For Riverman - Congo

Dear R.
Knowing your Congo history I wonder if you have come across "Somewhere down
a crazy river" by Paul Boote and Jeremy Wad (pub 1992) It is in two parts -
the 1st is all about catching mahseer in India, but the 2nd details several
trips to the Congo in pursuit of goliath tiger fish. It is a scary
description of the area and the people and is an excellent read. Some FFing
but mainly other methods.

Gordon

On Mar 1, 6:06 pm, "Gordon MacPherson"
wrote:
Dear R.
Knowing your Congo history I wonder if you have come across "Somewhere down
a crazy river" by Paul Boote and Jeremy Wad (pub 1992) It is in two parts -
the 1st is all about catching mahseer in India, but the 2nd details several
trips to the Congo in pursuit of goliath tiger fish. It is a scary
description of the area and the people and is an excellent read. Some FFing
but mainly other methods.

Gordon

Hi Gordon:
No, I hadn't heard of it, but I'll see if Amazon has it. Always
interested in a read about Congo.

I think FFing for Goliaths is a vain effort....from what I learned,
they lay down deep in fast moving slots and eat what washes through
the channel. Local fishermen bait big hooks on thick line, tie it to a
plastic milk jug as a bobber, weight the hook and toss it into the
fast current. They tend to hook a Goliath once every few days, and
land one even less often.

One of my biggest regrets now that I'm out of there was that it was
just too damn hard (and dangerous) to get upriver and fish for them.
Some folks with the embassy (and their associated protection) were
able to take advantage of an opportunity to fish with some Belgians
from Congo Brazzaville. Between the 4 fishermen, they got one strike
in 5 days, and the fish jumped loose beside the boat.

Thanks for the book recommendation.

--riverman