Sadly I have come to the realization that my Gabon season has come to an end. Lots of excitement of course to head back home but a big part inside of me has really fallen in love with this country… but anyways, on to the fishing!

This week I hosted a group of 5 people from South Africa, two of the guys I guided in Tanzania last year, so I was quite excited to fish with some familiar faces for a change.

 

The week started off a little upside down with the flight into camp being delayed due to some issue at the airport and then luggage making its way to camp a little later than supposed to.

Luckily all was not lost and we just worked our way around this situation.

The fishing, well, started off slowly again this week and then heated up towards the end. One thing that I noticed this week was how high the water temperature was, not mid twenties, I’m talking mid thirties! We measured it in the middle of the week at 36degrees!! That’s warmer than most showers I’ve taken up in Africa hahaha Epic for bodysurfing but not too great for fishing!

 

We still got some nice fish nonetheless. Dave Smit really got into the surf casting with bait and he loved it. He got some very nice snapper and landed even bigger Sandsharks. Not to mention the one he hooked that almost pulled him off his feet! Everyone ended up with some really nice snapper ranging from 10 – 25kg with some Senegalese Kob thrown into the mix as well.

 

The most exciting fishing though came on the last three mornings of the trip in the mangroves! With the right tides and weather coming together the White Fin Jacks went absolutely ballistic. 

Some sections of the lagoon I counted 7-9 massive shoals of jacks smashing baitfish all around us!! It was absolute porn, bait fish flying all over the show, rods breaking, reels screaming… mind blowing chaos!

 

 

We made the most of this no doubt! Landing 10 or so Jacks in the solid 10-15kg jacks in a matter of 20min on light tackle was nothing strange. The session I enjoyed the most was when we chased these shoals on fly! I got a bus pushing 15 kg on my 9WT Loomis NRX that had me do 8 laps around the boat and visit the middle of my backing 3times. Was such a classic take. I fished my fly with a very erratic strip on the edge of the drop which got followed by a massive splash and line cutting through the water! Nic and Guy Toms capitalized as well with some very nice Jacks on fly as well with a couple cheeky juvenile snapper.

 

We could not have asked for a better ending to the week and season! But wait there’s more. Guy and his son Nic decided to go on a walk in the forrest with Patrick and got a little more than what they bargained for!! A young Elephant bull was not impressed being filmed so he decided to charge them. Hats off to Guy for holding his pose and getting some epic snaps!! Not to mention Patrick who charged back at the elephant and chasing him back into the jungle…nervous times but what a great experience!

 

 

So with that Im ending off this blog post. I’m spending my last couple hours of Gabon’s nice weather on the beach sunlounging before heading back to cold South Africa tonight.

 

Keep well and Au Revoir

 

Signing out from Gabon. Until Next Season.

 

PS: Keep an eye on the blog for some videos of the season, which will be uploaded as I get through all the footage!

 

Mark M

Good morning from a very hot and humid Gamba Airport. The guys are about to take off for Libreville and I’m sipping on a local java blend! Yes in the heat, but remember, I’m a local now plus this coffee tastes amazing.

 

 I can’t believe I’m about to go into the last week of the season already!! It goes by so quickly.

 

Anyways, the fishing was very up and down this week but still produced some good results. I must say I’m noticing a change in water temperature. It is definitely rising and I’ll be honest, I’m a little nervous to see how this will affect the fishing for the coming weeks.

 

 

Once again we started our week fishing at the beautiful La Baie des Tortues. We got treated to some tropical garrick and some very aggressive juvenile snapper. Its crazy how a little snapper would smash a lure 2times his size, greedy little buggers. We fishing for a couple of hours before heading back to the lodge.

 

A day at this resort to me is more along the lines of a relaxed layover day than a full on day of fishing.  The scenery is so beautiful that one have to sit down and take it all in.

 

We had some nice bodysurfing followed up with an amazing, as per usual, three course lunch before making our way back to Libreville.

 

The fishing at Sette Cama was slow to start off with but got better towards the end of the week. It was very up and down. One session would come on, then the next down and then up again. During the week I began to wonder if it was maybe as the different pockets of warm water passed through.

 

Willie managed some real nice size snappers and the two Crowther brothers joined in on the action as well. On Monday Jonathan celebrated his birthday with a good number of Jacks in the surf and then a very special “candle light dinner” that evening. One unforgettable night no doubt… What happens in camp stays in camp right?!

The last day of the week the fishing went ballistic!! The morning in the mangroves we smashed the juvenile snapper on fly and I got treated to a very nice Spotted Grunter. I was blown away by how strong these guys are for their size. Pound for pound the snapper have on them!! 

 

The best was still to come though. Late afternoon at the mouth just as with the previous group, the jacks were herding baitfish into massive bait balls in the surf and then hammered them! 

 

We got hold of live bait (thanks to my colleague Ted that pretty much went swimming with the net and I don’t know how still managed to cast it) and got treated to some epic fishing! Jacks all over 10kg smashing your bait as it hit the water, before you could even set your drag. Oddly they had absolute no interest in lures. As much as I tried they only wanted the bait. I guess you can’t get anything more natural looking than a live mullet. Luckily, this has been the first session of the season where the jacks preferred bait over lures. We ended the night with Willie bagging another beautiful snapper.

 Another Epic week in Gabon and hopefully this coming week we can end the season off with a bang!

So on that note, I’m going to finish my java and then head back to camp.

Ciao from Gamba

For the last 2 seasons we have been fishing the highly productive around Sette Cama, which is on the Southern boundary of the Luongo National Park. This area has produced exceptional fishing for the handful of guests that have travelled to this special destination.
With limited availability, we were soon forced to start looking for other options within Gabon, and so a recce trip was put together to explore the potential on the Northern boundary of the park, on the Iguela lagoon. This recce trip was not to determine whether this fishing was up to scratch, since with Ed Truters input we knew what to expect on this front, but rather to explore what the journey was like along with camp conditions on the ground. This area has for a long time been better known compared to Sette Cama, as this was the birth place sport fishing in Gabon, and in the past years this is the area where most South African fisherman travelled to.
With the invaluable help of Edward Truter, we set off for a week’s fishing at St Catherine’s camp, at the mouth of the Iguela lagoon. Logistically it is very tough journey between Liberville and Iguela, but once you have arrived, this camp is perfectly situated as it is within walking distance of all the best spots at the mouth.
Our weeks fishing started slowly, and we struggled to connect with fish consistently. When fishing a new area this is often to be expected, as it takes time to figure out where the fish are holding. These first few days we had a few decent sessions fishing for jacks with bucktails and Sea Iron Spoons, as well as some great fun on small surface lures in the mangroves targeting small snapper in the 1 to 4 kilo range.
After the first couple days scouting we started to figure out where the fish were holding, along with which tides were productive. With the tides in mind, we found three sessions a day that consistently produced the goods:
There was the mid day sessions, where a shallow sandbank was exposed in the mouth. When the tide was at its lowest it was possible to get onto this bank, and cast spoons and buck tails along the drop off. The fishing always remained quiet until the turn of the tide, and then there would be frantic fishing until we got pushed off by the rising tide. This spot was also responsible for the highlight of the trip. On the last day of the week when we arrived at the sandbank, we found baby tarpon rolling in the surf, all in the 10 to 20 kilo range. In the space of 40 minutes, the guys manage to jump a large number of these baby tarpon, with a few fish being bought within landing distance. Darren Smit managed to get one to the beach, which was a great experience, considering it was on light spinning gear, while standing waist deep in the surf. During the same session, Eric Heyns and Rikus Nortje decided to wade the lagoon casting fly rods and light spinning rods loaded with poppers.Their main quarry was the numerous snapper that inhabit the mangrove fringes. The snapper kept them busy, but Rikus managed to spot some rolling baby tarpon, and within 2 casts had connected with a fish around the 12 kilo mark. A truly great fish on bass gear, while wading the lagoon.

The other sessions that provided good activity, was the early mornings, and evening sessions on the last 30 minutes of the pushing tide. Under the cover of darkness the cubera and big tarpon kept every busy. Although none of the big tarpon were landed, there were certainly some exciting times, such as Ed Truter getting his new Stella 18000 spooled.
To end off, the trip was a great success. Although logistically at the moment it is a very tough option, but the potential is definitely there. Hopefully in the future getting to camp and back becomes a lot easier. Watch this space.

Mark Murray has just returned from on location, with some great stories on the fishing. Here is a short clip from a couple weeks ago.