Africa's last Eden

Sette Cama - Gabon

Fishing Gabon

Africa's Last Eden!

Your trip starts with the flight to Libreville. Flights to Libreville take approximately 11 hours,depending on the connection and stopovers.

When you get to the airport, our partners will pick you up and take you to a basic hotel right on the sandy beach. After you’ve checked in, you can have dinner in the hotel restaurant and then call it a day.

The next morning, you’ll be leaving the hotel for the airport at 7:00. You’ll fly out to Gamba at around 09:30 in a propeller plane for about two hours. You’ve got 25 kg of baggage allowance, plus 6 kg of hand luggage, free of charge! Just to be clear, the rod tube must not exceed 180cm. When we get there, we’ll go by car from the airport to the boats at the camp. Once you’ve got the boats loaded up, it’ll take about an hour and a half to drive through the lagoons to Sette Cama Camp.

You should reach the camp around 3:30pm. After a welcome drink, you’ll check into your rooms. Then it’s time to get ready for the next few days!

The fishing

There are loads of different fishing methods in Gabon. Most people start their mornings by fishing for jacks in the lagoon. You’ll fish from the lodge’s longboats for the legendary Longfin Jacks. It’s a type of fish that’s pretty similar to the GT when it comes to how strong it is and how long it can keep going. You go downstream and keep your eyes peeled for Feeding Franzies. The Jacks are out there fishing for mullet in the morning.

Once you’ve found the jacks, that’s when the fun really starts. Then you use spinning rods and surface baits to fish for the longfin jacks. It’s an exciting and innovative fishery. It’s not unusual to catch 10-20 jacks per angler!

When things calm down around midday, you can head back to the lodge to chill for a few hours in the heat of the day.

Fishing the lagoon and the river mouth!

In Gabon, fishing at the estuary depends a lot on the tides and the time. So, you always fish at the mouth when the conditions are best. Generally speaking, this is when the tide changes and the sun goes down, and it keeps going on like that right through the night.

Fishing at the mouth is a one-of-a-kind experience, where you get to fish for some seriously big fish right from the beach! Later on in the afternoon, you can catch some big Longfin Jacks and Jack Crevalle at the mouth of the river. Guinean snappers also grab your poppers from time to time. Once the sun is above the horizon, it’s time for the real monsters! You chuck the bait out into the surf with a good popper rod and fish the sandy bottom in a targeted way. As well as guinean snapper, you can also catch tarpon, eagle and captain fish. There are also some large barracudas and jacks around, to add to the biodiversity!

You fish until late at night. You’re standing in the surf up to your waist, throwing into the roaring waves. It’s a unique experience, and the brute bites and the rapid escapes are simply incredible!

Surfcasting at the Atlantic Ocean

The estuary in Sette Cama has a very high shark population. You can use baitfish to target bull sharks, bronze whalers and other shark species.

But for this type of fishing, you need very strong tackle. You’ll definitely need PE10 poppers, or a very strong surf rod, or a catfish rod with a big spinning reel, or a conventional reel with 100 lbs of braided line. Sharks are incredibly strong creatures, with some reaching sizes of over 200 kilos! Fishing is only done with circle hooks, and any sharks caught are checked out for scientific study.

Another way to catch fish in Gabon is to go surf fishing. If you’re into fishing, this is the place to come, as you’ll catch all the fish species from the region here. Best of all, you’ll have a chance to catch big guitar rays, eaglefish, guinean snapper, and even tarpon!

Surf fishing is a nice change from the strenuous spin fishing and can also be done during the midday hours from the sandy beach of the lodge. You fish with fish scraps and long rods in different parts of the beach to catch anything with fins.

Ndogo Lagoon Snapper Fishing

One fishing method we’ve discovered recently is vertical fishing for snapper in the lagoon. You’ll need soft fish with heavy heads for this. It’s similar to vertical fishing for zander, where you focus on specific areas of the lagoon.

As well as vertical fishing, spin fishing with deep-running plugs and softbaits has also been very successful. The biggest snappers caught weighed in at over 20kg.

As you can see, Gabon’s got a lot to offer. If you’ve got the stamina, you can experience some top-class fishing in Gabon!

The Departure

On the day of departure, you’ll be heading back to Gamba by boat at around 9:30 am. Then it’s a flight back to Libreville. You’ll arrive at around 2:00 pm and then check in for one night at the simple Hotel Tropicana.

The next day, you’ll be flying back to Germany from Libreville! As a general rule, you’ll get to your home airport the next day.

Accommodation Gabon Fishing Holiday!

Your accommodation

Loango National Park

Sette Cama Camp

Sette Cama Camp is a camp at the southern end of Loango National Park, right on a lagoon. The camp has eight rooms, each with two single beds, a private bathroom, air conditioning and power supply.

There’s a big main house at Sette Cama Camp where you can do all your work and have all your meals. The main house has a huge terrace with seating for everyone, and a big table for lunch and dinner.

There’s a separate indoor area for breakfast with a small tackle shop and a bar with cold drinks.

There’s Wi-Fi in the main area of the lodge, and also other power points where you can charge your phones and cameras. There’s also enough space to store your tackle.

The camp has its own boat dock below the main house with fresh water to clean the tackle!

Just so you know, there’s a free laundry service available.

Catering

Meals: Full Board

Beverages: Water is provided during fishing, other drinks can be paid on site according to consumption

Libreville

Tropicana Hotel

When it comes to staying in Libreville, we’ve picked out a no-frills hotel right on the sandy beach for you.

The simple hotel is really close to the airport and has its own restaurant with good food.

All the rooms have their own bathroom, air conditioning and electricity. Each of our two customers shares a room.

Catering

Meals: Breakfast included

Beverages: Drinks can be paid for on site according to consumption

Your fishing boats in Gabon

The Boats

When you stay at Sette Cama Lodge, you can use four longboats. The boats are used for two things. They are used to fish in the lagoon and they are also used to take people to the estuary.

Boat Fishing in Gabun!

Ndogo Lagoon

Boats usually only fish in the lagoon in the morning. The boats are traditional longboats with good motors and space for up to three anglers.

You can also anchor your boat in the estuary when the conditions are right. Then you can go fishing from the boat. However, this only works when the tides and wave height are right.

Shore Fishing in Gabun!

Sette Cama

In Gabon, you will spend most of your time fishing from the shore. You stand in the sea and cast your lures into the waves.

You fish in water that is up to your waist high. Our guides will always take care of you and help you catch the fish. At night, you will also be given glow sticks. This way, the guides can always see where you are.

You need this fishing tackle in Gabon!

Tackle Talk

If you’re new to saltwater fishing, you can use our rental equipment. So, you don’t need to spend money on new rods and reels in advance. And if you need rental equipment, Sette Cama Camp has you covered. We’ll be glad to tell you the prices separately.

When it comes to fishing in Gabon, you’ll mostly need longer, strong spinning rods for the estuaries. The longer the rod, the further you can cast. Sometimes, every metre really does matter!

You need these spinning lures in Gabon!

Heavy Spinfishing

In Gabon, you need lures that you can cast a long way. The lures should not be larger than 16cm. The fish in Gabon mainly eat smaller baits.

When fishing, you fish the lures slowly, dragging them along the sandy bottom. So, it’s best to use loud lures or lures with a lot of action.

The Tackle House Flitz 75g and Britt 145 & 170 are essential lures. The same is true for the Orion Plug 70-90. Poppers up to 18mm have proven effective for popping at the mouth (Orion CX 90, Orion Magic Pop 90, Heru Cubera 80-100).

Soft baits that are 12-14 cm long and have heavy 80 g jig heads are also very effective. It’s just like the Halco MAX 110-130.

Spinfishing the Ndogo Lagoon in Gabon!

Light Spinfishing

To fish for Longfin Jacks, you need lures like the Halco Roosta Popper 135. We think this is the best popper for longfin jacks in Gabon.

Walk the dog baits also work very well. Here, it’s important that the lures make a lot of noise and are aggressive. The Illex Chatter Beast 145, Illex Bonnie 128 or Lucky Craft Gunfish 115 have all been proven to work in the past.

For fishing with soft bait, use lures that are up to 12 cm long. You usually only need jig heads that weigh between 25 and 45 grams.

The best lines and leaders for Gabon!

Leader & Main Line

For heavy spin fishing, you’ll need leaders between 175-220lbs. When choosing leaders, it’s best to go for quality brands like Fishermen, Varivas, Nomad or Climax. For light spin fishing, leaders between 60-80lbs are fine.

The main lines should be high-performance PE lines. You will need a PE8 (80 lbs load capacity) at least. If you use lines that are thinner, you will be able to cast further. For longfin fishing and vertical fishing, lines range between 40-60lbs. Some good lines are Gosen Diver x8, Daiwa J-Braid x8, JB Line One or other high-performance lines.

For shark fishing, you should use at least PE10 (100lbs) lines. As a leader, you need a 7×7 steel leader that is at least 1.5 mm thick and Malin wire that can hold at least 275 lbs.

Terminal Tackle

Hooks & Terminal Tackle

We can’t compromise on this. Please only bring hooks from the BKK brand. Bring the GT-Rex hooks in different sizes! The hooks should be the right size for the lures.

Split and solid rings should be able to hold at least 220 lbs. Super-Heavy-Duty Split Rings (Solidrings #7.5 – #9) (Split Rings #10 – #11) are a good choice here.

We can recommend two types of jig heads: the Zeck Screw-in Jig Head and the Savage Gear Sandeel Jig Head (63 g).

For shark fishing, you should use circle hooks. Mustad has different types of hooks available.

Helpful tools for your fishing trip!

Other Fishing Equipment

It is a good idea to bring good split ring pliers. We recommend the hPa Game Plier split ring pliers. This makes it easy to open super strong split rings.

It’s also a good idea to have a waterproof bag for your boat. The company Zeck Fishing has some great fishing bags. We recommend the Tackle Container Pro or the Tackle Container Pro Catfish!

You often throw for several hours, so we recommend that you bring a pair of good gloves with you.

It can get very hot in Madagascar, so we recommend wearing UV protection shirts, a sun hat and LF50 sunscreen! You can order our Expeditions UV shirts directly from us.

Good polarized sunglasses are essential for fishing. We recommend glasses from gloryfy unbreakable. The best polarized sunglasses for anglers currently available are also indestructible!

You can take a closer look at the gloryfy unbreakable polarized sunglasses for anglers here: Polarized Sunglasses for Anglers!