Guinea Bissau (part six)

[SIMPLE MAN]

Well here we go again, after a fairly early night 01.30 as it's all catching up on us, today we are meant to be going to the chimnees which is about a 2 hour boat ride, the problem is the wind is up today and after talking to the others, we speak to Thierry and tell him that we think it's too rough and it won't be a very pleasant trip out, after breakfast we gather our tackle and today it's me, Ricky and Clive with Phil, Dave and John on the other boat and the Brummies are on the beach. As we are getting on the boats again Thierry says that we are going to the chimnees and again I tell him that we don't want to go and still he insists, I am now getting bloody annoyed and for the 3rd time tell him that we do not wish to make such a long journey in the roughest sea's, so off we set getting bounced about quite harshly and wondering where we are going, it really is quite uncomfortable today and we are getting bounced about at 3 quarter speed and as the skipper and deckie change fuel tanks after about an hour and 15 it is quite obvious to me that even though on 3 separate occasions we have told Thierry that we didn't want to go to the chimnees, it has fallen on deaf ears and we are bloody going there anyway, now i am a pretty easy going guy and only a simple man but am now p***** off you see there really is only 2 ways to fish this mark, 1 is live bating and with the sea being so rough it's all but impossible to spot the bait fish on the surface, and the 2nd way to fish it is by popping and in these conditions again it's near on impossible to stand and cast so in my opinion it was a bloody pointless exercise and to put it mildly I am not a happy chappy, so on arrival we tried to pop and each boat lands 1 learfish around the 25lb mark but that's it, and we eventually get through to the skippers that we need to find some sheltered marks as we can't even bloody stand let alone fish.
So the boats start up and we head in different directions to find some calmer sea's, and after about 20 minutes our skipper starts muttering something to the deckie and we are now lucky if we are traveling at 5mph, and it soon becomes pretty obvious that we are very low on fuel so for the next hour we trundle along at 5 bloody mph before we eventually run out of fuel, I ask you what sort of f****** skipper will allow such a thing to happen, and what was a bad day anyway has now turned in to a ruddy disaster so Matta the skipper, now has to radio Maoi and tell him the wonderful news and get him to bring us some fuel, so so far today we have been taken to a mark that we didn't want to bloody go to and got banged around for our troubles and now run out of fuel which has caused the guys on the other boat to lose a couple of hours fishing while they come over and give us a couple of cans of fuel, after we had received our supplies we head back to about a mile out of Acunda and spend the last hour bottom fishing, and me, making sure that the skipper understands in no uncertain terms that I am a very f***** off guy tonight, that is bloody unforgivable and even when we returned back to the island I am sorry but it still takes me an hour or 2 to calm down, anyway a few amber nectar's are quickly consumed and after all it is a holiday so time to move on and look forward to the next days fishing, and tonight the beers flowing really well and we don't leave the bar until 03.00.
So up at 7 and again after breakfast it's me, Ricky and Clive and although it's calmer today we make it very very very clear that we do not wish to travel too far and we would like to have a nice relaxing day just trolling and bottom fishing, so on our first bout of trolling i think we have about 10 fish with Ricky catching a nice barra of over 30lb, we then head of for a bit of bottom fishing and Ricky gets a nice grouper of about 10lb and if I remember rightly again we all catch fish in the 3 to 8lb size, we then had a spot of lunch before heading back to do some more trolling and we all get a few bara's of medium size and as the evening draws in, Ricky hooks and lands a cracking bara and biggest of the day at 40lb, sorry guys I don't know why but i didn't take or get any photos of individual fish, and although I have these 2 photos of our collective catch it doesn't really show their true size, i'm sorry but it's all I have

Oh and I nearly forgot, Clive had a nice jack around a 30lb mark in what was to be the last fish of the day and it took him about 20 minutes of hard graft and dancing round the boat before he got his prize, so now back to Acunda for a few beers and to compare catches before relaxing back at the bar and Marie announcing for the 3rd bloody time that the beer stocks were rapidly dwindling and unbelievably she was again going to have to send out for more supplies tomorrow, and then she worryingly announced that we only had 72 bottles left but thankfully Clive and Phil had both bought a litre each of vodka at Lisbon airport, and when they asked Marie if they could drink it tonight she happily agreed, so with only 3 of us on the beer, it just about lasted (and only just) and although I didn't make a note of what time we went to bed, i think it was fairly late just to make a change.
So now on to our last day and because of the boat shortage there was me, Ricky, Clive, Dave and John on 1 boat and Phil and the Brummies on the other, and as fishing was going to be difficult we decided on our boat to put 3 rods out trolling and to just do a round robbin as we thought this was the best way to go, and to be honest, it was probably our worst day fishing, and although we had 25 to 30 fish we had nothing over 10lb, but the other boat had some nice size bara's with poor Phil hooking a corker of a barra as the evening drew in which was estimated at approximately 65lb and although he got it right along side the boat we think the deckie panicked and slashed with the gaff cutting Phil's leader and losing the bloody fish, poor Phil was still talking about it when we landed back at Gatwick, but that's fishing folks. So we all retired back to the bar with the amber nectar replenished one more time and as we don't leave the island until 14.00 the next day a good few beers were sunk. The next day bags packed and bar bill settled we head back to the main land in 2 hours flat, but surprise surprise as we don't get picked up to go to the airport until 12.30am we sit in the Mar Azure bar where the guys then give me 10 euros each for the biggest fish sweep and me being only a simple man also put 10 euros in, and this will now be used as part payment for our on going bar bill which at midnight comes in at 130 euro's, so we all had 5 more euro's which means the bar man gets a 5 euro tip. At 12.30 we are picked up for our 45 minute drive back to the airport and another wonderful trip comes to an end.
A quick thanks to all you guys who have commented on my post's as you know by now it takes me on average 3 to 4 hours to write each one, I am now back in the UK and can't wait for the 4th of January when me and my son head out to Thailand for 13 days fishing.
Tight lines guys and if any of you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask, that's it for now, regards John (simple man)

[jasonh]

Just a quick note to say thanks for taking the time to write your trip up John, I've been looking forward to each installment. If you don't mind I'll stick my report up here as well in a day or two.

All the best

Jason

[SIMPLE MAN]

Please do Jason the more the merrier and i am sure the guys would love to see you manta ray mate tight lines John

[Richard s]

John what an excellent write up and unbiased too . Glad you caught a few nice fish .

Go on tell us how much the bar bill was ???

[SIMPLE MAN]

Well to be honest Richard the bar bill was comical,if you remember last time my bill was 760 euros and i was done on the the last day by my dear friend John Joyce who's bill eventually came in at 772 euros but he did buy the whole island three drinks to pip me by a whisker hhhhhhhmmmmmmmm well this time i think they were trying to bribe us in-fact we were all told that if we book again through Thierry and Marie direct and were prepared to drink the equivalent of what we drunk this time they would not charge us for food or accommodation but just the flights and accommodation and boat fishing hhhhhhmmmmmmm the trouble is i know i am only a simpleman but i wouldnt be covered by ABTA now i know John Joyce is planning a return trip in 2013 and although i will try i have already booked Bulgaria in June Spain in Sept Millford Haven in October if i ut we will for sure have enough holidays left i will do my best to join them as you know John and Vin and i really hit it of and although we still keep in touch and have tried on a couple of occassions to meet up for one reason or another we still have not managed it yet but we will for sure,and as for the bar bill are you ready for this yep talk about a sweetner my bill was 362 euros yep 362 euros thats all the drinks for 7 days fishing plus two days sitting around on the island and also all the skippers and deckies drinks as well and heres the funny bit Ricky kept ordering girls drinks to have with dinner (wine) now in my honest opinion we were only charged half what we should have been as a tempter to rebook direct i mean the beer was the same price at the mar azure and we paid 95euros the first night and 135 on the return so you can make your own conclusions not that i am complaining apart from Gambia in March its the cheapest bar bill ever and as you know Richard i have been known to have a glass or twenty or thirty whos counting after all i am only a simpleman

[Richard s]

Sounds like decent fishing and a cheap bar bill .

I bet you ripped her arm off when she told you , it was only that .

Anyway Jon and Vin want to go to Orango next year apparently , i think he might be bringing his wife .

R

[pingu]

great series of reports and infomation
thanks

dave