At the beginning of September I was travelling for you together with David Wenzel (YOUTUBE -> ANGELN LIKE A BOSS) in his almost second home country – Angola. Of course, I had been following the reports and videos from Angola and so it was time to see for myself whether this would be a suitable destination for our TRAVEL 2 FISH portfolio. The relatively relaxed journey there spoke in favour of this. You can either fly directly from Frankfurt to Luanda with LUFTHANSA or choose the safe option with AIR FRANCE via Paris. Due to unforeseeable strike events and for the sake of significantly better baggage handling, I would definitely recommend the latter solution.
After landing in Luanda, I went through immigration, where David and the camp driver were already waiting for me. Barely 90 minutes later, we were already enjoying our first cool drink on the riverbank. What could be better?
Kwanza Lodge is located directly on the riverbank not far from the river mouth. Good fishing opportunities are therefore within easy reach.
At this time of year, the Benguela Current pushes cold seawater from the south up the coast and the water temperatures at sea were only around 17°C. At breakfast in the sunrise on the terrace by the river, you needed a jumper in the morning, but that makes the Angolan winter quite pleasant and bearable. As soon as the sun comes out, it is pleasantly warm and cosy at around 25°C.
From June to the beginning of September, African Threadfins migrate to the river to spawn and can be caught with soft lures, similar to those used for fishing for zander at home. Even though the 4″-6″ (approx. 10-15 cm) softbaits are roughly the same size, the jig hooks used here should be a lot stronger. Threadfins have a very hard mouth and you can expect specimens weighing up to 50 kg. Heavy pike or light catfish spinning rods are exactly the right tool for river fishing, especially as Corvinas and the dreaded Cubera Snapper can also be hooked in the river at any time.
Even though we perhaps didn’t have the best timing and the river season was almost over, I was able to get a good overview of the area during the 6 days of fishing. Some African Threadfins, plus Corvinas and Jack Crevalle found their way into the boat and left a really good impression of the potential of this area. At sea we experienced incredible natural spectacles of mating whales, which alone would have been worth the trip.
If you haven’t had enough after a long day’s fishing or if you like fishing from the bank, you can get your money’s worth here at certain times. You can often tell from the flocks of birds whether an attempt is worthwhile or not. The following week, David reported jack crevalle hunting right in front of the lodge’s jetty.
After these 6 days, I was certain that this was the start of something great and so we have already organised a 12-person tour group for next March. From January to May there is blue water off the coast and tarpon, amberjack, mahi mahi, sailfish, blue marlin and much more are on the programme. Speaking of tarpon, did you know that the unofficial Angolan record fish of just over 150 kilograms was caught not far from the lodge on the bridge?
That sounds like a challenge and we are already looking forward to the next tour.
If you are interested in fishing trips to Angola, please have a look at our website. We will soon include this destination in our programme. For more information, you can find plenty of moving images in our playlist on our YOUTUBE channel.
Have fun watching!