Guinea Bissau 27th Feb - 8th March

Sat Mar 17, 2012 10:46 am

This is going to be a long report and so I will do it in stages.


After our last trip in October 2010 to Guinea Bissau, which was exceptionally productive, some of us decided that we just had to return again. So dates were planned, the trip was booked and we began saving for this expedition.
Travelling was much easier this time with flights from Dublin – Lisbon- Bissau. Door to door from Dublin – the hotel on Orango took about 21 hours without any sleep. So if anybody is doing this trip then I would suggest that the first day be put aside for resting rather than fishing.

Overall fishing was brilliant with about 30 species being caught and fish up to 180lb being landed.
To see pictures of the trip you may visit
http://www.boroughseaangling.com/styled ... index.html
A short video can be seen at
http://www.boroughseaangling.com/styled/code/index.html

The group consisted on 9 people. 4 were Borough SAC members joined by a friend and 4 others from the UK.
27th Feb: We arrived and left our hotel in Bissau within 2 hours. Heading down the river in the dark we were guided by LED torches, every 200m, on both banks of the river…..ever feel that you were part of a James Bond movie or a smuggling ring?!!! We stepped onto Orango island at around 9.30 , a little the worse for wear.
At 11.30 Marty and I ventured down the beach with spinning rods in hand and fires lures at a reef about 50M out. The only fish was a small marbled grouper.

After lunch we went by boat to a sandbar, Pikanina, our in the middle of the sea for 2 hours. As the tide was dropping only one barracuda was landed.
As I said we should really have used this as a rest day.

28th Feb: Our boat set out for the Chimneys. Having had great success there last year I was really dying to see if it would yield a similar result……it was even better :D :D

On way to our destination we stopped for livebaits , Yabouys and Plat Plats which took very small feathers. We also managed to catch other species ; red bream, chienchat , meru and one haddock like fish.

On arrival at the Chimneys we went popping while drifting. After quite a few casts my popper was devoured by a very large fish that took off like a train. My new Stella reel screamed as line poured off it. This brute did not want to join us in the boat and so it was about 15 minutes later when a magnificent Leerfish of 40lb was dragged over the gunnels. No gym could match the workout these fish give.
Leerfish.jpg


The livebaits were then slipped over the side of the boat mine had an immediate take. Taking the rod in my already strained arms I faced another battle with a very strong opponent. After quite a while a Cobia of 40lb appeared at the boat. My arms were shaking and my shoulder ached from the gut wrenching experience. Then the other 2 rods on the boat went into action. Eamon had a real fight on his hands as a monster took off at a rate on knots. He huffed and puffed and fought with all his might for a long time before landing a Cobia of 100lb. What a fish and what an achievement :!: :!:
Eamon's 100lb Cobia.jpg

Several Cobia later we anchored up.

During the year Eamon had come up with the idea of a species competition. Last year the winner had 18 species. However, Eamon’s plan was to use feathers , possibly baited, to see if we could better this number. This was a brilliant idea. While the fishing in Guinea Bissau is fantastic it is important to realise that all fish do not feed all of the time.
Grouper.jpg

So when no big fish were cooperating while at anchor we dropped some baited feathers over the side of the boat. Action was immediate with a number of small grouper being landed. The dreaded Ramora also put in an appearance. These are the cleaner fish that stick to sharks and other big fish. They also seem to live on the bottom of boats. As soon as bait is drooped out of the boat Mr. Ramora darts out and tries to grab it. So they are very easy to catch and can become a nuisance.
Suddenly, the water boiled with massive eruptions, about 100m away, as baitfish were chased by Jacks. Try as we might with our poppers they would not cooperate. So we set up some deep divers for trolling. This resulted in several long fin Jacks being landed up to 40lb :D :D
Long fin Jack.jpg



What an end to the first days boat fishing!!!!

A beautiful Pirogue joined us for a while when we at the Chimneys. These boats have a large crew who seem to use handlines. They can be at sea for up to 3 weeks and have a large quantity of ice packed in the hull to keep the catch fresh. What a hard way to make a livelihood!!!!
Pirogue.jpg



The other boat visited the Chimneys on 2 separate occasions but had very few fish while there. So not every venue produces fish all the time.
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Re: Guinea Bissau 27th Feb - 8th March

Sat Mar 17, 2012 10:51 am

Well done Stan! You are certainly hooked :)

Re: Guinea Bissau 27th Feb - 8th March

Sat Mar 17, 2012 1:08 pm

stunning trip Stan, was tempted to go this spring, unfortunately everything was against my plans, really enjoyed your report, big well done!

Re: Guinea Bissau 27th Feb - 8th March

Sat Mar 17, 2012 5:56 pm

Brillian stuff Stan, I'm not jealous at all :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Re: Guinea Bissau 27th Feb - 8th March

Sat Mar 17, 2012 10:10 pm

29th Feb
Fishing on reef

The day started with speed jigging but this only produced a Casava. Then we went off popping along the sandbank . Last time we were doing this Jacks could be clearly seen in the waves and jumped at the poppers. However, the water was definitely more coloured and we could not see the Jacks and presumably they could not see the poppers. So we caught nothing.
So we went ground fishing and again it was the feathers that kept us busy with a steady flow of fish. Sympots , also known as sweetlips (a kind of wrasse) , were caught in abundance.


Then it was off trolling in vain for a while.

Finally we went back onto the reef jigging where we caught 5 cracking Jack Crevalle.

What a way to end the day! I think that this could be said for every day and so I will just keep on saying it.

Ass and his deckhand worked extremely hard all day. If it is obvious that one type of fishing is not working then Ass changes tack immediately and tries something else. He is probably the best skipper that I have ever fished with.
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Last edited by Stan on Sun Mar 18, 2012 9:29 am, edited 1 time in total.

Re: Guinea Bissau 27th Feb - 8th March

Sat Mar 17, 2012 10:10 pm

29th Feb
Fishing on reef

The day started with speed jigging but this only produced a Casava. Then we went off popping along the sandbank . Last time we were doing this Jacks could be clearly seen in the waves and jumped at the poppers. However, the water was definitely more coloured and we could not see the Jacks and presumably they could not see the poppers. So we caught nothing.
So we went ground fishing and again it was the feathers that kept us busy with a steady flow of fish. Sympots , also known as sweetlips (a kind of wrasse) , were caught in abundance.
Sweetlips.jpg


Then it was off trolling in vain for a while.

Finally we went back onto the reef jigging where we caught 5 cracking Jack Crevalle.


What a way to end the day! I think that this could be said for every day and so I will just keep on saying it.

Ass and his deckhand worked extremely hard all day. If it is obvious that one type of fishing is not working then Ass changes tack immediately and tries something else. He is probably the best skipper that I have ever fished with.
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Re: Guinea Bissau 27th Feb - 8th March

Sat Mar 17, 2012 11:16 pm

Magical fishing, well done stan and Co, great report 8)

Re: Guinea Bissau 27th Feb - 8th March

Sun Mar 18, 2012 12:43 am

Thanks for the comments lads. More details coming up

Re: Guinea Bissau 27th Feb - 8th March

Sun Mar 18, 2012 12:50 am

Ist March was officially a rest day and boy were we glad to give our arms and shoulders a chance to recover from the hard work !!!
Jetty.jpg



So 2 of us went fishing in the late afternoon and evening. Eamon managed 2 small stingray , 1 on baited feathers and the other on an ordinary trace. These fish were quite different from the big Stingrays caught locally. They had a pointed nose, were uniformly light brown and had a whip-like tail more than twice as long as the body. Sharpnose Stingray is the tentative identification.
Stingray sharpnose.jpg


This was followed up by a marbled grouper…….there was no stopping him building up the species count.
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Re: Guinea Bissau 27th Feb - 8th March

Sun Mar 18, 2012 1:01 am

2nd March

First we went on the hunt for livebait and caught loads. The sea was alive are there were some fantastic displays by dolphins doing various acrobatics.

Next we anchored up on a mark just off the end of an island and had non-stop actions with plenty of Casava ( up to about 12lb), Pompano and Spanish Mackerel. I cast my bait on the surface on the end of my spinning rod. When a fish hit it was incredible. There would be an almighty explosion as a fish hit followed by a massive run. Roger had lovely Cobia which just dropped off at the side of the boat. After about an hours activity all went quiet.
Eamon's Casava.jpg



So we moved off to the Washing Machine and fired down more livebaits. There were more Casava and Pompano.
Pompano.jpg


Suddenly, my rod buckled and the line took off at a rate of knots……definitely 2 points for speeding!! There was a very steady pull and swimming action and I reckoned it was a ray. My main preoccupation was to keep it off the bottom. My rod was 20-30lb class and this fish was definitely bigger than that. If he hit bottom there would be little chance of getting up off it. So I leaned back as he bored down and it was man against beast. The battle lasted about 20 minutes and sweat was pouring off me. Ass gaffed the large stingray as he surfaced.
Stingray.jpg


As he came over his tail was swinging every direction and I headed up on the back of the boat. Our very competent skipper turned him over and duly removed his sting. After a quick photo he was returned to the depths and it was time for me to rest!!! The skipper estimated the weight at 80kg plus, say 180lbs!. The fish would appear to be a Round Stingray (Taeniura grabata) for which the IGFA all tackle world record is 210lbs. 8oz.!
Stingray release.jpg



Eamon was busily on the hunt for species and hauled several varieties including a nice angelfish and a ruby snapper. We were neck and neck at this stage with about 20 species each. However, he proved his brilliance at hauling up lots of varieties and at the end of this day there was little chance of me catching him.

Angel.jpg


The water around us began to bubble and I fired out a wedge to catch a large Spanish Mackerel. This was followed by 5 more.

When it was time to go home my weary bones ached!!
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Re: Guinea Bissau 27th Feb - 8th March

Sun Mar 18, 2012 9:44 am

3rd March

This was a beach day on Pikanina.
Bait was mullet.
Eamon& Guitar.jpg

Eamon set up 2 rods to be sure to be sure. His small rod was suddenly whipped out of its rod rest and pulled off towards the water at great speed towards the sea. He just grabbed it in the nick of time and pulled in his first guitar fish. Just then the other rod went and he landed a small black tip shark.
Blacktip.jpg

This was followed by another lovely guitar fish and a good pompano.


Marty’s rod was then whipped out of its stand and I grabbed it as it passed by at a rate of knots. After a long hard battle where he had to run up and down the beach he landed a fantastic barracuda of 35 lb.
Marty's barra.jpg

Then it was Terry’s turn to nearly lose a rod and he duly landed a 30lb guitar fish.
Terry's barra.jpg


Little old me landed a “small” ruby snapper of about 4 lb.
Ruby.jpg
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Re: Guinea Bissau 27th Feb - 8th March

Sun Mar 18, 2012 12:35 pm

Jayzuz Stan, that's crackin fishing, like I said above I'm really really not jealous :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Re: Guinea Bissau 27th Feb - 8th March

Sun Mar 18, 2012 1:19 pm

Great stuff Stan looks like you had a great time and fine fish aswel 8)

Re: Guinea Bissau 27th Feb - 8th March

Sun Mar 18, 2012 1:41 pm

Thanks lads. More to follow

Re: Guinea Bissau 27th Feb - 8th March

Sun Mar 18, 2012 1:50 pm

4th March

Things did not look good for 4th as the main engine 150 HP Yamaha had develop a fault and had to go to Bissau to get repaired. A 75hp replacement was used instead. It was also a little sick but Ass limped it around all day. There seemed to be air getting into the fuel line and so he was constantly bleeding it. Anyway, you can’t put a good man down and being the brilliant skipper that he is he got us a full days fishing.
Red Bream.jpg

Snapper.jpg


First stop was jigging which resulted in a big fat zero, followed by popping with the same result. Ground fishing was the same but we managed 3 species on feathers ; sympot, red bream ,snapper and ramora. Then it was back to popping and I managed a nice Jack.
Big Barras.jpg

Ass was obviously disappointed with this day and set off to the reef for more jigging. As the light faded he was still determined that we were going to get fish. All of a sudden the 3 rods buckled at the same time. Roger pulled up a barracuda of 27 lb. Eamon followed with one of 45 lb. Then an absolute brute of a fish surfaced on my jig. It was lightly hooked and then the swivel opened. Fortunately, Mr Barracuda was exhausted at this stage. He was not on his own!!! Ass managed to gaff him , 55lb and 3 happy fishermen return to Orango.
Barras.jpg
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Re: Guinea Bissau 27th Feb - 8th March

Sun Mar 18, 2012 1:56 pm

5th March

Ass had the 75hp engine in perfect working order. First stop was jigging and I hooked a jack who just did not want to join us in the boat. The wind was strong and the tide was in the same direction. My rod was doubled over touching the water most of the time as the fish went on long runs. Just as I got it to the boat the fish made on final lunge for freedom and my rod just exploded. I was now the proud owner of a multi-piece rod!!! Despite this Ass managed to land the jack.

Popping was next and as was usual on this trip a waste of time.

We now had one problem in that the locals on the island had failed to go out and get mullet the night before. Ass managed to spot a local bongo boat and after a bit of bargaining got some Yabouys for them. Ground fishing yielded 2 blacktip sharks and a red snapper.
Willy's Barracuda.jpg



Trolling then gave us 4 barracuda and 2 Spanish mackerel.

Knackered.jpg

It is strange but the barracuda never seems to put up as much of a battle when caught trolling as by other methods.



Finally, we finished the day jigging and 3 nice jacks were caught.

6th

The was a “rest day”.
Chilling.jpg


Eamon and I went to see the saltwater hippos for which Orango is famous. Unfortunately, they were asleep. The wildlife to be seen was fantastic. On the way upriver an eagle descended twice on a huge heron to try and kill it. The bird life in general was fabulous. We also saw monkeys jumping around the trees. For any nature lover this is a paradise.

Eamon was now ahead on species but wanted more. He managed to land some good size marble grouper and a very nice tilapia. His final tally of species was 26!

I set up 2 rods for big fish, shark or guitar fish but caught nothing.

Then it was time to go home and pack for the long journey home.
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Re: Guinea Bissau 27th Feb - 8th March

Sun Mar 18, 2012 2:06 pm

NEXT TRIP TO GUINEA BISSAU NOW BEING PLANNED FOR FEBRUARY NEXT YEAR. IF ANYBODY IS INTERESTED IN JOINING US JUST SEND ME A PM.

I will post up more general details on going to Guinea Bissau and life in general on the island later.

Re: Guinea Bissau 27th Feb - 8th March

Sun Mar 18, 2012 2:18 pm

nice change to have the brollys out for the sun ha ha ha.........serious fishing lads epic stuff, great report!!!!!

Re: Guinea Bissau 27th Feb - 8th March

Sun Mar 18, 2012 5:15 pm

Out of interest - do these trips catch and release or are some species taken?

Re: Guinea Bissau 27th Feb - 8th March

Sun Mar 18, 2012 7:37 pm

alancooper wrote:Out of interest - do these trips catch and release or are some species taken?

look at the third picture up :roll: and you will get your answer :wink: