|
|
Along the Zambesi river in Zambia it is possible to catch one of the most appreciate African fish: the tigerfish.
The Zambesi river is one of the longest rivers in the African continent and the 2600 kilometers of its water course pass through the country of Angola, Zambia, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Besides to furnishing a great amount of water for the population and for the wild animals, it is the perfect habitat for several endemic fishes of this continent: tigerfish, bream, kapenta, barbel, sharptooth catfish, African pike and many more.
The body of this fish fish is deep and powerful with large silver scales reminiscent of a small tarpon. Parallel black stripes run the length of the body and the dorsal, pectoral and tail fins are broadly tipped with brilliant orange, making it one of the most beautiful and spectacular of all freshwater fishes. The most striking feature is undoubtedly the bony head and mouth. Each jaw is lined by a row of large, triangular, pointed teeth which fit into sockets when the mouth is closed. The razor-sharp edges of the teeth mesh together like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and are clearly designed to bite chunks out of its prey rather than to hold on. The muscles of the jaw are so powerful that when a fish of 2 kilograms or more closes its mouth it is impossible to pry it open with one’s finger. In this zone of the Zambesi river the tigerfish loves prevalently areas with medium-strong current and can be found in good number at the edge of the rapids that characterize the upper part of the river. In these zones this predator find its preferred nutriment, a small fish called kapenta, that massively populates the river. The fishing techniques used in the Zambesi river are mainly three: spin fishing, trolling and fly fishing. The most practiced is trolling with Rapala or other big minnows that allows you to cover a larger quantity of water, so to find more quickly and easily where the school of tigerfish are. It is made at a quite high speed, either go down the river or against the current. The tigerfish is a fish very quickly and suspicious and only in this way it is possible to induce it to bite.
For the spin fishing you can use a rod casting lures of 10/20 grams linked together with a reel spooled with 100 meters of 6-8 lb line. For trolling it is better to choose a more resistant rod and a nylon of 12 lb because it must resist to the strength of the current and to the speed of the boat without stretching excessively. The best lures for the spin fishing are small minnows from 5 to 9 centimeters like: Rapala, Yozury, Abu Garcia or by gold and silver spoons. Instead for the trolling, in Zambia, are preferred Rapala of big dimensions usually used in saltwater as Rapala CD Magnum from 9 to 14 centimeters or the Rapala Magnum Shad Rap. The most successful colors are sparkling ones as yellow, red, orange, green, but equally productive are the imitations of silver and golden fishes.
The lovers of fly fishing will need a rod of 7 or 8 feet in length with a reel able to contain 100 meters of 15 pounds backing connected to a sinking fly WF5 or WF6. The better flies for this type of fishing are big trout streamers or those used for the fishing of the salmon. Before the streamer you will need to climb it at the steel leader or you will lose too many fishes. The tigerfish has a powerful set of teeth and it can cut any size of nylon leader of good diameter. Tigerfish are widely distributed in the tropical and
subtropical rivers and lakes of Africa from the
sub-saharan region to the northern provinces of South
Africa at a latitude of approximately 26 degrees south. Males of this specie seldom exceed 4kilograms, but the record for a female is 15,5 kilograms caught in the Zambesi river. In this river, female average 2 to 6 kilograms and specimens of 8 to 9 kilograms are not uncommon. Bream and sharptooth catfish Besides the tigerfish in the Zambesi river it is possible to catch with good results other fighting fishes like the bream and the sharptooth catfish. The bream is a name used to indicate several fishes very similar each other that belong to the same family; so there is the purpleface largemounth, the nembwe, the humpback largemouth, the thinface largemouth. The average size of these fishes runs from 1 to 2 kilograms, but for example the nembwe can reach 6 kilograms. The bream can be caught with small spoons like Meps number 1 or 2 and a light spin rod is surely the best choice for this fish. For the line it is better not to use nylon over 6 lb or you will lose fun and port. Very good is the fly fishing with imitations of nymph or with small streamer. The bream loves mainly calm waters with dense vegetation where can find a shelter for its first predator: the tigerfish. The sharptooth catfish belongs to the catfish family and prefers deep waters with slow or medium current, either rocky or sandy bottom. The color of this fish varies from black to light brown, often marbled in shades of olive green or gray; the average size is high, normally from 15 to 20 kilograms. The maximum weight reported a specimen of 59 kilograms. The sharptooth catfish is a tenacious fighter and when hooked it will try immediately to refuge in some gorge. It can be caught with bottom fishing technique using dead bream or tigerfish as bait. For this fish it is better to use powerful rods with a reel spooled with at least 150 meters of 20 lb line. Hooks of 2/0 and 3/0 connected with a 30 lb leader are normally used. Maziba Bay
"Suddenly, my rod was bent in an incredible curve and the reel, fill with 0,18 nylon, starts to give line. After few instants I have seen explode the water, a tigerfish started a series of jumps and interminable runs under the surface of the lake; after few minutes of exiting fighting the fish unfortunately can free oneself and regain the freedom." I have had the possibility to visit Zambia and the occasion to fish in the Zambesi river in July, when some friends of mine decided to organize a fishing trip before in Namibia to fish sharks from the shore and than to pass in Zambia for tigerfish.
Our transfer in Zambia was rather long because after a flight of three hours and a half from the Namibian town of Swakopmund, we reaches the border area and here we traveled for other two hours with a Land Rover by road. To enliven the final part of our transfer contributed two punctures in the middle of the savanna. The lodge chosen by us was the Maziba Bay situated 120 kilometers from the Namibian border and composed by six chalets scattered in the luxuriant vegetation and placed near the mighty Zambesi river. The lodge is managed by André and Janine, two young South Africans that here besides to propose tigerfish fishing, organize games viewing in the nearby Sioma Ngwezi national park, canoeing, rafting, microlighting and the visit to the wonderful Ngonye falls. In this zone of Zambia the Zambesi river flows for several tracts quite slowly but with several rapids. In some areas there are deep gorges and the average width of the river is around 60-80 meters.
During our visit the level of the water was about ten meters under the maximum point that is reaching during the rain season. I personally thought of a river of muddy and turbid waters, instead I was really surprised to find it very clear and transparent. André told us that in some months the visibility of the waters can easily exceed ten meters. On the Zambesi river it begins to dawn at about 6 o’clock; at 6,30 the sun hangs over the river and seems like an enormous red apple. At the same hour the canoes of indigenous start to move and the number increases with the getting on of the day. This river is the main line of communication mainly in the south east part of the country where there is a wide alluvional plan and where roads don’t exist. Tigerfish fishing in the Zambesi river isn’t surely easy, in fact when it is hooked it fights hard and in a brief space of time, it does an impressive series of jumps and in the most part of the cases it is able to free oneself leaving discouraged and downcast fisherman. The difficulty of a good strike with lures is due to the strange attitude of this fish when it attacks. In fact the tigerfish prefers to attack his preys always from the part of the head, to stun or cut in two pieces the unlucky fish to swallow it with all calm. Of consequence the tigerfish is often hooked not for the mouth but for the body and so it happen that, after few jumps, the fish has almost won regaining the freedom again. I have noted that instead, using very small lures (5-7 centimeters) rigged with a single hook there is a notable increase of the fishes caught because, in this case, they try to swallow the lure in only a bit and if, instead, it had the hook fixed on the body the single hook has a better and tenacity seizure respect to the treble hook. Surely the fishing percentage of fishes caught with the live bait would increase dizzily because you have all the time to let the fish swallow the bait and then effect a solid strike. Our fishing sessions were characterized by several fishes lost and in a morning we was able to hook-up and regularly to lose ten consecutively. At maximum we caught tigerfish of 3,5 kilograms, with the most of our preys around 2 kilograms; unfortunately we missed the meeting with fishes of bigger size, maybe due to the fact that the fishing season was at the beginning. Anyway our experience was gratifying also because we have fished in very remote and evocative places and where surely any tigerfish have never had before the occasion to snap a Rapala. MORE INFORMATION
|
Copyright ©2004, by PESCARTE/SP, Brasil
back
to adventures
THE MIGHTY
ZAMBESI
The tigerfish is surely the most representative and
the exemplar that populate the waters of this river; it
has a good average size, in fact it is rare enough to
catch fishes under two kilograms. Anyway fishes over 6
kilograms are regularly caught and the present record
for the lodge that I visited is a tigerfish of 8,3
kilograms fished with a Rapala Shad Rap red-head of 14
centimeters.
Equally quickly must be the spooling if you decide to
do spin fishing, and several times you see two or three
tigerfishes follow the lure, but unfortunately without
eating it. 
It is compulsory the use of a steel leader before the
lure, and it is also advised to replace the treble hooks
with a single one so to have a more solid hook-up.
