[Carynx Ignobilis]

Hi guys,

I am just writing this to ask if anyone has any information on lure fishing in Mauritius, from the shore. I am staying this December on the East Coast, in the Ile aux Cerfs Lagoon, and I was wondering if anyone has any information on it ie. what bait, what lures, what fish, etc. So if anyone has anything on this, it would be great if someone could let me know. I am generally looking for some bigger fish, maybe small jacks, barracuda etc
Thanks very much,
Carynx

 

[moruntess]

Might need to be asked in the Rest of the World forum, Sure your get a few replys there

 

[hennie]

you will be on the better side to start with,..lots of info on the net for it .
plugs metals ,..forget bait,..you can expect ,.big jacks ,king mack.and some of the the smaller tuna species.
think they still do f/trips too.

 

[Carynx Ignobilis]

Thanks for the reply. Do these fish appear in the lagoons at all, or do you have to go out to the reef?

 

[lipslicker]

Hi guys,

I am just writing this to ask if anyone has any information on lure fishing in Mauritius, from the shore. I am staying this December on the East Coast, in the Ile aux Cerfs Lagoon, and I was wondering if anyone has any information on it ie. what bait, what lures, what fish, etc. So if anyone has anything on this, it would be great if someone could let me know. I am generally looking for some bigger fish, maybe small jacks, barracuda etc
Thanks very much,
Carynx

Ile aux Cerfs is a good spot. Between there and Mahebourg.
I never fished it myself, but it was highly recommended.
Sadly my last ten days there coincided with a typhoon, which severely limited my fishing, and meant many fish stayed outside reefs, in deeper water.
But, all being well, you will do well there.
The reef is open there to ocean, and is good for big barracuda.
Rip metals fast, or those weighted plastic tubes armed with trebles across surface.
Tides there are very small - like a foot - but try to fish highs on nights with poppers, ripped, for trevallys and jacks.
Brightly coloured Storm Chug Bugs 11 are OK cheap ones.
If you want to take some pricier ones, I would be thinking along the lines of Bad Boys, or the Big P Patchinkos, or those Duo Aomosas.
Pinks, yellows and greens are good.
Those fish come behind reefs at night, and you can get decent sized ones.

Another good spot is a few miles west of you on the south coast, at the entrance to Rivière Du Cap. Fishing from Maconde, with a decent cast, gets you access into some deep water, with no reef into open ocean.
You can fish off the front of Maconde, but space is limited from a casting perspective.
Chance of very good fish there too.

If you get those locals with wooden boats coming to your beach, try and go out with them.
I enjoyed that much more than the expensive deep sea boats.
I offered them a deal to take me out a few times, when they didn't have more lucrative bookings.
They took me just outside reef, casting for Skipjack, jacks and barracuda, and I had some absolutely awesome sport on lighter (for there!) gear.

As Hennie says, metals and hard lures. Decent hooks and shock leader! Wire even better for barracuda.

Think there is a video on YouTube of barracuda fishing in exact place you are going. Look it up.

Great place. You will love it.
Ben

 

[Carynx Ignobilis]

Hi Ben
Thanks very much. Your advice is clearly spoken from a very experienced fisherman!
I think that everything should go well. Various people have told me it is very rough beyond the reef, but I never found out for myself when I went last year. Is that true?
Thank you very much for the advice,
Carynx

 

[lipslicker]

Hi Ben
Thanks very much. Your advice is clearly spoken from a very experienced fisherman!
I think that everything should go well. Various people have told me it is very rough beyond the reef, but I never found out for myself when I went last year. Is that true?
Thank you very much for the advice,
Carynx

Not that experienced, buddy. Not compared with Hennie, who really does know about that kind of fishing.
But I have been there a few times, to Mauritius.
Outside the reef is fine when weather is OK. People go out on kayaks, and on the locals wooden boats.
But not when there is rough weather.
Like here.

 

[hennie]

you said all there is Ben.
I cant remember all them names ,spot on..get some of Andys Epoxy lures.
Mine are good for travaly only,cuta will destroy them

 

[lipslicker]

One quick thing to add - these are pretty good poppers, if you can find them. Cast quite well, and don't skip surface like some others. And OK value for tropical ones. Good hooks too.
I have a beautiful yellow and orange one (Laser Chart Back) and a yellow green one (Laser Mahi), neither of which are listed here, but you might find elsewhere.
Not tried pink.

http://www.guigomarine.com/zoom_article.php?i=2529

 

[Carynx Ignobilis]

Hi guys,
Thank you for all the advice and tips that I am getting!
I have found other lures on the Farlows website, and although they may be expensive, have heard that they do work very well. There was one that I wasn't sure about however, which is says to work, and looks like it could work, but I juts thought I should ask you guys. It is built for a fast retrieve, so a fish may see it passing on the surface and instinctively chase after it. What do you think? It's from Halco, a brand which has decent prices, but very good lures for tropical fish.

http://www.farlows.co.uk/halco-skim-stick-lure.html

 

[JasonH]

Hi guys,
Thank you for all the advice and tips that I am getting!
I have found other lures on the Farlows website, and although they may be expensive, have heard that they do work very well. There was one that I wasn't sure about however, which is says to work, and looks like it could work, but I juts thought I should ask you guys. It is built for a fast retrieve, so a fish may see it passing on the surface and instinctively chase after it. What do you think? It's from Halco, a brand which has decent prices, but very good lures for tropical fish.

http://www.farlows.co.uk/halco-skim-stick-lure.html

I hadn't seen these but just about to order some !! Nice to see single hooks and they look as if they should work, plus easier to work than a big blooping popper

 

[Blue Mauritius]

Hello Carynx - i am local and the best all rounder lure you can get are the Sebile stick shadds in 90mm - 114mm in sinking model. The shore fishing is not so good nowadays as they are overfished but December is the right time for best catches. Most common fish inshore are Thumbprint emperor, Spangled Emperor, Barracudas and the different types of trevallies (they are not huge inshore). Other inshore lures i recommend are Rapala x-rap and soft plastics if you get a small boat to fish near the reef. Plenty of fishing equipment shops but my favourite one is "Gone fishing" in the north at Pereybere. Pm me should you need any help.

 

[Carynx Ignobilis]

Hi everyone,
Thanks very much for all your advice. I came back from my trip to Mauritius having had a fairly successful trip. In the lagoon, I caught ALOT of brassy trevally, funnily enough on soft plastics, and caught the bigger ones on hard, thin lures. I also caught a lot of grouper as there was quite a lot of coral in that lagoon, as well as some mullet, shark (yep, really weird) and one ray. I also caught some emperor fish. Poppers basically didn't work in shore, which I found in strange, although I got two hook ups on a popper inshore. One on a small barracuda, and one on a big, big giant trevally. It was very strange, because you got some very big trevally coming into the lagoon, I think because there were a lot of mullet in the lagoon, so an easy food source for them. The Halco Skim Stick, although it was a reef lure, got a surprising number of hits inshore, which I found really strange. They were big hits, so I figured they must have been from the big trevally which often patrolled the lagoon.
All in all, thanks very much,
Carynx Ignobilis

 

[Blue Mauritius]

Hi everyone,
Thanks very much for all your advice. I came back from my trip to Mauritius having had a fairly successful trip. In the lagoon, I caught ALOT of brassy trevally, funnily enough on soft plastics, and caught the bigger ones on hard, thin lures. I also caught a lot of grouper as there was quite a lot of coral in that lagoon, as well as some mullet, shark (yep, really weird) and one ray. I also caught some emperor fish. Poppers basically didn't work in shore, which I found in strange, although I got two hook ups on a popper inshore. One on a small barracuda, and one on a big, big giant trevally. It was very strange, because you got some very big trevally coming into the lagoon, I think because there were a lot of mullet in the lagoon, so an easy food source for them. The Halco Skim Stick, although it was a reef lure, got a surprising number of hits inshore, which I found really strange. They were big hits, so I figured they must have been from the big trevally which often patrolled the lagoon.
All in all, thanks very much,
Carynx Ignobilis

Hello there i hope you enjoyed your holidays! Do you have the names of the hard thin lures you mentioned? Also, what did you catch the emperors with? Thanks

 

[Carynx Ignobilis]

The hard thin lures were YoZuri Suspending Crystal Minnows, in silver and blue colours. These colours worked the best. I mainly caught the emperors with little bits of prawn, but I landed a big thumbprint emperor on a small rapala floating.