ISLAND OF DREAMS

[Originally published in the September 2023 issue of Ski-Boat magazine]

By Jaco Visser

ERNEST Hemingway famously said: “A man is never lost at sea” and “It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”
Hemingway was on my mind as my short flight from Mauritius crossed the vast expanse of the Indian Ocean en-route to Rodrigues Island. An awful lot of ocean surrounds this little rock that would be our home for the next couple of weeks.
About 650km north-east of Mauritius, isolated on a ridge between Hawkins Bank and the Eastern Bank, you’ll find an island several million years older than its siblings, Mauritius and Reunion. Isolated from the world and stuck in a time warp, the island provides an interesting and authentic cultural experience for any adventurous traveller – and even more so adventurous anglers.
More famous for wind sports and dried octopus, the island’s big game fishing is one of the best and worst kept secrets of the sportfishing world. A quick page through IGFA’s book of world records soon reveals the illustrious reputation and potential of this destination.
Disguised as a digital nomad, and fully intending to use the island as a temporary home while working and maintaining a life–work balance, my wife and I booked one of the many available self-catering establishments scattered all over the island.
Walking distance to Port Mathurin, sparkling pool, steps from the beach, air-conditioning and good Wi-Fi sealed the deal for The Beach House to be our abode and island office for some weeks as we justified our reason to elope to a place as unique and tranquil as Rodrigues. Of course the main reason for being there was the incredible fishing the island has to offer.
But, before we get to the fishing, some more about the island.
Time truly seems to stand still on Rodrigues. With unique charm and a simple, unhurried ease, friendly people, varied cuisine and striking natural beauty, the island is surely one of the best places in the world to spend a quiet, calm and isolated holiday. There are several categories of accommodation so there will be something for every pocket.
Unlike Mauritius, there are no major resorts, and small family-owned establishments and B&Bs are the order of the day. Taxis, busses and car rentals are all available, but the preferred and most fun alternative is affordable scooter hire. There are numerous activities available, including visiting the many walking trails, beautiful beaches, caves, secret sensual gardens and spas and ancient tortoises. Visitors can indulge in beach braais, scuba diving, surfing, bungee jumping, zip lines and gorge swings.
A volcanic island along the edge of the Mascarene plateau, the island is surrounded by coral reefs that are uniquely self-seeding as it receives no coral zooplankton from elsewhere. This led to the development of a unique ecosystem for many marine and afcoral species and adds to the excitement for any diver or angler who wants to explore the bio-diversity on offer. Outside of the coral barrier, the island is surrounded by a basaltic plate varying in depth from 40- to 60m and between 5- and 16km wide, before a drop-off in steps up to 1000m-plus deep.

Hemingway noted that “anglers have a way of romanticizing their battles with fish” and “it was considered a virtue not to talk unnecessarily at sea”. There is, however a great deal to say about the fishing off Rodrigues while reflecting on the incredible time we spent with Captain Yann Colas of Rod Fishing Club aboard Black Marlin.
The waters around the island, especially at the end of the season, are not for the faint hearted as a consistent south-easterly wind and varying currents make for fairly big seas most of the time. However, this did not pose a major challenge for Black Marlin as her full 50ft, 30 tonnes sportfish hull was specially designed to keep anglers and crew safe. Captain Yann’s 20 years of experience working the unpredictable waters off the island also helps to land any angler their dream fish.
Rodrigues is a true multi species destination and will have something to offer any style of angling, with numerous world records to her name. It’s not by chance that one operator has collected so many records over the years. The operators of Rod Fishing Club pride themselves on careful preparation that only requires the motivated angler to be matched with the right opportunity to make his dreams come true. Captain Yann is also an IGFA approved captain and operates an official IGFA weigh station for anglers wanting to chase a world record.

Trolling, baiting, jigging, slow jigging, livebait fishing, bottomfishing, pitching and light tackle methods are employed to target exciting bottomfish and reef species like coral trout, red snapper, blue emperor and various groupers. These are complimented by the true warriors of the deep like dogtooth tuna, giant trevally, golden trevally and jobfish as well as the speedsters like yellowfin tuna, wahoo and dorado. That’s without mentioning the trio of billfish, with giant Indo-Pacific sailfish, black- and blue marlin available almost all year round.
Overnight and multiple day trips are also possible to Hawkins Bank or the Eastern Bank to explore these hardly-touched waters, where anglers can experience the thrill of being completely alone fishing rich waters where few have ventured before. These trips also allow for experimental bottomfishing at night and during low light hours for those targeting multiple species. Two overnight trips for us resulted in more than 30 different species collected, with every take a veritable lucky packet.
Apart from general big game fishing, we were particularly interested in slow pitch jigging and targeting big dogtooth tuna on lighter tackle. Not only did Rodrigues deliver, it exceeded all expectations with regard to quantity and variety.

Smaller blue runners used as livebait produced lots of doggies and smaller GTs, while bigger livebaits were the ticket for larger doggies and a marlin as a bonus. Slow jigging in depths of 50- to 80m over structure either on the plate or near the drop-off accounted for lots of decent size GTs, bluefin trevallies and a particular run of exceptionally good sized golden trevallies. Whenever we needed a break, trolling along the drop-off produced several sailfish and some really good wahoo.
The golden ticket for this destination, and especially Captain Yann and his team, remains the big dogtooth tuna. Rod Fishing Club has recorded over 250 doggies over 50kg with theirclients over the years, and your chances of catching these monsters are very good during their peak season from October to April.
During the season, smaller boats and operators also take anglers on day trips near the coral barrier, and these outings often account for incredibly good GTs caught while popping and stick baiting in the surf zone. There’s also very good general gamefishing around the island and even as far as the drop-off if the conditions allow.
I was especially privileged to join Jean-Marc of GlobalRodrigues for just such an outing by ski-boat and managed two decent GTs on surface popper within spitting distance of Ile Aux Cocos, one of the region’s main attractions.
As with any fishing excursion or trip, there are always one or two particularly memorable fish that prove Hemingway’s point of anglers’ tending to romanticise their battles with fish. After a dozen or so excursions to secret marks around the island, we have several of those life-time catches that stand out and will be etched in memory forever and will probably be romanticised in fishermen’s yarns as we re-live all the detail with every telling.
In the months of anticipation leading up to the Rodrigues stay, Dgini, my better half had only one wish: ‘I want to catch a big red fish!”
On our first shake down outing with Captain Yann she was drifting a bonito cutlet, weightless, over some structure on a light spinning outfit; suddenly she was on! Under-gunned and still finding her sea legs, Dgini held on for dear life and, through sheer determination, won the 30-minute tug-o-war to land her “big red fish” on our first outing. Trip made!

The 30kg-plus coral trout was promptly released after a few pictures. While Dgini followed that up with several other red species and some impressive red snapper, doggies and wahoo in the following weeks, that first fish will forever be memorable.
Another yarn-worthy fish belongs to Devin Klein, a friend and boat partner, who joined us on Rodrigues for a few days with Jess and three-year-old Connor. Armed with a wish list including monster GT and a “real” doggy, Devin’s day came soon after Dgini’s.
We’d spent an afternoon catching several good size doggies in the 15- to 30kg class on both slow jigging and live blue runners when Captain Yann sounded “Good activity near the floor for jigging” from the helm. The only rod loaded and ready for action was one of Rod Fishing Club’s left-hand drive Stellas on a custom jigging rod. No sooner had Devin cast than he was on with a real fish!
When you’re accustomed to a right-hand drive outfit and are suddenly faced with a Herculean battle on a “French outfit”, all co-ordination relies on pure adrenalin. To make matters worse, the reel seat dislodged mid-fight.
Every angler who has had the good fortune to battle a real doggy will know that the fight is all determination and little finesse. Relief and exhilaration were the overwhelming emotions when the near 50kg dogged gladiator finally hit the deck.
I also had many memorable catches, and one of the highlights was catching a good black marlin on stand-up tackle while swimming a live bonito at a very lively spot called the Escalier. This catch was on 50 lb tackle on Williamson’s new Reef Donkey rod that Captain Yann is testing in conjunction with Williamson.
To say that the rod impressed is an understatement, as it soon became the crew’s favourite as well and definitely earned its place among all the custom rods available on Black Marlin.
The fish, or rather, series of fish that will, however, be recalled with most fondness was caught on my penultimate outing, when several drifts over a rock just near the drop-off east of the island resulted in a run of particularly good size golden trevallies. It was the proverbial “every down a vas!”
All of them were caught while slow pitch jigging with a baby blue Goofish rod, affectionately nicknamed “jelly” by the crew. These strong fighters with their thick lips and aggressive takes, on a jelly rod, on a continuous loop, is as much fun as any angler could wish for.
Now that we’re back to reality and the grind of daily life, reflecting on our remarkable experience, there are lessons to be had:
1. Do not go in under-gunned!
Like most operators and charter skippers, Rod Fishing Club and GlobalRodrigues, as well as the other operators on the island, provide excellent quality custom tackle for trolling and general big game fishing. Black Marlin also carries an impressive array of custom jigging rods, all equipped with Stellas.
Personal taste and preference, however, dictate that for jigging, popping and light tackle outfits it is best to take your own, and herein lies the lesson of not going with tackle too light to do the job. You might just lose the fish of a lifetime and, unless you are planning to chase specific line class records, rather err on the heavier side.
We found that 80 lb braid and jigs between 120- and 200 grams on a 100 lb leader would be the minimum for jigging, and 200 lb leaders with heavy gauge hooks the minimum for baiting and bottoms. After all, if you are planning on releasing your catch, this is kinder on the fish.
2. We have a world class fishery on our doorstep.
After spending six weeks on the island, we have yet to explore all the delights it has to offer and, even less so, the incredible fishing Rodrigues has to offer. Hawkins Bank, Eastern Bank, broadbill fishing, jigging and deep slow pitch jigging, deep trolling and other modern methods of angling currently developed and refined across the globe have yet to be fully explored around Rodrigues Island. Her captains and crews could just be the opportunity that an innovative angler is looking for to make their angling dreams come true.
Fishing is our drug of choice, and as Rodriguez, in his famous song Sugar Man, said: “For a blue coin, won’t you bring back all those colors to my dreams?” Rodrigues Island will do that for you.