hughsnews Posted April 21, 2012 Share Posted April 21, 2012 I was very lucky that at the end of March/Beginning of April, my family, myself and my lady were able to go on a big trip over to Southern Africa. The trip was based around seeing animals such as lions, elephants etc but also experiencing some of Africas amazing sites such as the Victoria Falls. It also afforded me the opportunity to go fishing a few times in hope that I might catch one of the hardest fighting fish on the planet- the Tiger fish! I thought I’d share this adventure with you all as in the end we caught some amazing fish! The trip started in South Africa where three of us decided we wished to see some of the deadliest fish around- the GREAT WHITE SHARK. We travelled down to a town called Gansbaai- a few hours drive from Cape Town. The weather the few days before had been terrible and the water temperature had dropped from around a nice 17-20 degrees down to just 12. Despite saying we were going to have to wait for up to an hour for the sharks, they appeared within five minutes and boy did they put on a show. The young ones were breaching all over the place and crashing into the diving cage. Over the course of two days we say about 6-7 sharks each day, the largest being around 4.5m or so. After heading up to the Kruger National Park for a little game viewing, we bounced up to Livingston in Zambia, home of the Victoria Falls. Our lodge was about 20km upstream from the falls and my eyes lit up when they offered fishing as an activity. So, after seeing the falls one morning- my dad, brother, girlfriend and myself decided it was time to go fishing. My brother and I are keen fisherman, although the other two were there just to sit on a boat and drink a beer or two. The Zambezi River was beginning to flood and it was unlikely we would get much action but we were hopeful for atleast one fish. We jumped on the boat with our guide named Victor. He was famous around these parts as he was a crocodile catcher, and boy did he have the scars to prove it. His largest croc, which now resides in a local crocodile sanctuary, was around 5.5-6m!!! As Victor, my dad and my girlfriend began catching bait, my brother and I started tossing around some lures. I have no idea what sort of rod or reel I was using but they were old, the line was monstrously heavy/thick and the drag had been set to the point where I could barely pull any slack. Within a minute, I had a good hit at my lure but no hookup. Over the next 30 minutes, we slowly crossed over to throwing some small, recently killed fish, and using them as bait. Every five minutes my dad or my girlfriend would have a dozen casts then pass off the rod to sit down and have another drink. Suddenly, my brothers line went taught and the rod buckled over. As he reeled in, the fish let out a monstrous leap into the air and we realised he had a Tiger fish! About a minute later, the net scooped up the little Tiger. He was small but he was a beautiful fish with massive teeth. He was released to fight another day. Over the next hour, we got thumped continuously. But Tigers have very bony mouths and they kept spitting the hooks. With just 5 minutes till we needed to leave, things looked grim. As I began cursing, thinking I had lost my chance for a Tiger, my brother yelled out ‘I THINK DAD HAS ONE’. I looked over and there he was, his rod bent over in a complete U shape. He had been fighting it for 20 seconds and hadn’t thought to tell anyone. But then something happened- the line started screaming off the reel and the fish went towards the middle of the mighty Zambezi River. Now considering the drag was set to the point where I could barely pull an inch off, this fish was taking meters off it. As Victor started pushing the boat into the middle of the River, we noticed the boat started going against the flow- the fish was pulling the boat! The line zig-zagged around the River and Victor was starting to think my dad had snagged a large croc. After what seemed to be about a 5-10minute fight, the fish finally began to surface. It was a catfish! As Victor got it into the net and hauled it over the edge of the boat we realised how big this thing was. It was around 60-70cm in my guess and Victor estimated it could have been upwards of 10kg- although I think it was 1 or 2 less. The fish was by far the biggest thing any tourist had caught on his boat. Victor was happy as the fish was kept and ultimately was cooked up and fed to some of the local families who live nearby. Unfortunately, no pictures do the fish justice but look at Victors face!!! The sun even decided to put on a spectacular show for us as we motored home. My dreams were shattered as I ended up catching nothing. The next day we were driving to Botswana to go see more animals. I had lost my chance at catching a Tiger fish. The next camp was in Botswana on the edge of the Chobe River, a tributary of the Zambezi. It was also flooding and the water was coming up at around 0.5-1m a day! We were greeted by the friendly staff who ran over the camps list of activities and boy did my eyes light up when it mentioned fishing. I asked what sort of fish they caught and the guide mentioned Bream and I instantaneously got disappointed as I so desperately wanted a Tiger. I mentioned this to him and he said “Oh we have Tigers too… lots of them!” :yahoo: The next day my brother and I jumped on a tiny boat with another local guide who informed us that as the river was flooding we had little chance of seeing a fish. He was a fisherman and his largest Tiger was around 9.2kg apparently. I just wanted a baby! This time, we use pieces of Tiger fish as bait and drifted them along banks and towards rapids. He gave us two bits of advice- if a fish takes it, strike as HARD as possible and then reel in and don’t stop. Once again the rods were old, the line appeared to be as thick as steel wire and the drag was so tight I couldn’t make the line budge at all. Within five minutes of our first pass, my brother got a hit. The fish stayed on for about 30 seconds and once again gave a huge jump out of the water but as it did it spat the hooks. A few minutes later, my line started screaming and although I struck it well, once again the hook was spat out. This kept happening for the next hour. We had about 7 hits and none would stay on longer than 20 seconds despite great strikes and constant pressure. With about 45 minutes to go and with me getting increasingly upset about my lack of a Tiger fish, my bait drifted near a small rapid. Suddenly the rod was almost pulled from my hands. This time I struck as hard as I humanly could and started to reel. This time it wasn’t getting off. The line began screaming from the reel and the fish jumped. I was too busy struggling not to lose the rod to hear our guide whisper ‘Oh my god’. He then screamed at me- “REEL IN, FASTER- FASTER!!!!”. But with the drag set so tight, I couldn’t even turn the reel against the force of the fish. I yelled “I CAN’T” but he just kept yelling at me. The fish then made a stupid move- it swam upstream towards the boat. I reeled as fast as I ever had before. With all my might, I pulled the fish closer and closer. About a minute later he came close to the boat. The guide realised he had one shot- grabbed the net and jammed it deep into the water. As he brought it up, my fish was just inside and barely made it into the boat before flying out of the net and onto the deck. I screamed in happiness as I looked at it. The guide came up and shook my hand and then hugged me. It was a roughly 4.5-5kg Tiger fish. With the river flooding, the massive Tigers had moved elsewhere and this guy, I was informed, would be a record for that time of year. When I asked what was the largest fish a tourist had caught before, he told me it was under 2kg. The fish was kept, once again to provide food for the local families. We didn’t catch any other fish that day or on a third session out a week later. But I had got what I had come for. We ended up with two monster fish and seeing some of the most amazing animals and sites I have ever seen. I’d highly recommend if you can go overseas for a trip, go to Zambia/Botswana. The people are some of the nicest I have ever met and scenery, animals and the fishing is AMAZING! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squizzytaylor Posted April 21, 2012 Share Posted April 21, 2012 Excellent report and great photos, thanks for sharing!! GT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spooooled Posted April 21, 2012 Share Posted April 21, 2012 top report Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Hooked Posted April 21, 2012 Share Posted April 21, 2012 That fish had your name written all over it. WOW! Fantastic read. Thanks for sharing your adventure with us. Those teeth are amazingly huge! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PowerFisher Posted April 21, 2012 Share Posted April 21, 2012 That fish reminded me of an episode of river monsters I wouldnt want to be in the water with even the small one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hughsnews Posted April 22, 2012 Author Share Posted April 22, 2012 Thanks guys... really lucky to have gone on the trip and the fish was just an awesome bonus!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mutt Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 What an awesome read! Great pictures too! Thanks for sharing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gregg.michael Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 Great work - The tiger fish is a magnificent species and you should be very proud of the fine one you caught. Thanks for sharing this great report. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest hawkesbass Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 Nice family get away should submit the tiger fish as a record wont get beaten for many a year goes to show persistence pays off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hughsnews Posted April 22, 2012 Author Share Posted April 22, 2012 Nice family get away should submit the tiger fish as a record wont get beaten for many a year goes to show persistence pays off Submit it for a record? where? How? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest hawkesbass Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 Go to submit record and put post on their saying what you caught it on and where and it may be approved Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregL Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 NIce one, Tiger fish is definate on the must catch list! Sounds like a great trip to SA. Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassboy888 Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 Awesome work with the tigers, the gear sounds like it would have been a bit of a change though! Looks like you had an awesome time in SA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hughsnews Posted April 24, 2012 Author Share Posted April 24, 2012 Awesome work with the tigers, the gear sounds like it would have been a bit of a change though! Looks like you had an awesome time in SA Hahaha. Yeah I am used to my tiny Lox 1-2kg with 5 pound braid and leader. The line on this felt like steel! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockfisherman Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 Great story mate.... Note to self: always carry travel series rod, reel and fluorocarbon whenever traveling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doug43 Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 Those rapids look very familiar. I just got back from the Chobe a couple of weeks ago we may have passed each other on the river! I Stayed on Impalila island were you in that area? Great report you took me right back there. here are some of the tigers we caught there... they are a really great fish aren't they. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arpie Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 (edited) AWESOME report and top pics, guys! That surelyl is a mighty Tiger!! Congratulations on your Tiger Record too, that is a real beauty! Your Dad really had fun with that Catfish too - most people think they don't put up a fight, but they do!! Isn't it funny how they pronounce Bream?? Breeem!! My biggest regret when in Zimbabwe 15 years ago was not getting up to Kariba for Tiger fishing! A buddy has a house boat there & he'd offered to take me up, but my husband was there for a school reunion & I felt obliged to hang round - to my eternal regret!! I did catch some trout tho, in private ponds! Well done Roberta Edited April 25, 2012 by Roberta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hughsnews Posted April 25, 2012 Author Share Posted April 25, 2012 Those rapids look very familiar. I just got back from the Chobe a couple of weeks ago we may have passed each other on the river! I Stayed on Impalila island were you in that area? Great report you took me right back there. here are some of the tigers we caught there... they are a really great fish aren't they. Wow- not sure my Tiger fish record will last! Yeah I was there at the beginning of the month we must have been quite close to eachother. I was staying at a lodge about 15 minutes upstream of Kasane. I had one bite where in like 5 seconds the fish managed to run half way up the stream- I reckon he was the size of one of your goliaths. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doug43 Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 (edited) Hey Mate we were there at the same time i was about 5 mins down stream from Kasane and right on those rapids! what a special place to be catching great fish hey. The fish we caught were much the same size as yours but we were stoked to get them considering how hard the things are to hook.... i swear on some sessions it was worse than a 10 to 1 hook up rate on strikes. We loved our trip in Africa and your report sums up the place nicely. Edited April 25, 2012 by doug43 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markmako Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 Great report there hughsnews, I really enjoyed it. What other species of fish did they have over there? Anything decent for the table? The teeth on those tiger fish are MASSIVE! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hughsnews Posted April 26, 2012 Author Share Posted April 26, 2012 Great report there hughsnews, I really enjoyed it. What other species of fish did they have over there? Anything decent for the table? The teeth on those tiger fish are MASSIVE! Hey Mark, They had a few types of bream although we didn't catch any apart from babies for bait. Apart from that, the catfish and the Tigers thats all I can remember. The Tiger is the main fish people try to catch- at Livingston airport there are pictures on the walls of people holding Tigers. Doug- Yeah our hook up rate was shocking. Even our guide said when he fishes he would maybe have a rate of 3/10 and he knows them like the back of his hand. I had another monster on which I though was a snag it was running so quickly upstream, I struck and the damn thing spat it... Your tigers look bigger than my one. Did you weigh/measure? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doug43 Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 Hey Mark, They had a few types of bream although we didn't catch any apart from babies for bait. Apart from that, the catfish and the Tigers thats all I can remember. The Tiger is the main fish people try to catch- at Livingston airport there are pictures on the walls of people holding Tigers. Doug- Yeah our hook up rate was shocking. Even our guide said when he fishes he would maybe have a rate of 3/10 and he knows them like the back of his hand. I had another monster on which I though was a snag it was running so quickly upstream, I struck and the damn thing spat it... Your tigers look bigger than my one. Did you weigh/measure? Hey Mate.We weighed one of them and it went 5.2kgs. We caught ours on baits but i also caught a few on lures which were generally smaller fish. Some guys were fishing those rapids using flies and were catching a few of the better sized ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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