mile taxi ride to a beach and hitched a ride across a channel by pirogue (dug out canoe) to Isle Aux Nattes and to our hotel. These are the most beautiful beaches we can remember.
The hotel is called La Petite Traversée. We settled on this hotel because its one of the only accommodations out here that is English speaking. Most of our trip we’ve
dealt with Malagasy and French and it’s been a challenge. (Man I wish I knew how handy paying attention in high school language classes would have been in my life!).
This region of Madagascar is famous for getting massive amounts of rain, but today the weather was absolutely gorgeous. However, you would not believe how hot it is. It was hot last week on the west side of Madagascar up at Sakatia Island, but it’s hotter here. Today was at least 95º and humid.
We arrived at La Petite at about 9 AM with the family of South Africans.
The South Africans seem like great folks and will be staying here at La Petite also. We should have a lot of fun. La Petite is situated right on the water smothered in palm trees. I’m telling you, this place is absolutely stunning. The staff seems great and our room is perfect. If the fishing proves good here this week we may have found Heaven!
The La Petite staff whipped us up a great breakfast then Granny and I grabbed my 8-weight Ross rigged with my SA Sharkskin line and headed out. It appeared to me when I studied this island on Google Earth that a walk completely around the island would be less than a five mile hike. So
off we went. The tide was rising so I felt like fishing could really be good.
Right off the bat from a deep channel near La Petite, Granny nailed the first barracuda of the trip. He was tiny but a cuda nonetheless. There are Great barracudas here as well as a couple smaller species of the Indian Ocean. I never got over to Granny to identify him or get a photo. That cuda was all we could catch there so then we continued our walk. Again, we
can’t believe how beautiful this place is!
It didn’t’ take long before the rising tide eventually took almost our entire beach walking ability from us. It was a good thing we brought along Tevas because we had to walk through the palm forests and over some rocky points. It was tough going but there’s nothing like exploring new water and new places you have never been in your life.
Surprisingly, despite spectacular looking water, the fishing stunk. Other than the tiny cuda, Granny mustered up a blackspot emperor fish and I got a sand lizardfish. That was it. We casted our way along four miles of great looking beaches, reef and rocky points and got three dink fish. Such is fishing.
The entire walk took about four hours and despite the poor fishing it was a nice way to get some exercise. We spent the rest of the afternoon sipping
beers on our deck. During that time Granny read and I typed away at my blog. I just may be learning how to relax . . . a little anyhow.
Dinner was outstanding tonight. I foolishly did not take a photo. The meal consisted of gigantic prawns that were scrumptious. We had a family style dinner and cocktail hour with the South Africans and I can tell this will be a great week. Now the evening rains have started and we are ready to hit the sack. Hope for a better fishing entry tomorrow as I have made friends with a couple cool dudes with a pirogue. They
say they will take me out to the reef.
Madagascar – Day 14
Granny organized most of this great adventure and I must say she may be in charge for life. I simply picked places that geographically should have fish and she took care of the logistics of getting there and where we stay. She’s’ been on enough Jeff Currier “wing-it as you go” trips. “No more” she says! This morning we flew from Antananarivo to the small island of Saint Marie. If you look at a map it’s on the east side of northern Madagascar. It’s a long thin island and if you look at the bottom there’s another island called Isle Aux Nattes. That’s where we are. If you Google Earth this place, you will see why I
chose this location for fishing. It’s all gorgeous palm tree lined beaches, flats, coral reef, channels and the bluewater is close. We landed on Isle Saint Marie before 8 AM this morning along with a South African family. All of us then took a mile taxi ride to a beach and hitched a ride across a channel by pirogue (dug out canoe) to Isle Aux Nattes and to our hotel. These are the most beautiful beaches we can remember.
The hotel is called La Petite Traversée. We settled on this hotel because its one of the only accommodations out here that is English speaking. Most of our trip we’ve
dealt with Malagasy and French and it’s been a challenge. (Man I wish I knew how handy paying attention in high school language classes would have been in my life!). This region of Madagascar is famous for getting massive amounts of rain, but today the weather was absolutely gorgeous. However, you would not believe how hot it is. It was hot last week on the west side of Madagascar up at Sakatia Island, but it’s hotter here. Today was at least 95º and humid.
We arrived at La Petite at about 9 AM with the family of South Africans.
The South Africans seem like great folks and will be staying here at La Petite also. We should have a lot of fun. La Petite is situated right on the water smothered in palm trees. I’m telling you, this place is absolutely stunning. The staff seems great and our room is perfect. If the fishing proves good here this week we may have found Heaven! The La Petite staff whipped us up a great breakfast then Granny and I grabbed my 8-weight Ross rigged with my SA Sharkskin line and headed out. It appeared to me when I studied this island on Google Earth that a walk completely around the island would be less than a five mile hike. So
off we went. The tide was rising so I felt like fishing could really be good. Right off the bat from a deep channel near La Petite, Granny nailed the first barracuda of the trip. He was tiny but a cuda nonetheless. There are Great barracudas here as well as a couple smaller species of the Indian Ocean. I never got over to Granny to identify him or get a photo. That cuda was all we could catch there so then we continued our walk. Again, we
can’t believe how beautiful this place is! It didn’t’ take long before the rising tide eventually took almost our entire beach walking ability from us. It was a good thing we brought along Tevas because we had to walk through the palm forests and over some rocky points. It was tough going but there’s nothing like exploring new water and new places you have never been in your life.
Surprisingly, despite spectacular looking water, the fishing stunk. Other than the tiny cuda, Granny mustered up a blackspot emperor fish and I got a sand lizardfish. That was it. We casted our way along four miles of great looking beaches, reef and rocky points and got three dink fish. Such is fishing. The entire walk took about four hours and despite the poor fishing it was a nice way to get some exercise. We spent the rest of the afternoon sipping
beers on our deck. During that time Granny read and I typed away at my blog. I just may be learning how to relax . . . a little anyhow. Dinner was outstanding tonight. I foolishly did not take a photo. The meal consisted of gigantic prawns that were scrumptious. We had a family style dinner and cocktail hour with the South Africans and I can tell this will be a great week. Now the evening rains have started and we are ready to hit the sack. Hope for a better fishing entry tomorrow as I have made friends with a couple cool dudes with a pirogue. They
say they will take me out to the reef. 
I wish I could tell you that since I signed off on the 9th that we had an on time safe flight to 
M when we finally arrived in Antananarivo, we were exhausted, beaten and received our two bags completely soaked. Everything we own is drenched. What sucks is, NOTHING DRYS HERE. Oh well, we could be getting snowed on in 
to see 
ing the 
We have not stayed still for more than a short nights sleep since we got off the plane here in 
By 10 AM, I’d sat still long enough. It was time to go snorkeling. Granny and I drug our gear all the way. I like snorkeling because I often find some fish to throw flies at later. I was just about to head for the room and gather our stuff when out came one of the room cleaning gals with a scorpion that she found while sweeping our room. It’s just another daily hazard you run into in this neck of the woods. I’m sure glad Granny or I didn’t step on that thing! 
could have hired a boat to head to the better reefs, but Granny and I wanted no part of being on a schedule today. We simply wanted to be on our own which meant snorkeling right in front of camp. We saw some neat fish. There were lots of 
When the sun got low I retrieved Granny and took her on a short hike. We were hoping to find one of the famous Madagascar 
with dinner and its time for a nap. We will relax most of the day here but tomorrow night we leave and fly to 
motor while attending other odd jobs as well. He also had along four worn out big game trolling rigs. This is never a good sign as often it’s an indication that the guide really doesn’t have a clue about fly fishing or that the guide has no confidence in the method. 
It took over an hour before the next cast. We were well out to sea and we could see the distant silhouette of the mountains of northern Madagascar. Our fishing area consisted of a jagged rock island with a ton of submerged reefs. Although the wind was light, large ocean swells tossed us around which is the norm for saltwater fly fishing. George simply said prepare for big fish, and looking like a kid on Christmas, I fumbled through my rods for my 12-weight. This would be a blind casting situation. My line on this rod was a SA 700 grain Bluewater Express – talk about heavy-sink.
hold the reel to the reel seat were gone. I’ve used this set up a bunch in Baja the last year so I was dumbfounded! The airlines I thought! Then the stress took over my body as here I was 10,000 miles from home at a place I may never have a chance to cast too again having equipment failure! I was losing time! Then without saying a word I stripped the 700 grain line off the reel carefully laying it in my handy stripping basket. Then I took the floating line off my 10-weight set up and reeled the 700 grain on it. Then as not to wreck the floater I reeled it back on the busted reel. And within ten minutes I’m proud to say I was casting again. A bit disgruntled, but casting again. 
To make a long story short, I pounded the water for the next five hours without anything. George put me on many more gorgeous reef areas. We chased busting tuna and mackerel and dredged strong current lines where he frequently catches sailfish and marlin. But I got nothing. This was not appearing to be my day. By now it was about 95° and I can tell you such heat didn’t help much. Granny was bored and I was losing confidence. Miraculously however, George was still full of energy and seemed fully behind the fly fishing. When I stopped casting, he’d say change flies or say no resting with a smile. I couldn’t tell if he was trying to break me so I’d troll or if he really knew something. 
For those of you that know me, breaking me wasn’t an option, so although I was in some ways going through the motions, I kept on going. Sure enough, we got close enough to a school of skipjack tuna and I got one. Then another. And another and before I knew it I landed eight skipjack tuna. Soon Granny realized fishing was worth it so I handed her the rod and she caught a few while I took my first rest of the day.
a small light colored Puglisi type baitfish pattern I had in my box. You didn’t even have time to strip the fly if you could reach the busting fish. They just destroyed the bait pattern when it hit the water. 
I thought I was done fly fishing for the day when I saw what I thought was a barracuda explode from a distant tuna school. George saw it too and the boat sped up towards that direction. Again a long narrow bodied fish scattered all kinds of baitfish. It was still too far to identify the species but then it sky rocketed (I’m not kidding) 12 feet in the air! It was the unique specie of king mackerel only found in the Indian Ocean and the very western part of the Pacific Ocean. 
cut I launched my first cast. We were coasting so fast that my cast was quickly dragged and never had time to sink. I stripped the heavy sink line back and made another cast. This time my angle and sink was perfect, however, the feeding frenzy was already over. As I stood in the bow I gazed the horizon looking for the action to reappear. Then I stripped fast from the depths. That’s when I got jolted. 
concerned that I was over pressuring the fish. But the truth is, you can let a blue water fish like a tuna fight you or you can fight them. I fight them. I practically point my rod to the fish and pull the second their first run is done. I bend down with my legs, reeling my rod tip into the water as I bend, and then I stand up and pull. I repeat it over and over until I win. Only when the fish really pulls or feels like he is going crazy do I let him go far. The fish rarely breaks off because there is so much stretch in your backing, fly line and even your leader if made with Bimi twists. 
Now we were at a time of debate. Granny and I had made it very clear to George that we wanted to release all fish except a few for dinner. We already had a few skipjack tuna. George reluctantly asked if we had to let it go. I know how delicious a wahoo tastes and this fish looked every bit like a wahoo. “George, we will eat him too”, I shouted. George was relieved and on the next pass George sunk the gaff. I’d landed what will probably be the fish of the trip, and perhaps 2011, a gorgeous narrow-barred king mackerel! 
As you can imagine, tonight Granny and I as well as our Sakatia Tower staff ate big. We had tuna Carpaccio for appetizers and mackerel steaks for dinner. This should be a great trip! I can’t wait to see what tomorrow will bring. 
Johannesburg, South Africa
After four hours of dodging huge thunderheads across the Mozambique Channel, at 7 PM we landed at Nosy Be, Madagascar airport. It was dark and drizzly. Immigration and customs started chaotic but once we figured out what line to be in things went fairly smooth. The only scare was that our bags were the last two to come off the belt. But everything seems to be in tact so let the fishing trip begin. 
organized our accommodations for this trip on the internet. She starts us at this bed and breakfast called 
appears very few people have electricity either. We finally stopped at what turned out to be a remote beach on a lagoon. From the dark came a couple voices. These guys were obviously from Sakatia Towers and they grabbed our bags and we followed them down a trail to a beach tripping and stubbing our toes most of the way. Then we waded out knee deep to a boat. The surf was rolling gently, but enough to soak us to the waist. We were already exhausted from travel so we could barely raise our wet legs aboard this boat. Off we went into the darkness of the ocean headed for the remote island of Sakatia. 
another pitch black beach. There was a glimmer of light on a hill above the beach but all I remember was my flip flops sticking to the mucky bottom under the swooshing waves. Finally the ground firmed up and we walked up five minutes of steps. There it was, the light from a porch and a man holding a pair of welcome drinks. The 55 hour journey from Victor, Idaho to 
room with enough mosquito netting to entangle myself badly if I have too many brews, and a view of the Indian Ocean and mainland Madagascar that is breath taking. 
how low but I can tell you now it was low. Today we had a fluctuation from low to high of about 18 feet! The terrain is basically very calm sea with rugged slippery rocks covered in razor sharp oyster-looking shells. You can wade in the water but with care. There are gorgeous corals everywhere and spiny black sea urchins that could ruin a trip in a heartbeat. I tossed a yellow and red 
little snapper of specie I’ll need to look up later, but that was it. Despite the lack of fish eating my fly, the corals are swarming with tropical reef fish. I saw plenty of colorful ones and many were blue. 
boat fishing average over $500 a day. That’s because the only thing offered is blue water fishing. Madagascar is newly famous for its billfishing. Blue water fishing is always very expensive because of gas and boat quality. Regardless of whether or not it’s worth it, Granny and I can’t afford that kind of money so I was prepared to haggle. Our goal was to negotiate three days of guided fishing for around $1000. It took me two seconds to realize George likes to haggle also. And to make a long story short, George and I settled on four days of fishing, a mix of inshore and offshore for $1200 US cash. That puts us over our budget but what the heck. I’ll paint more when I get 
home and Granny can work some overtime. I reluctantly gave George $600 up front. I hate doing that in foreign country but I can’t blame him for wanting it. He needs to organize his boat, get fuel etc. We are scheduled to meet him at 7:30 AM tomorrow. He says he’s seen a fly rod and he has a plan. I’ve heard that before so Granny and I are just mentally prepared for an adventure. We spent the rest of our day fishing the rocks while the tide rolled back in. I stuck to the same rig and while Granny checked out the cool crabs and shells of the tide pools I landed one more new species. It was a mono fish, nothing spectacular but a new one. We also played with a squid that attacked my fly every time I cast. Then catching me by surprise, a decent sized grouper nailed my Clouser and escaped by tangling me in the coral. That led to my first swim of the trip to retrieve my fly line. The last thing I need is to lose a fly line on the first day. After fishing we chilled out on our room porch with a tall cold beer. Then we headed back up to the main porch. Granny was walking a good distance ahead and laughed when she noticed the camp help put a fake snake on our walk. I thought it was pretty funny too. You can’t scare the Americans we thought. But then the snake moved. It was a 6 foot long tree boa that started slithering along with us as if he too was headed for dinner. Granny and I don’t mind even big snakes. We have neat snake stories from previous travels in Africa that prepared us for life with snakes. Our first reaction now is to keep it quiet as you never know how the camp help will react. We don’t want them to see the snake 
because we don’t want them to kill it, which unfortunately is often the case with locals and snakes. We simply observed the stunning creature until he finally left the walk and disappeared into the thick jungle. Then I went back to our room to close the door! At dinner I asked our camp host Frankie if there were snakes around. He said no and the other helpers chirped in. “No there are no snakes on the island”. I knew this would be their answer. It always is no matter where you go on the planet. All camps, hotels and lodges want their place to be known as “snake free” environments. That’s about when I flipped on my digital camera and showed them some of our pictures and asked them what it was. You should have seen the looks on their faces! Let’s just say there were a few shrieks. There are snakes here and I could tell one dude sees them all the time. In fact he recognized this snake and started telling stories of the cats he’s eaten around camp. Ok, I’m exhausted. It’s been a remarkable first day and I rambled on too long. But that’s traveling in a cool place. Every day is full of surprises. 
We are about done with our 18 hour layover here in 
You could say we were a little surprised this morning when we woke to the wheels touching down in Syria. We got on the wrong flight last night! No water. No fishing. And no fun at all! Just kidding. Happy April Fools !!!!!!!
Only a few years ago we would have sprawled out in a dark corner in the airport. But being this is our anniversary we opted to taxi to the 
Opening day of baseball is one of my favorite days. My Fantasy teams (all three) are ready to rock. The 
Granny and I said goodbye to the snow at 4 AM this morning. We drove over 