African Angler offers professional, affordable & well organized fishing trips specialising in boat charters & guided fishing Xpeditions.
Whether you will be targeting the giant tarpon in the river estuary, or ‘all species fishing’ over the reefs – or joining us on our ‘up-river’ tigerfish Xpeditions & coastal shore angling trips - there is a fishing trip here for you.
With over 20 years of experience in this field we can offer you a unique insight into one of the best angling environments in West Africa.
If you are an adventurous and imaginative angler and enjoy fishing abroad in countries who also offer a colourful & cultural experience then we invite you to share our passion! Become an ‘African Angler’ and sample the great fishing opportunities the Gambia has to offer! Tight Lines . Mark Longster & Tracey Day
Ivan Wellington and his mates, Fred, Brian & Ian visit The Gambia for some more fishing fun! This time they managed to land some great sporting species such as Cassava, Barracuda, & Captain Fish to name a few. Here is Fred with his 30lb Guinea Barracuda - it certainly put a smile on his face!
Large Rays are often hooked in the river estuary but not often landed because of their massive size. On this particular occasion two Rays were hooked-up at the same time, on separate rods, and each fought for over 1 hour until one of the rays came off the hook.
After a 2 hour battle on 50lb gear (80lb braid), the second StingRay was bought to the side of the boat. This huge Ray was caught on a live fish bait and it took both Ian and Werner to finish the long fight. Cpt. Michael saw that the fish was an obvious record size so the Ray was landed and bought to the shore to be weighed in.
This is a new Gambian record Stingray of 319lbs and the photo shows the two happy anglers, Ian a holidaymaker from the UK and Werner from Sweden.
Stingrays are a popular food among the Africans so the fish was cut, cleaned and distributed to the local community.
UK skipper Ivan Wellington (Top Cat) from Weymouth and his angling friends, Brian Lecham, Ian Daft, & Fred Bier visit The Gambia for a fishing holiday in the sun with ‘African Angler’.
After successfully fishing the inshore reefs & sandbars & catching a variety of sporting species including a 36lb Bat Ray & 19lb Captain Fish they decided to take the Boston Whalers Captain (Michael Jatta’s) advice and plan their next two day’s to target the Tarpon in the mouth of The River Gambia. The Tarpon, often referred to as ‘Silverkings’ are fished in an area in the mouth of the river close to Dog Island.
The Gambian Tarpon average out at 100lb – 250lbs with the largest fish ever recorded from The Gambia weighing 303lbs caught in 1997 by British Angler, Carl Pashley. The tides have to be right and as long as the weather conditions hold out then there is the chance to catch a fish of a lifetime – which the boys found out!
Sun 21st Jan
After an exciting 2hour 10min battle they caught a cracking trophy Tarpon weighing in at 210lbs. This is the biggest tarpon caught so far this season. The tarpon showed late in the tide & the boys hooked up on ‘the drift’ using live mullet as bait. Tarpon are dustbin feeders and will eat almost anything. You need at least a 50lb outfit to catch these majestic fish and a great deal of personal strength! The angler does not always win the fight! The Tarpon are famous for their aerobatic displays and luckily, Ivan managed to capture a few of the fish’s jumps on film! What a day! Well done boys!
If you are interested in a fishing holiday in The Gambia and would like to target the Tarpon please email me and we will send you the 2007 chart for the best tides in each month to target them.
We traveled 180 miles, by boat, up the Gambia River to McCarthy Island, Georgetown – Over a six day period, numerous groups of hippos were spotted, crock’s lay on the river banks and baboons & monkeys jumped from tree to tree all day long. To top it all, freshwater Tigerfish were landed – here is Gary with his catch.
Mick with his Tiger!
Last Updated: Sun Jul 13 2008