After a long 7 hour and 30 minute flight from Paris, me and my Yellow Dog Flyfishing hosted group arrived in Libreville, Gabon about 8 PM last night.  It took a while to work our way into the system because we needed to obtain entry VISA’s but it all went smooth for the most part.  We were then fetched by an African Waters (AF) associate and taken to the Tropicana Hotel.  Its not much of a hotel but has all you need as far as cleanliness, comfort and a decent bar and restaurant.

I don’t host many trips these days but continue to do some because I have an awesome clan.  A “clan” meaning a group of guys that were once clients but have now become great friends.  They tell me to find cool places and then Yellow Dog books it and I take them along.  This weeks group includes David Moeller, Michael Lodge, Randy Lee, Jeff Smith, T.J. Rung, Morgan O’Brien and Scott Smith.  This is the Scott Smith that has many appearances on the blog because we’ve been buddies for over 20 years.

Early this morning we were retrieved from the Tropicana and returned back to the airport.  Though we expected to be airborne by 8 AM, we sat around a few hours.  A bit of advice, it you travel abroad, you need patience.  When you travel in Africa you need an exceptional amount of patience!

Our flight didn’t leave until 11 AM but the good news is that it was a direct flight to Gamba, Gabon and only took an hour.  That’s saying something after two days of flying just to get to Gabon.  In Gamba we were picked up by my South African friend Edward Truter.  Ed and I became friends when we met fishing the Red Sea in Sudan in 2014 and in 2017 he showed Granny and I some amazing fishing in South Africa.

From Gamba we then enjoyed a scenic 1 hour long boat ride to the Sette Cama fishing camp.  It felt wonderful to be off of planes and on the water and best of all, each boat had a cooler full of welcome beers for the group.

Though Sette goes by camp, we aren’t camping.  It’s more of a rustic lodge.  The cabins are simple yet comfortable and have air-conditioning.  There’s a staff that keeps us happy and from what I remember from my last trip here, keeps us extremely well fed.

Once settled in to our cabins we enjoyed our first delicious meal.  It started with a fine salad followed by baked chicken legs and thighs.  I hadn’t had a good meal since we left the US so I indulged.  Then it was time to get unpacked and get out the fishing gear.

For the most part fly fishing in Gabon isn’t too complicated.  This is a saltwater fly fishing trip for huge fish such as tarpon, giant African threadfin and cubera snapper.  These brutes require 12-weights.  One 12 rigged with an intermediate line and the other a fast sink.  Then there are the jacks, baby snappers, grunter and a few others that handle well on 9-weights and floating lines.  Before taking naps we met with the guides and everyone got rigged up.

The owners of African Waters (AF) are great friends and I’ve been fortunate to fish all of their incredible locations throughout Africa over the last 15 years.  We met when we made a Confluence Film together called “Connect” in Tanzania back in 2010 (Rob Scott and I in this old photo).  That trip I was extremely impressed by the knowledge of these guys and can say this has filtered into each one of their fishing operations.

We did rest up but there were no naps.  At 4 PM we loaded up the boats and took a 20 minute ride to the mouth of the estuary that Sette is built on.  The mouth of the estuary is in Loango National Park and home to forest elephants, lowland gorillas, chimpanzees, leopards and more.  It’s an incredible place.  The light was low when we arrived and before making a cast, the AW guides gave us a rundown on fishing techniques.

Not many anglers have Gabon on their bucket list nor probably ever will, but those who love fly fishing for tarpon should.  Its home to some of the largest tarpon in the world and everyone in my group this week wants to land one.  And to be more specific, land one from the beach.  I would be thrilled to accomplish the same, but I’m also crazy about the other cool fish such as the giant African threadfin, the cubera snappers and one I have yet to catch, the Senegalese Kob, also known as the otolithe.

After the clinic from the guides, which by the way consists of Mike Dames, Oliver Santoro and Chris King, my crew hit the water.  Let me just tell you now, fishing here isn’t easy.  You repetitively cast your 12-weight with sinking line and a big fly.  Your casting into strong tidal currents and sometimes its windy.  And, prime fishing time is in the pitch dark!  DARK!  For a couple of my anglers, all three things were pretty much new territory.

Being there’s eight of us fishing the guides spread us out well across this beach.  I fished along side Scott and Mike and it was fun because we formed a rotation.  We keep our headlamps off as much as we can because they scare the fish but each of us has a little glow stick attached to our hats.  Its quite a view when you look up the beach before it eventually gets dark.

While fishing in the dark may be new to my clan, catching fish is not.  We fished a total of three hours.  Randy struck first and landed a giant African threadfin.  The threadfin is a unique fish and boy does it yank you around even on a 12-weight.  At a glance they have colors like the golden dorado of South America but a strange shape and funky fins.  But the threads coming off the underside of the throat take the cake.  Scott caught the only other threadfin tonight and it’s a great photo where you can see the threads.

There wasn’t a ton of action tonight but the tide isn’t quite what would be considered “perfect” yet.  That’s the next two nights.  All of us are also beyond tired.  You can only imagine traveling three days, a seven hour time change then fishing until midnight.  But there was more than the two threadfins.  I jumped a huge tarpon and had him on for about a minute and enjoyed five low moonlight jumps.  Our man Jeff Smith landed a tarpon.  A big congrats to Jeff!

We reeled in around 9:45 PM.  To say all of us are exhausted is an understatement.  We are absolutely wrecked.  However, Sette Cama specializes in hitting the prime fishing times and no matter what, they feed us one heck of a dinner.  We were mighty full and happy by the time we hit the pillow at around midnight.  And good news, we are heading right back out at 5:30 AM.  I love this stuff.  Stay tuned!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing