BIG GAME FISHING: WHERE IS TERRY? Grander Search part 20: Ada Phoa, Ghana April 2001

Grander Search part 20: Ada Phoa, Ghana April 2001

Richard Richardson and I visited Ghana last year at the end of the early season and caught some nice fish, but the action was slow. This year we booked the Harmattan (one of two boats operated by Blue Marlin Fishing Charters) in the middle of the season to try to enhance the success of last year. A number of my friends had been there before us and had done extremely well. We were therefore anxious to get a line in the water as soon as our plane landed in Accra. First, of course, we had to collect our gear and take the hour’s ride over to Ada where the boats are located. Johan Zeitsman greeted us and assisted us through customs and immigration and then Ian Carter, captain of the other boat, drove the two delightful German anglers who were fishing with him and us over to Ada. After checking in at the Manet Paradise Hotel we had a well-needed dinner and went straight to bed.

The next morning we walked the 100 yards down to the Harmattan house and boarded the boat, ready to catch at least one huge marlin. Videographer Steve Jam from Dana Point California joined Richard and me to record the adventure. Clay Hensley had come down from Madeira for the season and was the captain of the 42-foot Rampage. His able mates were Zack (from the Azores) and Isaac, a local talent who had previously run a boat in the area for a number of years. We headed west to an area known as the hole, which is an indentation in the edge located south of Pema. We raised one fish about 11:00 am but we could not entice the 300-pounder to eat. He followed the bait for what seemed like an eternity and finally took a half-hearted crack at it but missed by a foot and then disappeared. Shy III was further west at Pram Pram and was doing better so we picked up and ran over there. They ended out raising 4 fish and caught and released a small fish of about 250 pounds. We never so much as saw a fish while we were there.


Richard Richardson	Mate Isaac	Mate Zack

Videographer Steve Jam	Terry Tri	Captain Clay Hensley

Our second day we ran directly to Pram Pram and started fishing at 9:15 after the two hour run out. We raised a 350-pounder at about 10:15. He ate the Bart Braziliano I had placed in the short corner position and took off. I set the hook and climbed in the chair. We backed down fairly quickly and I had most of the line back in no time when the hook suddenly pulled. As I was reeling in the lure a much larger fish followed the bait almost to the boat. She was about 600 pounds and was all lit up but I could not tease her into eating despite all of the “proven” tricks I tried. An hour later Richard got a blind strike on the same lure. The fish ran off about 100 yards of line but was gone when he picked up the rod to set the hook. It was a nice fish pushing 700 pounds. We got a good look at her when she came back and took a shot at the left rigger bait but missed. Then at 1:20 pm I got another nice bite. Clay saw the fish way back surfing down sea. She gradually caught up to the bait and made a gorgeous splash as she knifed through the water and inhaled the new Legends lure Roddy Hays had just sent me. I set the hook and jumped in the chair as she ran out several hundred yards of line. She then jumped well behind the boat and threw the hook on her second leap. She was a nice fish in the 700 to 800 pound range. Damn! The rest of our day was quiet until we pulled in our lines and settled in for the two-hour run home. Shy III had raised three marlins and caught one 700-pounder late in the day that they released.



Manet Paradise Beach Hotel	Harmattan and Shy III	Harmattan House

We were awakened by a severe thundershower at about 3:30 in the morning. The wind was howling at 60 knots and it flat poured! The morning brought cloudy skies and uncertainty about the safety of fishing since there were to be three more similar storms come through the area during the day. We analyzed the situation and finally decided to run to the Café where we could get in quickly if the storms truly materialized. After fishing several hours without a problem and waiting to well past when the first storm was predicted to hit we ran back to Pram Pram because the usually productive areas to the south and east were dead. We felt that if the water got too snotty we would just run the 10 miles into Tema harbor and wait it out. It turned out to be a beautiful sunny day with very flat water and not a storm cloud to be seen. We finally raised a fish late in the afternoon but could not get her to bite. It was a really nice blue that Zack estimated at 900 pounds. From the cockpit we never had a good view of her to gauge her size. Shy III raised one marlin but they never saw it. The only reason they knew it was there was the French videographer Girard could see it with the underwater video camera he was dragging behind the boat.

The next morning we headed out cautiously again as there was to be another storm come through early in the day. After crossing the bar at the Volta river mouth we ran up to the hole, about 10 miles short of Pram Pram and started trolling. The sky turned black and we could see the obvious storm headed right for us. Shy III ran in and wished us luck. After a half-hour we had had no luck and the sky looked even more ominous so we ran toward shore. We fished in somewhat shallow water for a while but the weather seemed to improve so we ran back out to the drop-off and started fishing again. Then the sky started raining lightning all around us. Clay thought perhaps we should stop fishing and try to wait it out, but Ian called and told us the weatherman had predicted an even worse storm was coming and we needed to get in ASAP. We ran home and put the boats on moorings in the river to prepare for the untidy surge that usually accompanies their storms. We read and toured the area onshore and never actually saw a storm. Apparently it was centered offshore and the water out there was not pretty. At this point I was starting to get concerned. We had been fishing for four days at the purported best time of the year and although we had seen some really nice marlin Richard and I had yet to catch a fish.

Mud and thatch houses are the
norm for the villagers Fences keep domestic
animals in the compound Shade trees make the
equatorial heat bearable

Houses on the Volta River Collecting drinking water Standard means of transportation

The next morning we were eager to get on the water. We decided not even to check the weather. We would put the coordinates for Tema harbor in the GPS and run to Pram Pram early. Then if a storm arose we would scoot into Tema and wait it out. The day turned out to be a very hot one with not a cloud in the sky. Our run to Pram Pram was interrupted when Isaac saw a large fish feeding on the surface short of “the hole.” We stopped and worked the area hard but could not raise her. We got our first strike just 20 minutes after we got to the edge. She grabbed the Braziliano on the left flat line and took off. Richard picked up the rod and went to set the hook but the reel free-spooled and produced a massive bird’s-nest! He pushed the drag to the wall but he had very little line to play with and within a few minutes the fish ran and broke the line. There went our most productive lure. It was a nice fish too, between 600 and 650 pounds. Two hours later I got a strike on the super giant Marlin Magic Ruckus I had on the right flat. She was similar in size to the marlin Richard had broken off. After pulling off a quick 200 yards of monofilament she settled down. I got in the chair and began to retrieve line. But just as I began to put a little pressure on her the hook pulled. Damn! We have got to stop using those rubber 12-0’s! Then an hour later Richard got a strike on the same lure. This time the marlin stuck and after a short and sweet 12-minute fight we tagged and released the 650-pounder. She put on a spectacular aerial display for the video camera right next to the boat. Just twenty minutes later we had a “window-shopper” follow the left short and left long baits for nearly 5 minutes but she wouldn’t eat. Then shortly after 3 pm we had a nice fish of 850 to 900 pounds come up and take a crack at the bait on the right flat. After missing it the first time she came back and grabbed it solidly. She pulled off only 30 yards of line and spit the hook. Within minutes a 600-pound blue grabbed the left flat bait. Richard tried to set up on her but she was gone. She circled back and grabbed the left rigger bait but again spit the hook when Richard grabbed the rod. The rest of the afternoon was quiet. Our German friends on Shy III had a decent day. They had caught two fish, one of 350 pounds and one at 500 pounds, and had raised another 4 fish, pulling hook on two of them. It had been a good day for numbers of fish but we were not doing well at hooking and catching them.


Richard on a fish	700-pounder jumps	Richard at it again

650-pound blue marlin	Putting the heat on	Big fish by the boat

We started our sixth and last day on the water early and ran straight to Pram Pram. We had our lines in the water by 8:15 and raised our first marlin at 9:15. She was a 500-pounder that wouldn’t eat. Then at 11:15 a 400-pound blue grabbed the purple and black Moldcraft wide range lure we had stuck on the long rigger only to drop it as I got in the chair. She followed the lure as I reeled it in but wouldn’t eat even though I teased the devil out of her. She looked over all of the lures in the pattern but didn’t offer at any of them again. About that time though a huge fish grabbed the wide range and inhaled it. This time the hooks held and there was plenty of weight as I got in the chair and buckled in. She ran off 200 yards of line in a flash and then settled down. I applied fairly heavy pressure early and started to get a little line back. She jumped twice very early in the fight but didn’t break the surface again until I forced her up late in the battle. It was a very tough down and dirty confrontation for 30 minutes before I was able to winch her up to the surface with 60 pounds of drag. Zack couldn’t hold her on the wire though and she took off again. This time it was a much shorter run. She wouldn’t let us get an angle on her with the boat so it was another 35 minutes before I could get her to the wire again. We fought over the same 50 yards of line at 60 pounds of drag over and over again for at least 25 minutes. Finally we had her on the wire and fairly well controlled after a total of 65 minutes. She was a very large blue marlin in excess of 950 pounds if not a thousand. We planned to get a tail stump girth and then decide whether to release her, but the leader managed to wrap around Zack’s left leg as she made one last effort to gain freedom. The leader cut deeply into Zack’s leg just above the ankle and the marlin started to pull him overboard left leg first as he struggled to maintain his balance on one foot. We had to make an instantaneous decision and we cut the line to keep Zack from being pulled overboard and drowned. I believe she was really a grander but of course she also has grown in my mind’s eye since the event. The video however confirms she was a huge fish!

Shortly after noon a 400-pound blue came up and took a shot at both lures on the left and missed and then sank out. We could not raise her back to the surface even though she had never felt the sting of the hook. Then at 2:00 Richard got another strike on the Moldcraft on the long rigger. This was about a 650-pounder that took him about 20 minutes to bring to the boat where the fish was released quickly and swam away quite healthy. The remainder of the day was without action. Shy III pulled hook on an 800-pounder early in the afternoon after raising a 400 pounder earlier that wouldn’t eat. Late in the afternoon they released a 450-pound blue.

French videographer Gerrard, Ollie, and Guenter Hotel manager Mario with Germans Guenter and Ollie

38' Bertram Shy III The Imperfect Storm


French videographer Gerrard, Ollie, and Guenter	Hotel manager Mario with Germans Guenter and Ollie

38' Bertram Shy III	The Imperfect Storm

We had finally had some success. Richard had caught his second blue and I had finally caught a fish and it was a NICE ONE! That night we took the entire crew to dinner at the restaurant to celebrate after I cleaned and dressed Zack’s wound.

We had hoped to fish at least a half-day the next morning since our flight out wasn’t until late in the evening but another major storm came through and obviated that possibility. This one was huge, extending from land to 200 miles offshore and was nearly three countries wide with sustained winds in excess of 50 knots, gusts to over 70 knots, and severe thunder, lightning, and heavy rain. Our fishing trip was over.

When all was said and done our trip had not been as productive as we had hoped but still was quite successful. We only got to fish 5 of the 7 days we were there due to the weather. In those five days we had raised 18 blue marlin averaging over 600 pounds. We had hooked eleven of them, an average of greater than 2 hook-ups a day. The problem was in our catch ratio as we had only caught three. The relatively low catch ratio is something others who have visited this destination have seen as well. The fish didn’t routinely bite with great aggressiveness and there were a lot of pulled hooks. Even though we had caught only three fish we were pleased. Richard had captured two quality fish and I had caught probably the largest blue marlin of my career and almost certainly my first grander. I won’t count it as such since the only way to know a fish is that size is to weigh it, but in my heart I am fairly sure.


Mud and thatch houses are the norm for the villagers	Fences keep domestic animals in the compound	Shade trees make the equatorial heat bearable

Houses on the Volta River	Collecting drinking water	Standard means of transportation