Fish and fishingof Côte d’Ivoire and the Gulf of Guinea FREN
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PART IV

Tackle, knots and baits

The right tackle is not the most expensive: it is the one that suits your fishing, survives the tropical climate, and that you can repair at the water’s edge. This part equips the reader in four chapters: choosing, tying, baiting, maintaining.

Chapter 1: Choosing your tackle for Ivorian waters

The principle: three outfits cover everything

There is no need to own ten rods. Three well-chosen outfits cover almost all the fishing in this book. The light outfit: 2.4 to 2.7 metre rod, casting weight 10 to 40 grams, 2500 to 4000 reel, for the lagoon, shore casting and the pirogue. The heavy shore outfit: surf or jetty rod, 6000 to 8000 reel, for surfcasting and the jetty. The sea outfit: short, powerful rod, sturdy size 8000+ reel or conventional reel, for deep handlining, jigging and trolling. Beginners start with the first; enthusiasts end up with all three.

Braid or nylon?

Nylon is forgiving: stretchy, cheap, discreet, it absorbs head shakes and drag mistakes. Braid transmits: thin, with no stretch, it gives more distance, contact and spool capacity, but requires a leader and a well-set drag. A practical rule for our waters: nylon for beginners and for static bait fishing, braid for lures, jigging and deep handlining. In all cases, the tropical sun ages nylon quickly: check it often and replace it without hesitation.

Terminal tackle

Ivorian fish are won at the end of the line. Fluorocarbon leader of 0.40 to 1.00 mm depending on the target, flexible wire as soon as barracudas and Spanish mackerels are prowling, quality snap swivels (cheap ones open up on a serious fish), strong-wire hooks: corrosion and local jaws eliminate thin hooks within a season. Buy consumables in duplicate: the second set waits in the bag.

Buy local, buy smart

Abidjan’s fishing shops improve every year, and the second-hand market among expatriates and club members is active. For large specialised tackle (sealed reels, jigging rods), many top up while travelling or online. The rule for lasting savings: put the budget into the reel and consumables, the rod is more forgiving. An average reel dies in one season of sea spray; a good reel rinsed after every trip lasts ten years.

Chapter 2: The only six knots you need

Six knots cover every situation in this book. Learn them at home, with clean hands and in peace: at the water’s edge, in the wind, by headlamp, you only succeed with the knots you know by heart. Universal rule: always wet the knot before tightening, as friction heat kills nylon.

1. The Palomar knot: tying on a hook or lure

The most reliable of the attachment knots, and one of the simplest. Double the line, pass the loop through the eye, tie a loose overhand knot, pass the hook through the loop, wet, tighten. Strength close to 100% of the line, including with braid.

The Palomar knot
The Palomar knot 1 double the line and pass the loop through the eye. 2 tie a loose overhand knot with the doubled line. 3 pass the whole hook through the loop. 4 wet, pull on both strands, trim short.

2. The improved clinch knot: the quick attachment

Five turns around the standing line, back through the first loop then through the big loop, wet, tighten. Fast, known to everyone, perfect with nylon up to 0.50 mm. Above that, prefer the Palomar or a loop-to-loop connection.

The improved clinch knot
The improved clinch knot 1 pass the tag end through the eye. 2 make five turns around the line. 3 pass the end back through the small loop near the eye. 4 then through the large loop thus formed. 5 wet and tighten.

3. The perfect loop: rigs and swivels

The loop everything clips onto: swivel, sinker, pre-tied rig. An overhand knot, the tag end comes back along the line, a final loop locks it all. Also used to prepare leaders at home, ready to loop on at the water’s edge.

The perfection loop
The perfection loop 1 form a first loop, the tag end passing behind the line. 2 form a second loop in front of the first. 3 pass the tag end between the two loops, then pull the second loop through the first. 4 wet, tighten: the loop stays in line with the main line.

4. The dropper loop knot: the handline

The knot that holds a dropper perpendicular to the main line, without twisting: essential for handlining and two-hook surfcasting. Make a large loop in the line, twist the loop on itself six to eight times, pass the loop through the central hole, tighten: the dropper stands out by itself.

The dropper loop
The dropper loop 1 form a large loop in the line. 2 twist the loop around itself six times. 3 open up the centre of the turns and pass the loop through this opening, between the two groups of turns. 4 wet, tighten on both sides: the dropper stands out perpendicular.

5. The Albright knot: joining braid and fluorocarbon

The connection of modern fishing: thin braid joins the thick leader. A loop in the fluorocarbon, the braid goes in, ten tight turns working back, back through the loop, wet, tighten gradually. Slides well through the guides if tied carefully.

The Albright knot
The Albright knot 1 form a loop in the thick line. 2 pass the braid through the loop. 3 make ten tight turns around the three strands, working back towards the top of the loop. 4 pass the tag end back through the loop: it comes out on the same side as the main strand; wet, tighten gradually, trim.

6. The surgeon’s knot: the universal fix

Two lines side by side, two overhand knots tied together, wet, tighten. The least elegant and the most useful: it joins two nylons in thirty seconds, by headlamp, in the rain. Every angler has blessed it one day.

The surgeon's knot
The surgeon's knot 1 lay the two lines side by side, in opposite directions. 2 form a loop with the two lines held together. 3 pass both ends through it together a first time. 4 then a second time through the same loop. 5 wet, pull on all four strands.

Chapter 3: Baits and groundbaits of the Gulf of Guinea

The best Ivorian bait does not come off a shop shelf: it comes from the beach, the lagoon or the market. This chapter lists the reliable choices, where to find them, how to keep them, how to put them on the hook.

Baits from the beach and the lagoon

Marine worms are dug at low tide on sandy and muddy flats: look for the sand casts, dig fast. The universal surfcasting bait, fragile, to be threaded accordion-style on a fine-wire hook. Small crabs from the beaches and mangrove, tough on the cast and irresistible to Grogneur sompat (Sompat grunt), grunts and threadfins: caught by hand at dusk, they are kept alive in a bucket of damp sand. Lagoon shrimps, bought live from fishers or sieved along the edges: whole and live for good fish, peeled for finesse fishing. Finally, mangrove oysters, prised from the mangrove roots: soft flesh to be secured well, deadly on lagoon bottom fish.

Baits from the market

The fish market is the best bait shop in the country. Fresh sardinella is sold by the pile: whole as live bait or dead bait for big predators, in chunks for handlining, in fillets for the surf. Bonga shad replaces it in the lagoon. Squid stays on the hook like no other bait: strips for the bottom, heads for snappers. Only one criterion: freshness, clear eyes and firm flesh, and the cool box starts at the market, not at the boat.

Natural baits of Côte d’Ivoire
Natural baits of Côte d’Ivoire 1 marine worm. 2 small beach or mangrove crab. 3 lagoon shrimp. 4 mangrove oyster. 5 whole sardinella. 6 chunk of sardinella. 7 sardinella fillet. 8 bonga shad. 9 whole squid. 10 squid strips. 11 pellet of paste.

Live bait

Live bait is the king of baits for big predators: sardinella or bonga shad hooked under the dorsal fin or through the nose, on a sliding rig that lets it swim. Catch your live baits with a landing net or fine line early in the morning, keep them in an aerated live well or a bucket whose water is changed often: a sluggish live bait is a dead bait. Barracudas, jacks, threadfins and groupers cannot resist it.

The live bait rig
The live-bait rig 1 main line. 2 sliding olive sinker. 3 bead. 4 swivel. 5 leader. 6 option 1: hook set shallowly under the skin of the back, behind the dorsal fin, away from the spine. 7 option 2: hook through both lips, from bottom to top, for a live bait that is trolled or drifted.

Groundbait and chum

Lagoon groundbaiting remains homemade and effective: shrimp scraps, crushed sardinella heads, wheat bran or oilseed cake from the market, mixed with mud from the spot. At sea, chum works wonders to hold fish under the boat: ground sardinellas thrown in regular handfuls, never in bulk. The rule is the same everywhere: bait a little, bait often, and stop as soon as the fish are there.

Chapter 4: Surviving the climate, tropical maintenance

Ivorian salt, heat and humidity kill tackle more surely than fish do. The remedy is a ten-minute routine: rinse in fresh water after every sea trip, reels with the drag loosened, rods including the guides; dry in the shade, never in direct sun; lightly grease shafts and snaps once a month; store in a ventilated place, rods upright or hung, away from damp rod bags that breed rust.

Hooks and lures live in compartment boxes with a desiccant sachet; a rust-spotted hook gets thrown away, it will break. Nylon is stored in the dark: a spool forgotten on a sunny shelf loses its strength within a few months. Before each trip, two thirty-second checks: the reel drag (it must slip smoothly) and the last metre of line (run it between two fingers and cut off the slightest roughness).

The basic bag, whatever the trip

Beyond the technique-specific checklists given in Part III, a basic kit never leaves the Ivorian angler: multi-tool pliers and scissors, spare leaders and hooks, knife, headlamp and batteries, sunscreen and hat, drinking water, waterproof pouch for phone and papers, small first-aid kit (disinfectant, plasters, tweezers for scorpionfish spines), and a bag to bring back all your waste. It all fits in five litres.