LOOE fisherman Andy Giles, who swapped his trawler for a dug-out canoe in Africa, has just been featured in the BBC Two series 'The Toughest Place To Be A Fisherman.'

Forty-year-old Andy, who has a wife Leigh, and two children, Jensen (7) and Grace (2), was followed on film over two weeks last September, as he got to grips with village life in Sierra Leone and a different way of fishing.

He joined Kabba and Ishmael Kaine in their three-man canoe, made out of a tree trunk, and ventured out of the river each day and into the Atlantic. Using drift nets, long lines, and hand lines, the main catch was cat fish, Spanish and groupers.

'It was a fantastic experience,' said Andy, 'one you couldn't buy from a travel agent to get a new way of life. It wasn't so much Africa that made me want to go, but it was the different way of fishing that appealed.'

Andy was chosen for the BBC programme after answering a flyer he found pinned to his boat. The next thing, he was saying goodbye to his family and Looe and heading out to Sierra Leone.

Andy said he had to get used to village life with no electricity, shops or lights.

'It would get dark at 6pm and everyone goes to bed and gets up at 4am,' he said. 'They go fishing with no engines or the assistance of hydraulic power. But they do all have mobile phones which I found very strange and they would take them to the mainland to get them charged once a week.' 

Although the villagers faced many hardships, Andy said he enjoyed living in a community where everybody helped each other, and described the children as 'amazing'.