I realize it's out of the way, but I thought some fellow board members might be interested in this story:

I recently met with a company who is looking for somebody to go work in Ivory Coast. The opportunity sounded interesting, so I did some research on this West African country.

I ran across a Canadian on the Web who used to live there. Of course, he is an avid angler. He was kind enough to send me a detailed description of his fishing experiences in Ivory Coast. Here is what he wrote:

"The fishing in Ivory Coast is very unique. There are many rivers and lakes to fish in and miles of coastline. My favorite Rivers were the Bandama, Sassandra, and the Boubo.

There are several large lakes and resevoirs, but I never had much luck in those seeing as the commercial fishing in them has devestated sport fish stocks.

There are many fish to catch in the rivers such as huge catfish that never really stop growing, I've heard rumors of 50lbs? My best was about 12lbs. There are the African Pike, which are about 1-4lbs. There are Niger Perch (capitaine) which can be dangerously
large, they can pull you right in. They can reach over 100lbs. A friend of mine caught a 64lbs.

There are also tilapia, snakehead, eels, yellow catfish, electric catfish(I have been shocked many times), there are many others, but I can not forget the elusive cameroun, a very difficult fish to catch. They
always jump but never bite!

The baits I would use were: whole tilapia and shiners(you can't purchase them, you have to catch them with small hooks, light line, and worms under a loat.),nightcrawler, chicken intestine, grasshopper, fisheads, crickets, everything works, you must experiment.

The best rigs were: float rigs, lindy rigs, and crappie rigs.) The best lures were: mepps spinners, Rapalas, and small spoons.

The fish are not line sensitive, I always used 20lbs trilene for almost all applications. You should use a 5 1/2 foot spinning rod with a good reel( take some
extra gear, its pricey there).

For ocean fishing, there are several deep sea clubs in Abidjan and SanPedro. Youll have to ask the local French and Lebanese how to join. You can catch Marlin, Sailfish,
and many others in the ocean. It can be expensive, but hey, its marlin!

The Bandama Lodge is where you can catch Tarpon and Barracuda, and huge snapper. It has a great hotel and restaurant. Ask the local french people where it is, they should know, and get you a phone number of brochure."

If I end up going, I will let the board know and post an occasional fishing report from Abidjan...

G-spot
Seattle, WA