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Giant tarpon fly fishing in Africa

3K views 14 replies 7 participants last post by  OC 
#1 ·
Hi,

have any of you ever fished giant tarpon in Africa with the fly?. Sierra Leona and Guinea Bissau are the best places. I want to go to Guinea but want to know if someone have fished there with the fly for silver monsters. Thanks,

Jose :cool:
 
#4 ·
Here;s a factoid for ya...

Although most bluefish migration is north/south along the coast, some strains travel the currents across the atlantic to the african coast and reach sizes in excess of 45-50 pounds!

I wouldn't want one of those pulled into the panga! :Eyecrazy:
 
#5 ·
You´re right OC,

Biggest tarpon ever caught, came in 2003 from Guinea Bissau, 286 lbs, 9-oz.
Brian O´Keefe caught in 1992 a 187 lbs giant in 20 # tippet in Sierra Leona-
I was in Bijagos arch in Guinea Bissau last year with the fly but not ready for tarpon fishing. Maybe I´ll return in january ready with a #15 bw rod, a heavy sink line and some big FPF mullet imitations. I saw a lot of giants rolling over mullets. In the camp where I stayed they caught 3 giants on mullets, the smallest, weighted 90 kilos and the second one broke a 100 kilos scale... , the third one maybe weighted 115 to 130 kilos.
Fly fishing there is a little bit different from"classic" sight fishing. Deeper and murkier waters, big currents but huge tarpon.

Jose
 
#6 ·
Jose,
Sounds like this area of the world is just being explored as far as fishing goes. What other types of game fish live of this part of the African coast? I bet that there some really big snook lurking under the mangrove roots in the coastal rivers.
Juro,
I have herd stories of those big Bluefish off of the Azores but never so close to the coast of Africa. But once a school gets chasing bait they forget everything else and probably could end up just about anywhere. :hihi:

I'll tell you that there are still places in the world that are not exploited by commercial sport fishing and places where few if any have cast a fly or even trolled a live mullet. Back in 1972 while sailing the Timor Sea came across a place where two major currents collided. Within about a 15 mile radius there were Black Marlin and some Blue Marlin jumping out of the sea that were just beyond belief. The guys boat I was sailing on who had been a charter captian out of Cairns Austrailia said that half those fish we watched that day were close to 15 or 16 hundred pounds or bigger many may have been world records. I bet no one has ever fished them, ever. Though not interested in catching those fish I don't think there is a week go by that I don't picture those fish leaping out of tropical blue water strait up into the sky and turning perfectly in mid air to make a sord first re entry.

Maybe we need to set up a world map on a wall put a blind fold on throw a dart and if it hits an ocean go have a clave there and see what happens!
 
#7 ·
juro said:
Although most bluefish migration is north/south along the coast, some strains travel the currents across the atlantic to the african coast and reach sizes in excess of 45-50 pounds!
I've heard about those blues for some time now, and boy would I like to get into some of that action. But like Juro hinted, I'd prefer boat-side releases. :eek:

Those African tiger fish look pretty interesting too. How about floating a river, casting to tiger fish, with elephants looking at you from the bank? Those would be some memories for sure.....
 
#10 ·
Fred,

I could take 3 or 4 folks for a couple of weeks at a time. Just fly somewhere close. We would also need another zodic and outboard. Of course my beautiful wife may have something to say about 4 extra crusty old fly fishermen on board.
Oh and by the way if you look just a 12 day sail east of the Seychells over to the coast of what I still call Burma you will notice many islands with flats never fished by sport fishermen just a few surfers exploring places where westerners have never been allowed. I hear that the goverment is now allowing a few world cruisers a visa to explore this area. As for Tarpon fishing in Africa it is a very hard area to get too as winds and currents are not right and I hate to motor. We plan on hitting the Seychells if we can get a visa to do the outer Islands which are about 200 mile out. So many world goverments are begining to limit exploration to cruisers because of the Jimmy Buffet syndrome. Another great clave might be to the southern Society Islands. Most are atols whithout humans and full of bones. We are going to do them that's for sure.
 
#11 ·
Maybe these links are of any help?

http://www.floridamarine.org/features/view_article.asp?id=25956
http://www.midcurrent.com/news/archives/000284.html
http://www.apescaconnoi.it/Guinea Bissau.htm (italian page...)

As a matter a fact...here's the whole list; http://www.google.com/search?q=Guinea+Bissau+tarpon

I do have a French Flyfishing magazine here somewhere where ther;s an article on tarpon on the fly in GB, since i'm having most of my stuff in moving boxes now it'll take some time before it'll see daylight again..sorry..


Grtzs, Limpe
 
#12 ·
Did a little research myself and was astounded that Tarpon have been found as far north as Nova Scotia and Ireland! No question these fish travel the warm waters of the gulfstream. One would have to wonder if some Tarpon make the complete circle. They also now have Tarpon in a small section of the pacific where the Panama Canal enters the pacific. Juro mentioned Bluefish and I was amazed they are found in the Med as far east as Turkey and in some places in the South Pacific. There is a lot of fishing out there.
 
#13 ·
Hi OC,

fishes that inhabit guinean waters:
Ladyfish, cubera, spanish mackerel, grouper, jack crevalle, senegalese jack, leerfish, amberjack, drum, needlefish, three species of barracuda, cobia, bonefish, permit, african pompano, giant tarpon, several types of shark, guitar fish, etc
(bonefish and permit are very unusual) I don´t know if snook are there, but with the list above is enough...

Bluefish in the mediterranean are common, I have caught a lot with the fly. Also in the Gibraltar Straits between Europe and Africa and in the Canary Islands, and north west coast of Africa.

Jose
 
#14 ·
Bonefish also get big off the coast of Africa and in the Indian Ocean in general. There's lots of fish over 20 lbs that have been reported from New Caledonia, the Seychelles, and elsewhere!
 
#15 ·
Jose,

Sounds like there is a lot of saltwater fly fishing in your neck of the woods. I guess we don't hear about it that much on this side of the big bay. I looked up snook and there seems to be none in African waters. Maybe you will be the first to find them and become famous. :hihi: Are your bluefish as crazy as ours over here and smash everything that moves? We are looking forward to hearing about your trip and all the giant Tarpon that you fish for. Don't forget to bow in a big time way for fish that size.

Teflon,

It really is amazing all the unfished waters for bone fish. Just do a google sat map search of the south pacific and you will see thousands of miles of water to sight fish. Most have never been touched at least by guides. As I plan my world cruise I get really excited by all that shallow water to fish but I must say I get a little nervous about how well some of this far out of the way atols are charted. I really don't want to be ship wercked in the middle of nowhere and have no humans including native girls around.
 
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