“Over a hill and down around a corner we catch a glimpse of the Mayo Cam river. Immediately we see hundreds of yellowfish under the bridge and a HUGE crocodile slithering off his morning lie into the depths. We are here with Nile perch in mind and it takes us a while to really start targeting what must be one of Africa’s most spectacular runs of Labeobarbus.

Barbus bynii grow large. Really large. And they are fussy eaters in a way that has trout fishermen foxed. They don’t mind a heavy leader or their flies arriving with a splosh. However, if this presentation is rejected, that is it. For the fish you were targeting (and every other one in that pool), the game is up and no matter how stealthily or beautifully you present your flies it’s over until tomorrow. We started off fishing ultra-stealthy, light leaders and on the first day we never managed to get a single fish to the bank. Oysters and jagged rocks, piles of logs and just pulling too hard resulted in some very dejected looks coming from Nicodemus, our camp chef. Catch and release here in eastern Nigeria is clearly not yet a hashtag.”

Ed Ghaui of Goliath Expeditions and My Fly Adventure in ‘Nigeria’s Quiet Corner’ his issue 16 account of an exploratory trip to Nigeria’s Gashaka Gumti National Park. Check out the full story below, watch the video above and attempt to pick up your jaw in due course.