We welcomed three guests this week. Rob, Chris and Joe, All the guys had fished Gabon before and we could not wait to show them some big tarpon.

First morning, 170 lbs magnificent west African Tarpon landed within the hour!

The week started off quite a large tidal movement. That did not seem to bother the fish. We saw some big fish rolling. About an hour into the first morning Rob hooked a 170lb tarpon and landed her in just over an hour. We put a tape on her and she measured 80 inches to the fork and 38 inches girth. What a beautiful fish. Not a scale out of place, and a light olive back. Around the same time Joe hooked a tarpon of around 130lbs. The fish went ballistic as she felt the fly set. It was awesome to watch from my boat. She jumped away from the skiff staying low and horizontal to the water.  A few jumps later she was gone, chewed through. I thought it was a great start as we were running home with a storm moving in fast.

Casting to laid up fish all week

The rest of the week produced some sensational fishing. The fishing for laid up tarpon was mind blowing. We had lots of shots at tarpon with their tails out the water, wiggling around. Joe had a laid up fish 20 feet from the skiff, one cast, two strips and BOOM!!! Fish on. The sheer size of some of the fish was hard to believe at times. Nothing beats casting a yellow and white fly at an 8 foot long tarpon.

The fishing scenarios varied between casting at laid up as well as rolling fish. We used floating lines and intermediate lines. Flies ranged from black and purple, yellow and white to small tan Whittakers wonders. We jumped a bunch of fish. All the guys landed triple digit tarpon. Well done Rob for landing  two 170lb tarpon for the week. 

The Monster that keeps you coming back…

On the last morning Chris got a shot at a boheamouth fish. She was laid up and had to be chased down to get a cast to her. Chris hooked the monster and managed to put her in the air twice before she bit through the shock tippet. It’s those movies that keep playing through your mind over and over….

In between all the tarpon chaos the guys also landed some nice Jack Cravelle, Longfin jacks and some African brown snappers.

Thank you to our guests for making this another memorable week. We all had so much fun fishing with you and some great evenings with lots of laughter and fishing talk. It is such a privilege to be able to fish in such an unspoilt and pristine fishery. 

See you soon!