Southern Angola

[EugeneC]

Been a while since I last posted on the site, so here goes. Returned from Angola with Shawn Mey (Go Fish Tours) 2 weeks ago and had a blast. Shawn's been around a while and has a colourful past in fishing circles, but those who know him will know that he's a great guy and a gun angler.

Conditions were less than ideal and fishing was pretty tough, with heavy storms and big seas for most our time there. Shawn and Chris worked their backsides off to get us on the fish though and no-one left empty handed, even if not everyone's dreams were realised.

We camped out in tents next door to Flamingo Lodge, with whom Shawn has arranged for basic camp facilities - a kitchen and hot showers mainly. The lodge itself was a shock to see, the place has been very badly mismanaged by the looks of it, maintenance is sorely lacking, the fishing guides...rather no comment...and rates are crazy. Since getting back I came to know a respected Sealiner is taking over management soon, I wish him well and really hope he gets the owner's support to fix the place up. It's a shame for such a legendary place to be in such terrible state.

As far as Shawn's operation goes, it was great. Not 5* luxury, but that's not what he promises and all in all it was more comfortable and well set up than I anticipated, so full marks to him and his team.

We mainly fished spoons and ice-cream style plugs, with a little live baiting thrown in when it got too quiet. There was only one day that the fish were really active and even then we didn't really "smash" them, as the sea was just too big to make effective fishing possible.

Enough talking, time for some photos

 

[EugeneC]

Spectacular view of the Serra da Leba pass on the way to camp from Lubango.

 

[EugeneC]

Welwitschia on the way to camp. This particular specimen is apparently estimated at around 2,000 years of age.

 

[EugeneC]

Roughly 4,5 hours into the drive from Lubango we reached this sign and, after 2 solid days of travel (from the Middle East) I was relieved we'd be in camp in 30 minutes or so. Only to take another hour to drive the last 23km lol! Without doubt one of the worst pieces of road I've seen in my life.

P.S. That's my dad, I haven't aged that much since my last post

P.P.S. Anyone with the tech know-how to turn that photo right way up is welcome to go ahead, I'm clueless.

 

[EugeneC]

The sandstone canyons in Southern Angola are spectacular and apparently rarely visited. From what I could uncover these formations range from 60 to 260 million years of age and was once covered in part of the Atlantic ocean.

The place is literally covered in fossilized marine shells, shark's teeth and even massive bones of marine dinosaurs (plesiosaurs, mosasaurs and "Angolatitan" a unique sauropod described only from a single find in the area).

 

[EugeneC]

Fishing and braai-ing...what more could you want? Warmer weather perhaps lol!

 

[EugeneC]

Only one really good kob (37kg) came out in the week; and I wasn't the fortunate angler :rasta

 

[EugeneC]

I was rather pleased with my new PB mullet though It's one my eccentricities that I have an uncontrolled obsession with these fish, so while everyone cast lures at giant shad and 20k garrick I couldn't resist temptation

 

[EugeneC]

As always prior to the trip there was lots of discussion of targets and I declared my main goal to be a 15kg+ garrick on artificial.

On day 4 I cast a spoon into a bait ball and instantly hooked up with my first of the trip and, after a great battle that had me running 200 meters over rocks around a cliff face to get to a beach where we could land the fish, I was delighted when the scales hit 15kg on the nose

 

[EugeneC]

A smaller, 12kg, model followed on day 6. Standing in chest deep water with waves crashing into my face, busting a gut trying to reach a bait ball, this was a fun capture.

 

[EugeneC]

The view from the lodge bar is not too shabby, even if the running of the lodge (during our time there) couldn't match it unfortunately.

 

[EugeneC]

The wreck of the Vanessa, a trawler that beached during a storm many years ago. This stretch of beach leads to the famous doodsakker, which we sadly couldn't pass through thanks to huge seas.

If I ever decide to return, it would be to visit this piece of coastline.

 

[EugeneC]

Out of 11 fishing days we lost 3 due to bad weather and a couple of days presented such poor conditions that it wasn't serious fishing time. Day 10 was our last fishing day and I was fortunate to land a fish beyond my expectations. 25kg, weighed and released

 

[EugeneC]

Big thanks to Shawn and his team, they go above and beyond to ensure the comfort of their groups and they work extremely hard to get everyone onto fish. I highly recommend Go Fish Tours to anyone interested in this trip, or any of the other trips organised by them.

 

[Dr halibut hoffman]

EugeneC wrote:

Out of 11 fishing days we lost 3 due to bad weather and a couple of days presented such poor conditions that it wasn't serious fishing time. Day 10 was our last fishing day and I was fortunate to land a fish beyond my expectations. 25kg, weighed and released

Now that is a proper garrick! And not that old of a fish, they are fast growing. Been too long since I hooked/saw one of those big gals..We don't let most of ours get that big...A fish that has gotten to that size has few natural predators except for man, we should have plenty in our seas but men around here seem to value them more in a curry than as a vital B.O.F.F. fish supporting the greater stock numbers.

Even with bad fishing, how many fishable days out of 11, and crap conditions, you still get at least 2 monsters..That's what it should be like and our fishery was getting to be like, coming back to about 3-4 years ago..then they got hammered 2-3 years in a row.

 

[Houtarm]

Great Report, congratulations on the fish!!

 

[Fanie Crause]

New manager (Brother in law) on his way Wednesday.

 

[EugeneC]

Fanie Crause wrote:

New manager (Brother in law) on his way Wednesday.

Happy to hear it Fanie, there's a tremendous amount of potential in that lodge, all it needs is someone that cares. I'm sure he's going to do very well and I wish him the greatest success.

 

[wilken]

We are at Flamingo lodge from the 14-19 September, any
lure advise? Will be spinning most of the time.

 

[EugeneC]

There’s a lot of reef, so keep your retrieves on the faster side until you get to know individual spots, or you’ll lose plenty lures. Distance is important most of the time, so take spoons and ice cream plugs that you can cast a long way. I’d go 11’ rod, 5000 size reel (Shimano size) and 30lb braid with a 50lb to 80lb leader.