My 6 day Gambia fishing adventure day 1

[SIMPLE MAN]

After a 61/2 hour flight from the UK me and my son Brian arrived at Banjul airport just after 2.00pm,Banjul is a relatively new airport and by African standards quite well run and after just 30min we had our bags and were through customs,We were then met by our guide for the week Fafa a typical Gambian always smiling,very laid back and very willing to please,as we exited the terminal the first thing that hits you is the wall of heat,(when we left Gatwick we were delayed 45min while the ground staff de-iced the plane) and now here we are walking across the car park in 39 c,after putting our bags in the car Fafa told us it would take 45min or so to our destination which is the rainbow beach lodge in Sangyang about 30min from the Senegal border,it was tarmac all but the last 2miles and then as Fafa called it the disco road (always good for a massage) on arrival Fafa took us to our room a typical Gambian round house 2 beds a fan, electric between 7pm and 3.00am a small sink,flushing wc and a tank fed shower,we dumped our bags and headed the 20yrds to the bar which was situated on the beach and for the next few hours sank more than my fair share of JULBREW at 4.7% and 20 dalaasis a bottle (about 42p) the exchange rate is 46 to the pound and just relaxed,
Fafa told us that we would be fishing the river Halahin tomorrow which acts as the border between Gambia and Senegal and that we would set off about 8.30am so after a few more Julbrews and settling the bill which was under £20 we wobbled off to the room for a good nights sleep and looking forward to what might be tomorrow
Up at 06.30 and considering the long day yesterday and beers consumed we both seem quite bright this morning,breakfast on the beach and we sit there watching 50-60 fishing boats slowly making there way out for the days fishing, Fafa turns up at 8.00 loads up our drinks and we are off,we stop at the market just at the end of the disco road where Fafa gets our bonga a small bait fish and we then have a 30min drive through a couple of army and police checkpoints before we arrive at the river,we are introduced to Lamin our skipper for the week,tackle and drinks loaded and we are off

Fafa says that first we will be trolling about 2 miles down to where the river meets the sea and then back up river for about 4miles further than we first started,we used rapala 18s(floating) and it looked to me like the hooks had been replaced with 4-5o owner trebles and off we went, there was a pleasant breeze and as we sat back the first thing that became apparent was the fantastic bird life i am no bird expert but with so many of these beautiful creatures massing on the mud flats trees and mangroves it really did have a fantastic feel about the place and on many many occasions throughout the week we found ourselves spending more and more time just watching the birds ,
There were pelicans,plovers,darts,kites,egrets,4 different herons,3 sorts of vultures,osprey every 50yrds pied kingfisher every 30yrds ,great kingfisher plus two other types,and not forgetting the magnificently coloured bee eaters and many many other species its no wonder people come from all over the world just to see these feathered beauties,sadly my camera only has x3 zoom and i will post a couple of pictures but its so hard to get close enough to them for you to see there real beauty
Any way we didn't have any takes trolling this morning but at least there was a pleasant breeze which was very welcome as it would soon be near 40oc,the river was in general 70-110yrds wide and lined with mangroves for 90% off the time







We dropped anchor and with the tide coming in it was nice to fish with the sun on our backs and not in our faces,Fafa told us that if nothing much happened in 30-40min that we would move a little sometimes 2-300yrds and sometimes 1/2 a mile or so always trolling along the way,at our 2nd stop Brian my son had a small grouper of 8oz

and a couple of moves later i had my first fish of the week which was a red snapper which came in at 12oz

Brian then had another grouper about 8oz a white snapper of 10oz a red snapper of 10oz and then he had a white snapper of 2lb which sadly for said fish was eaten for dinner (and very nice too)the guy standing behind Brian is Fafa our guide

Brian then had a red snapper maybe just touching the 1lb before i came with a late surge bagging a 4oz ladyfish and a red snapper of 8oz

picture put on just to prove that i did catch some fish and stop my son crowing too much as he had the better of the first day (obviously it must of been the expert tuition that he has got from me fishing over the years)
At 5.00pm and several moves later we brought our lines in and trolled back to base but sadly no takes so maybe i was going to be right that a 5lb fish was going to be a good catch for the week,but with all the bird life and good company it doesn't really seem to matter,So off back through the check points and back to the rainbow the only keeper of the day was handed to the camps chef and for the grand total of £3 was beautifully cooked and served with crispy chunky chips and just for good measure washed down with 1 or 20 Jule brews (who's counting)
Day 2 to follow

[pingu]

busy trip
you do get about a bit

dave

[MRG2000]

Another cracking read , no arm wrenching monsters this time (yet !!!), looking forward to the rest of the reports already ..