JasonH

We did used to have one, albeit very briefly. Adventure fishing it was called and lasted 4 issues, a shame really as it was a good read.

Apologies for the delayed responses. Thanks Newt, makes a great difference, I really appreciate the effort you put in. Vagabond, The variety of species out there is something else, as I said I would have been happy with a decnt barra and a jack or two, to get as many as I did was a very welcome surprise, and as for the Manta, well, I must have pleased the fishing gods at some point in my life, or it was payback for all those cold wind swept blank early mornings :-) The Cobia are incredible fish, and according to some reports are more prolific around a couple of the other known marks, 40 in a day had been known !!! I'm looking at returning there already !! N4lly, the deckies went out with cast nets in the morning but by the time we hit the right tides they had been in the box 8 hours, we did get one aborted take from a big Tarpon but no other interest, maybe next time :-) Thanks for all your comments and photoshopping. Jason

I have to agree with you there, I reckon a carp would have made a fantastic livebait Jason

Just a couple more pics, I have now been mailed one of the guitar-fish, not the best picture in the world but just to let you see what a weird kind of fish it was. Not sure on the exact make up but it is like a cross between a shark and a ray. This took a dead mullet, cast about 10 metres out, a gentle lob out, a proper screamer of a take and another half hour battle !! Couple of arty ones to finish off Final species list : Cobia Jack Crevalle Horse eyed Jack White Jack Pompano Guitarfish Manta Ray Red Snapper Crying Red Snapper Poisson Chat !! Barracuda Spanish Mackerel Ramora Monrovia Doctor Fish several different types of small livebaits, Yabuoys and Yampla

The last full day and we tried all sorts in the morning, trolling & popping until my arms were ready to drop off but only a few fish, I think the water was too clear and the tide too big, we decided to hit the reef again for the snapper so went on a livebait hunt. This was harder than it seemed as every string we brought in was getting smashed by small jacks and Spanish Mackerel, eventually we filled the bait well and trolled back to the mark, getting there for about 4 pm. Within 10 minutes I had another Pompano on a livebait, followed by my best snapper of the trip , 10-12 kgs but a proper angry fish, if I return these are going to be high up on my list. The last livebait was plucked out of the well and flicked out 10 yards, the take on this one was awesome, none of these little 6 foot twitches, just a little knock as the livebait crapped itself then I was on the rod as 150 metres flew off the reel, about 25lb of drag and nothing could stop it. The skipper was yelling 'Ray-manta, Ray-manta' and I was thinking 'I'm sure I wasn't using plankton for bait !!'. For about an hour this fish beat me up big style, one way then another, giving me 10 yards then taking 20. Finally the fish came to the boat and there it was, a 20kg Manta ray, hooked fair and square in the top lip, god knows how it happened, I can think of no other reason than they do actually take livebaits, we've all seen or heard of it with carp / bream so why not on a bigger scale ?? Goes without saying that this was one fish I insisted on returning. After this I was done for, an incredible end to an incredible week, we had the morning casting off the beach but I spent half of it swimming / lazing in the surf as after 7 days of fantastic fishing I was done for. A fantastic trip and I've barely covered half of it, only the highlights !! Thoroughly recommended to anybody looking for something that little bit different, and not a mallet or noddy in sight.

2 more days to go and we went to one of the Tarpon marks, we came across a massive 'chasse' on the way, an incredible sight, about 100 20kg plus jacks slamming into baitfish over a sandbar, anything cast there was immediately taken, in a frenetic 15 minutes we had hooked six fish, lost 5 poppers and landed one !!! All was quiet on the Tarpon side of things as we couldn't get hold of any livebait that day, however one of the boats from the other island was a little more successful and over 3 days had Tarpon of 98, 90 and 75 kgs. It wasn't a matter of sitting back wathching the balloons though as to the left of the boat there were Jacks smashing into bait everywhere. We boated 16 fish in 3 hours, I had 10 and the other guys 4 & 2. Mainly due to hooks straightening and Split rings opening out, thankfully I had upgraded all mine before leaving the UK. Over lunch I challenged the skipper to a handline competition, after a few ****ups and some burnt fingers I narrowly beat him with a decent sized red snapper. We spent the late afternoon live & dead baiting at another mark for Snappers, Jacks, Otolithes and Pompano. This was some of the best fishing we had once I had the method sorted out, basically whack out a livebait, tighten down the drag and wait for the first hit, usually a 4-6 foot 'twitch', wait 10 seconds and then the screamer comes, clamp down and hold on for dear life trying to keep the snappers away from the rocks !! Best fish was a snapper of about 8 kg and a big Pompano of about 20 kgs, I got this to the boat after 20 minutes only for the trainee deckhand that we had for the day to try and lift it out by the leader !!!! Even the strongest hook is not going to standup to that kind of abuse and it straightened !! A good day though and just one more to go !!

Next day was a rest day before we spent the evening on the beach opposite our island We spent a couple of hours popping off the beach, the jacks and barracuda were slamming into the baitfish and at one point there were about 6 of us hooked up. As the sun went down we put some deadbaits out, we caught about 5 guitarfish between the 6 of us, no picture of mine as yet but was a nice fish of about 15kgs, also a poissin chat type thing and some more barracuda on deadbait as well as some decent sized Spanish mackerel. We had a brief visit from the king of the islands the next morning, complete with his new 'Pimp stick', for a toothless 78 year old he was pretty fly :-)

After the highlight of the cobia we hit the mark thinking the day couldn't get better, I was more than happy with my catch so far although at the back of my mind I was thinking "would it be too greedy to want a Leerfish as well ??", anyway first cast with a medium popper there were about a dozen fish following it to the boat, a quick recast and a 10 minute battle and another box was ticked !! Another one of the Cobia, quite tricky to hold onto 60 lb of angry fish on a moving boat hence the gurning !! The day just got better, popping for Jacks resulted in the 3 of us on the boat all hooked up to angry Jacks of about 20 kgs, all of which had taken baits about 10 yards from the boat, 2 of the 3 were landed and we took lunch, happy but even more knackered !! Livebaits were put out while we had lunch, a brief little knock from mine then I was in again, this time another big jack, probably about 20kg, a slight different species, a white jack this time, but just as angry and another 20 minutes of getting beaten up by a fish !!

Next day was to be spent on another mark that the skippers knew about, looking for big jacks and maybe some big snappers, we stopped halfway to catch some livebait when all of a sudden 2 large cobias started to circle the boat. My heart was in my mouth, I had never seen fish this big that close up, they were like submarines and you could have strapped 2 saddles across their backs, let alone one !! A quick panic and a bit of flapping and I had a rod rigged up with a livebait on, tentatively dropped it over the side and saw the 2 fish coming towards it, I wasn't sure which fish had actually taken the bait, the larger or the smaller as I didn't see anything for the next 30 minutes, just felt an angry weight at the end of the line about 100 yards away. eventaully it broke the surface, the hookhold was good and I knew the knots were good as somebody else had tied them !! :-) This meant I could put a little more pressure on and within the hour the fish was on the boat and I was happy, but knackered, estimate was 25 - 28 kgs so I'm gonna call it 60 lb :-)

After the first days fishing we had a decent 3 course meal and a few beers, already looking forward to the next days fishing. We were to spend the next day doing a mix of trolling and casting to reefs / known marks for snapper and Jacks and whatever else took a fancy to our lures. After a few more barracuda and jacks we were taken to another reef to troll for some Jacks / Pompano. After about 20 minutes my rod screamed off and I had an angry Pompano on the other end, these fish have a hell of an attitude and never give up, as soon as they hit the surface they take off on another 50 yd unstoppable burst, after a 15 minute struggle photos were taken and the fish returned to fight another day.

We got ourselves settled in and then it was time to start fishing, I had pretty realistic expectations of the trip, I wanted to catch a decent sized Jack, some decent sized Barracuda, and to just get to grips with some angry fish. On the non fishing side I just wanted a week of chilling out, the chance to see some good wildlife and if I was lucky enough to see a Manta Ray swimming along my trip would be complete. Anyways by the first day I had done all 3 !! The Barracudas were caught trolling, this was probably one of the smallest that we caught, the Jack was on a small popper, the takes on these are awesome, a massive hit and then 15 minutes of max drag trying to get some control over the fish. That was the end of the 1st day fishing, a load of barracudas and just the one jack, not bad for a half day.

We were met by our hosts for the week, a French couple, Thierry and Marie who went out of their way to do whatever we wanted. The camp setup is pretty well sorted, a small bar, communal dining area, and six 2 man huts, pretty basic but exactly as you'd expect for somewhere 60 kms off the coast of Africa. Food is excellent, laundry is done daily at no charge, just leave it in the wash basket and it is returned pressed and ironed next day !! Accommodation View from balcony

Weaver birds A quick breakfast and then loaded up the boats for the 2 - 3 hour boat trip to Acunda island, not too much chop on the water so after 2 hours we arrived at our home for the next 8 days

I have just returned from a fantastic 10 day trip on the bijagos archipelago off the coast of West Africa, I'm missing it already so I thought I'd do a brief write-up. Day 1, Lunchtime flight from Heathrow to Lisbon, 4 hr stopover and onward flight to Bissau airport, met at the airport by local rep and very pleased to be reunited with 23 kgs of luggage, 20 kgs of which was tackle !! Transfer to riverside lodge about 30 minutes drive away, arrived at about 02:00, bar was open for a few beers and then a couple of hours sleep in our luxurious accomodation ... Up at about 6am, feeling like a kid at Christmas time, a quick walk around the camp and a few more pics, spent 20 minutes watching the weaver birds doing their stuff, an incredible thing to watch although a bit noisy at that time of the morning. View from the lodge

All, apologies for the ambiguity but I need some inspiration. It is my 40th birthday next year and I have managed to convince my good wife that a fishing trip is in order Ideally I would like to spend a few days chasing Marlin and Tuna around in either Madeira or Portugal, maybe even Cape Verde but I am not sure what else is out there. Has anybody done these kind of trips, any good advice, things to avoid, or any alternative suggestions ? Only looking at going for 4-5 days, budget around £2K, just me . Many thanks in advance Jason