Tanzanian Tigerfish Adventures

[Ole Bally]

Spike, What method are you using? Do you use live baits, cutlets, fillets, spinners etc?
Have you perhaps ever watched movie footage of how Tigerfgish feed? They usually attack the bait, and scale it as they swim away from other competition at high speed. They then stop and turn the bait around and then swallow.
What worked for me when using cutlets, fillets and live baits was to wait until the first run was done, wait a coupla seconds more and then as the fish moved again, strike as hard as you can. We use chemically sharpened Gamagatsu type hooks. We never did have too much luck with circle hooks though I know of some who have! Using rapalas is tough because they have such hard mouths! The other thing we found was that the trace/leader wire had to be 40lb bs+ and of the braided cable type to prevent the Tiger from kinking it and breaking it.
Brings back such great memories just writing about it!
Fly fishing for them is awesome but requires heaps of patience!

 

[spike.t]

Spike, What method are you using? Do you use live baits, cutlets, fillets, spinners etc?
Have you perhaps ever watched movie footage of how Tigerfgish feed? They usually attack the bait, and scale it as they swim away from other competition at high speed. They then stop and turn the bait around and then swallow.
What worked for me when using cutlets, fillets and live baits was to wait until the first run was done, wait a coupla seconds more and then as the fish moved again, strike as hard as you can. We use chemically sharpened Gamagatsu type hooks. We never did have too much luck with circle hooks though I know of some who have! Using rapalas is tough because they have such hard mouths! The other thing we found was that the trace/leader wire had to be 40lb bs+ and of the braided cable type to prevent the Tiger from kinking it and breaking it.
Brings back such great memories just writing about it!
Fly fishing for them is awesome but requires heaps of patience!

we usually use live bait/ fillets, and spinners sometimes. use trace wire thats 70lbs+ i think its for offshore big fish and its 7 or 9 strand. gave my circle hooks away as all i was doing was feeding the fish!! will try and get some of those hooks, and will try and remember to wait for the first run to finish .trouble is i find any thinking goes out the window when you get a strike!! p.s. they dont all get to give me the finger

 

[Ole Bally]

Spike, My favourite hooks for Tiger with fillets or cutelts are 'Owner' #4's with a 14" trace. Aaaah, yes the wait!!....like knowing the leopard is in the tree but having to master the urge to switch the light on too early! The an...tici.....pation !!

 

[spike.t]

Ole bally maybe we should try and get a couple of people together for an AH tiger session (a few beers as well of course while discussing the logistics of getting to tanzania to have a look at the fish there), and go to a place on the lower zambezi i am involved with....

 

[Ole Bally]

Ole bally maybe we should try and get a couple of people together for an AH tiger session (a few beers as well of course while discussing the logistics of getting to tanzania to have a look at the fish there), and go to a place on the lower zambezi i am involved with....

Where on the Lower Zam - in Zim? I worked Chewore and have been down Kanyemba way too! I haven't fished Cahorra bassa yet or below that! Always keen to fish! Looks like a project to save for around Sept 2013!

 

[spike.t]

[/B]

Where on the Lower Zam - in Zim? I worked Chewore and have been down Kanyemba way too! I haven't fished Cahorra bassa yet or below that! Always keen to fish! Looks like a project to save for around Sept 2013!

opposite chewore on the zambian side between the bottom of the mupata gorge and the gate (kavalamanja, where some of your mates from sas and scouts paid a visit in 78 i believe ,:thumb: still just see craters etc. when i first went there about 92/93 the headmaster of the school gave us a tour telling about how the rhodesian terrorists :headscratch: had attacked the freedom fighters ....i was about to correct him but realised it was probably better to keep quiet! ) depending could collect from kanyemba by boat, think they still have immigration at luangwa boma. sept sounds good.

 

[Ole Bally]

Cool! There is a customs point at Kanyemba but the road to there zim side is really kak! Whats the road like from Chirundu side there? Bear in mind I'd drive from Bulawayo so we could either go into Zambia from Livingstone or Chirundu!
Whats the name of the place? I know that stretch of river pretty well...hunted there quite a bit!

 

[spike.t]

Cool! There is a customs point at Kanyemba but the road to there zim side is really kak! Whats the road like from Chirundu side there? Bear in mind I'd drive from Bulawayo so we could either go into Zambia from Livingstone or Chirundu!
Whats the name of the place? I know that stretch of river pretty well...hunted there quite a bit!

its called kingfisher, nothing luxurious but comfortable with freezers for the beer!!! the road from chirundu to lusaka is fine. to get there we drive from lusaka to the luangwa bridge then follow the river towards the zambezi and turn off to kavalamanja a bit before luangwa boma. you can only get to kingfisher by boat.

 

[Ole Bally]

OK I know it! So do you also close it Mid November to April? The gates are going to be open soon! Do you get the flooding or are you high enough?

I have always wanted to take a 'raft' type vessel...US made 'Pleasure Barge', Zim made 'Skimmer' etc down the river from Chirundu to Kanyemba over a 10 day trip!

 

[spike.t]

OK I know it! So do you also close it Mid November to April? The gates are going to be open soon! Do you get the flooding or are you high enough?

I have always wanted to take a 'raft' type vessel...US made 'Pleasure Barge', Zim made 'Skimmer' etc down the river from Chirundu to Kanyemba over a 10 day trip!

the general level of the river seems to have risen( i think between 8 to 10ft) in the last 10 to 15 years. flooding never was a problem really until 4 or 5 years ago, but now the camp has been flooded just about each year some worse than others. it never really shuts if people want to go unless its flooded. its amazing how much the river goes up and down when they open and shut the gates, especially on top of the flood waters. i just happen to have a US made pleasure barge, a bass pro suntracker 21 ft fishing barge with a 100hp merc on the back. we were originally going to take it down the river from chirundu to kingfisher but for the usual africa fkups and not sures it didnt happen. it got trailered to luangwa boma. it would have been perfect for that trip.

 

[Ole Bally]

Wow! The suntrackers just the job! A word of caution with these Ali units out the US...the pontoons are not compartmentalised. We had 4 of them at Big Five -Chewore. When the ponts get holes....they sink! Is it still there....of course we could trailer it back and then send the vehicle and trailer back! I had visions of just drift fishing all the way down with a big bass motor to steer it off the banks! Now that Mana will allow motorised vessels down at certain times on the Zim side, it's do-able! Should you ever want to...call! I reckon you could make that part of your camps 'activity' features! Lotsa us Zim guides who know the river well enough! Who runs the place now?
Do the Zambians advise you when they're opening gates at Kariba? There was a warning out a coupla days ago, but I didn't pay much attention! I can look it up for you if you want!

 

[spike.t]

there i was thinking they had compartments!!!! its not for use by clients etc, as it was a lot of loot compared to what they cost in the states. its my toy as such and i am totally averse to letting people use my toys after my gx was nearly written off by some one i lent it to ( never got paid for the damage as usual). a friend is buying a half share in it who is also involved in the camp instead of buying himself a new boat. alistair gellatly is a partner in the place and is based there full time running it, and he seems to know when they are going to open the gates. might be a plan for the future , but it was a mission launching it as its way too big for the smaller launching slip, and the council in their infinite wisdom got the company grading the road to fill in the big slip that was on the zambezi side of luangwa boma!! i heard the zim and zambian powers that be had recently made an agreement that it didnt matter if you fished near the banks of either country, but there was a bit of shit when the zim patrols arrested and impounded some zambian boats and the people fishing, and i believe it was only sorted when the zambians did the same to a zim patrol boat. i believe an exchange occured, but i still keep an eye out just in case .

 

[Ole Bally]

hahaha sorry NO! Please trust me...it sinks!
Bugger is that it's costly to drive it upstream to say mana! But I suppose there's costs involved one way or another any way! It'd just be such an awesome trip!
yeah, I dunno what the two sides get off on trying to arrest all and sundry! It really puts a damper on visitors trips! I was thinking to get permits from both for River usage! I am well connected to our NP people. Do you know them your side?
I also had a mind to put 'punting poles' with 'leverage points' on the raft to lever it off of sandbanks without getting into the water!

 

[spike.t]

the wife just read that first bit over my shoulder and is pulling a funny face!! its fine below the gorge but to go into the lower zam nat park we have to buy permits for the specific days , all different prices as usual for boat, residents, visitors etc.... the boats the zim lot impounded were tied to the bank just up from one of the river river mouths opposite kingfisher on a nice bream spot..i make sure i dont touch zimbabwe ground, and keep an eye out for the game scouts that are stationed opposite us. up to now i havent got too stuck on sand banks and the engine manages to pull us off. we went quite a way up into the park in oct a couple of years ago and there were a lot of sand banks but it wasnt a problem.

 

[35bore]

The last photo is fantastic (don't get me wrong, they are fantastic pics of the tigerfish) but, the last pic is postcard material.... I love the way it looks with the sun in the background. Congrats on a fantastic fishing trip.

 

[Ole Bally]

I figured to buy ALL permits as required! I would get the zim side ones easily enough. I reckon by getting both sides permits we'd have less flack! The punt poles idea was just to prevent using too much fuel! A big Bass Motor mounted on back would also be great for steering and keeping the boat from going round and round with the currents....it'd also stop the tangled lines!! The sand banks can be a problem at certain times especially if you don't know the whole river!!
Well it's a nice thing to dream about....if you feel you want to lets start the planning!

 

[spike.t]

ok, as they say no point in just talking about it till its too late!! prob 2014 best and which month do you reckon?

 

[Ole Bally]

2013 or 2014? The fish usually come up to spawn in the River in Sept. So Sept, Oct would be the months I think! The last coupla years - 10 or so - have been very windy late Sept into Oct. November is so very hot!I would definitely go with Alistairs advice on this! Living there he'd know when the best time is!
November Two years ago we went to kanyemba, but NP hadn't been in the area for 3 months and so the netting was way outta control and the fishing really poor! Again Alistairs advice would be key! But then again, the good fishing would just be the cherry on the cake...the experience would be awesome! My wife and I have watched Lions use us as a distraction to take Impala on the banks ...it's just a wonderful place to be! We'd love to work back down there again!

 

[spike.t]

2014 prob best as my doctor wont give any more cortisone injections in my hip and has booked a visit to a bone doctor in jan sept sounds good as school hols end 1st week then.

 

[Ole Bally]

hip replacement on the line? Sheesh, sorry bud, that's tough! But they're so good at it these days you'll be up and running before you know it! OK then, you got a date for 2014! Lets say the last 10 days of Sept! Eish, gotta go buy new tackle!:rockon: 2 new Shimano Vengeance 8' and 2x 5000 Bait Runners! Can't have more than 4 on the boat...who else?