Fishing The Gambia - Beach
February 2008
The coast of the Gambia in west Africa offers some amazing beach fishing, with a wide variety of species, and a good average size of fish.
Most of the fishing is from sandy surf beaches, a few of the most popular are Sanyang, Bijalo, Gunga and Atlantic Beach.
Standard UK beach tackle is ideal, although main line should be a minimum of 18lb. There are several species with healthy teeth, so wire hook snoods are best, a good tip is to use a 6 inch bite trace, attached to a normal mono hook snood.
It is often important to get out past the breakers and so clipped rigs are essential, I usually use a 1 up 1 down loop rig with an impact lead. Size 2/0 - 4/0 Hooks are perfect for all beach fishing.
Bait can be sourced whilst in the gambia, there is a prawn market every day at bakau, you can buy 1 kg of prawns for around £2.50, this is ample for 3 hours fishing. Prawns are best fished peeled and tied on with elastic cotton. I prefer to use a big bait on the bottom and a smaller one on the top hook, this aids with casting distance.
A few essential items to pack for a shore fishing trip to the Gambia:
Umbrella for Shelter(these can be borrowed from many hotels, the parasol type)
Bait Elastic
Plenty of end tackle, there is no supply availabe in the Gambia.
A decent cool bag for Water and Bait
A pair of long nose pliers or a disgorger(for Catfish and Banded Eels)
The beaches are all pretty safe, the local youngsters can be a pain asking questions but they are harmless, a good tip is to get the taxi driver who takes you to the venue to keep them at bay, a few words and they soon move on as it is against the law to hassel tourists!
If you need any advice on fishing the Gambia give us a call or an email.