As a small boy growing up in central Florida, I would wander with my friends through the palm and water oak forests, where we played Tarzan in our own shady little ''jungle.'' Long days spent ''hunting'' 'gators, raccoons and snakes in the cool, sandy palmetto scrub provided a great outdoor education and sparked an interest in all things wild that burns within me to this day.

Fortunately, I've found a profession that feeds my obsession, so even when I'm not on the water doing my job, you'll most likely find me wandering a beach, shoreline or stand of trees, looking for small animals, insects or amphibians just to see something new.

During one of Marlin University's Costa Rica sessions last year, a student, Ivor Karan of South Africa, invited me to visit and fish his home waters. Since I get quite a few offers to go fishing in some wonderful places that never really pan out, I accepted his offer but was pretty sure it would never happen.

But I wanted it to happen ... real bad. After all, what's the wildest, most exotic, stuffed-full-of-wildlife place you can think of? It's got to be Africa, right? You're damn skippy!

Thankfully, Karan wouldn't let the trip die. As soon as he returned to South Africa, he contacted me again via e-mail with a full itinerary for a three-week trip that included fishing in a five-day billfish tournament in Sodwana Bay, a photo safari near Kruger National Park and a weeklong stay at the Marlin Lodge in Mozambique. Well, Mama Ferrell didn't raise that big an idiot, so after a quick check with the wife and the boss, I was on my way.

Since it would take volumes to relay all the wonderful experiences of the trip, and since this is, after all, a billfishing magazine, I'll skip the part about the tremendous week spent in the bush on safari and save my game-fishing adventures at the luxurious Marlin Lodge for another day. Instead, I'll focus on my first destination in South Africa: the remote and fish-rich waters of Sodwana Bay.

Best in South Africa
The waters of South Africa are no strangers to the urges of traveling anglers. Hundreds of fishermen from all over Europe and the United States make the pilgrimage to Durban each year to get in on the area's tremendous albacore, yellowfin and bluefin tuna bites. But you have to wonder, with all those tuna around there's got to be some big girls stopping in for a snack every once in a while, right? The answer, of course, is a resounding yes! It just so happens that the billfish prefer to congregate in great numbers a bit farther up the coastline, near the border with Mozambique, where the water warms up to preferred billfish temperatures.

Sodwana Bay lies in a remote area on the east coast of Africa about 250 miles north of Durban and 370 miles southeast of Johannesburg. The bay lies within the Greater St. Lucia Wetlands Park, a World Heritage Site, and is surrounded by dense coastal forests filled with monkeys and hundreds of different species of birds. The park was established in 1979 to protect the country's only coral reefs and has over 100 miles of beach that you can drive on to go exploring.

One of its main attractions is the shallow bay and a spit of rock jutting out into the Indian Ocean that partially protects the beach from the prevailing southerly winds and seas. You need that protection in South Africa because there are no marinas in Sodwana Bay. There are no launch ramps, no floating docks - no docks of any kind, for that matter. If you want to get your boat into the water here, you have to roll it down the beach and drop it into the surf. Needless to say, you'll find no 50-footers fishing here.

What they do have is billfish, more so here than anywhere else in the country. Sails, blues, blacks and stripeys all make their way past Sodwana at one time or another, and the area's deep water and excellent bottom combine to hold bait and game fish throughout the year. ''It's the cream of South Africa,'' says Capt. Michael Lee, who with his wife, Marie, runs Sodwana Bay Charters and Fish Camp.

I introduced myself to Lee on the beach at the start of the Billfish 15,000 Tournament when I noticed his charter boat's name and decal bore a striking resemblance to our magazine's logo. Lee operates a 25-foot Magnum catamaran, one of the largest boats in Sodwana and the only one with an upper station. ''I gave up farming to come here to fish because of the area's great potential. We have long seasons, deep water within 2 miles of the beach and a tremendous number of canyons and reefs just offshore,'' he says. ''You can fish all year round here, and anything can happen from November through June.''

Lee's main competition in the area comes from Martin Visagie, who runs Vis Agie Charters and Coastal Lodge. Visagie, who has been fishing the area for the past five years, says that the number of fish caught in the area has increased every year since he's been there. ''Our main billfish season runs from November to the second week of May,'' says Visagie. But, as with most places in the world, water temperature plays a big part in when the fish will show. I visited at the beginning of November, and the water temperature ranged from 72 to 75 degrees - a bit too cold for the best billfishing. Out of the 100 or so boats fishing the 2001 Billfish 15,000 over a five-day period - with two days weathered out - the fleet caught 22 billfish, releasing all but two blacks. But both beat the tournament's 300-pound minimum handily, weighing in at 531 pounds and 693 pounds.

''Our best fishing starts when the temperatures reach 77 to 79 degrees, and it just gets better as the water warms up to the 82- to 84-degree range later in the season,'' says Visagie. ''Last year I caught 58 billfish in 58 days, and on my best day I caught five, including a super grand slam - a blue, two blacks, a sail and a stripe.

''January and February are probably our best months overall,'' says Visagie. ''But last year, from April to the second week of May, I caught a 500-pound blue almost every day I fished. In February it's not unusual to get five to seven billfish strikes a day.''

Although it's entirely possible to fish for two or three days here without seeing a fish, the ones you do get hold of are worth the wait. ''The blues come later and average about 500 pounds, while the blacks run around 400. Striped marlin average150 pounds, and sails usually weigh between 50 and 80 pounds,'' says Visagie.

All the fishing peaks in February with wahoo, dolphin and 'cuda (our kingfish and South Africa's most popular species) showing up in good numbers.

Runs are fairly short here. ''I never run more than 21 miles out,'' says

Visagie, ''and I usually fish within 10 miles from shore.'' In the three days I fished Sodwana, I rarely lost sight of the beach.

''We recommend you fish at least three days,'' says Lee. ''Our average here is one billfish every three days, but it's not uncommon to catch two or three in a day as well. For someone coming from the U.S., I'd suggest you stay at least a week, maybe two, to experience all Sodwana Bay has to offer.''

What They Eat
Most boats here do one of two things when targeting the area's billfish: either fish in close with live baits for black marlin or head offshore to target blues with lures (all of which are called Konas). Several canyons less than 2 miles down the beach hold good concentrations of skipjack and other little tunas. Anglers pick up baits pulling small Rapalas, Halco plugs or small jigs. Bridled up and slow-trolled over promising structure, these tuna make perfect baits for the area's black marlin, but you have to be on the lookout for the ever-present, bait-stealing hammerheads that frequent the area as well. Tuna tubes just started showing up in Sodwana recently, and many boats have at least one or two mounted on the stern.

Visagie is one of the few captains here who pull lures almost exclusively. ''I think they produce better than baits, and they certainly let me cover more ground,'' he says. Visagie says he has his best luck on darker lures and loves a Softhead of any kind.

Down and Dirty
Since boats have to be trailered to the launching area, most boats here run 15 to 25 feet in length. It's quite a sight to see row after row of boats, trailers and tractors roaring back into the sea during each morning's launch. And when I say morning, I mean morning. For some reason the sun comes up around 4:45 in Sodwana, so everyone's up by 3 a.m. to get down to the beach and get their boats into the water.

About 95 percent of boats used here are catamarans since these perform well in breaking waves and can be driven onto the beach. My host for the trip has one of the bigger boats launched in Sodwana, a 27-foot Noosa Cat made in Australia and specially modified for beach launching and retrieval. Karan had the company add stainless-steel runners to the hulls and even installed new kick-up springs on the outboards to allow them to lift out of the way when beaching. Multiple, re-enforced tow rings allow you to hook the boat to your winch to pull it up onto the specialized trailer. Even so, it's no small feat to drop a 4,000-pound boat into the water, and it usually took a trio of electric winch, tractor and Unimog (a giant 4-wheel-drive Mercedes) to pull it back out.

All private boat owners are required to pass a captain's course in South Africa, and for good reason - it's not uncommon for boats to capsize when launched in rough weather. My first beach launch occurred in relatively calm water and still scared the crap out of me. It just goes against everything we are taught to run a trailer back into the ocean at a good clip and then dump the back end of the boat into breaking waves. If that idea goes against your grain, then the beaching will grind it to powder. The beaching process involves finding a break in the surf and gunning the boat to nearly top speed before running it up on the beach. Some of the stops can be pretty sudden, so you'd better be holding on.

After the first couple of launches, however, it just becomes another part of the fun. By the time I left, I was actually itching to try my hand at beaching the boat, but thankfully for the rest of the crew, that itch went unscratched.

By the time I left South Africa, I was already contemplating a return trip. I've been extremely lucky to fish in many parts of the world, and I can say without hesitation that my experience in Sodwana Bay will always rank right up there with the best.