The number sixty-four is not just some number to me. It represents the countries where I have traveled to fish. Because of my passion for fishing, my work as a traveling fishing guide and outdoors journalist, and my job in product development for various brands and companies, I have had the opportunity to fish all over the world.
The following is a list of my top 5 fishing destinations and a little information on why it is worth visiting them.
5) Sette Cama, Gabon: If catching big fish on lures from the shore is your thing, then this is the place. Near the equator on Africa’s South Atlantic coast, it offers the wildest stretch of coastline on the continent. You can hook a 150-pound tarpon, 80-pound cubera snapper, 60-pound African Threadfin, 50-pound barracuda or 40-pound jack… while walking and casting plugs along the beaches and the inlet.
4) Vastervik, Sweden: A 4,000-island Scandinavian archipelago where fresh and salt water of the Baltic Sea meet, brings predators to feed mainly on herring. I’ve been there a dozen times because there are true chances for really, really big pike. The local record is 26kg, so around 57 pounds.
3) Archipelago de Chiriqui, Panama: Cubera snapper has long been some of my favorite fish. They have a finicky side as well as the brutal power of a hammer beating steel once hooked. On northern Panama’s Pacific Coast, the islands and rocks in the Chiriqui region are where I have experienced great success catching cubera on lures. I’m not much interested in dropping a 2-pound bonita and waiting for a bite. I’d rather use a Stick Shadd 182fsk or 210sk on 80-pound braid. Cast it, let it sink and retrieve it with twitches, jerks, and pauses. The area is also great for really big roosterfish and tunas.
2) Great Barrier Reef, Australia: When you’re 200 miles away from the shoreline and the depth is only about 20 feet, you know you’re on a special spot. This is what the Great Barrier Reef and the Coral Sea off Australia’s eastern coast are all about. There are dozens of valuable game fish, from the biggest of all the jacks, the giant trevally, to the incredible wahoo bite of August, the elusive Chinaman, snappers and groupers, and of course giant marlin. The best fishing organization I ever fished with is based there, the Nomad Mothership.
1) Venice, Louisiana, USA: The consistency of the fishery in the Mississippi River Delta is something awesome and unique. Venice offers both inshore and offshore fishing at its best. It’s hard to go there and not being exhausted after catching so many fish more regularly than any place I have ever been. To me, it is definitively the hottest fishing spot in the world. Redfish, seatrout, yellowfin tuna, red snapper, giant jacks… I especially love to fish in the saltwater marsh, using a small Flatt Shad 50 Snagless that I jig like a soft plastic. This lure is longer lasting than soft plastics, which matters when there are so many bites!
Patrick Sebile is the owner and lure designer of Sebile Innovative Fishing (www.sebile.com).