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Night Fishing in Gabon – A 20kg Threadfin From the Dark Water at Sette Cama
Night fishing in Gabon produced the fish our guides kept talking about this week: a threadfin of around 20kg (44lb), taken after dark inside the river mouth at Sette Cama. It was a quieter camp than usual. Wang Haoyu from Beijing fished the full week, and Carriem from Port Gentil joined for one night. All fishing was conventional tackle, under a waning gibbous moon moving toward new, with the tides building from neaps toward springs. Conditions were otherwise settled: no rain, mild temperatures and an easy sea.
Day and Night Fishing in Gabon on the Dropping Tide
With good numbers of jacks around, the lagoon fished well in the mornings on the dropping tide. In the evenings we moved to the beach, timing sessions around sunset to fish the same drop into dark. As the tidal coefficients climbed through the week, the guides kept a close watch on the current around the mouth.
Senegalese kob, threadfin, Guinean barracuda and jacks all came to hand, holding either in shallow water in the surf or in the deeper gutters. One pattern became clearer as the week went on: as the coefficient rose, less bait showed, and that steadily changed where the fish were willing to sit. Working out where they had moved each session was the work behind the week.
By the final evening Wang had landed exactly 105 fish. The guides have started calling him “the Legend,” and it’s hard to argue with them.
Reading the River Mouth After Dark
The week came down to two fish. Carriem’s bull shark was the largest of the season so far, a heavy fish to land on his only night in camp. Wang added a bull shark of his own, but it was his threadfin that stayed with the guides.
It came after dark, inside the river mouth, on live mullet. The guides had seen fish busting on the surface near the mouth and made the call to leave the surf side and work the lagoon instead. The move paid off almost straight away. That threadfin was the result of reading the water and acting on it at the right moment, which is what night fishing in Gabon so often comes down to.
A Bull Elephant Crossing the Lagoon
On the way out to fish one morning, the boat met a large bull elephant swimming across the lagoon. The group held back and let him cross. Sightings like this are part of fishing Sette Cama, on the edge of Loango National Park, and a reminder of why this coastline is worth protecting.
Looking Ahead to the Next Nights at Sette Cama
One angler’s 105 fish, a season-best bull shark, a 20kg threadfin from the mouth, and an elephant crossing in front of the boat made for a full week. As the tides and bait keep shifting, we’ll be watching how the fish respond after dark, and hoping Wang’s streak and his nickname carry into his next trip.
Plan Your Night Fishing in Gabon
Sette Cama runs as a small, fully guided camp. We plan every session around the tide, the moon and the bait, so the timing work is already done before you arrive. Fishing is on conventional tackle or fly, from the lagoon, the surf and the river mouth, with experienced guides alongside you at night.
If you’d like to understand how a week here works and when the best time to fish would be for you, get in touch and we’ll talk you through it properly.
