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Tiger Fish
(click image for detail)
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The fish exploded like a rocket from the peaceful river. A jewel-like setting of backlit water and glowing fly line framed its leaping arc. The quarry on the other end of my line was none too happy after discovering that its dinner was biting back. Had we not been in a boat and mobile, the fish likely would have broken off.
As it was, 10 minutes, three jumps and two long runs later, a hard-fought battle wound down. I stood admiring a fish of great beauty and heart - an 8-pound tigerfish pulled from the Zambezi River in southern Africa.
For the past several years my day job as a Bozeman-based wildlife photographer has taken me to the Okavango Delta in Botswana, Africa, to photograph lions and leopards.
There's something about animals with big teeth that has always appealed to me. I absolutely love Montana, but the winters get a little long around March, so I spend most Aprils traveling and photographing in Africa.
When the opportunity presented itself this April to fish for tigerfish, one of Africa's most famous game fish, I was the one doing the jumping. Few self-respecting fly fishermen turn down the opportunity to add a new fish to their "life list," especially one so formidable as this miniature version of Jaws.
The Ichingo River Lodge (www.ichingo.com) was my base of operations. The lodge is located on Impalila Island at the very end of Namibia's Caprivi Strip; the only place on earth where four countries touch - Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Zambia. Ichingo is located on the banks of the Chobe River, a couple miles upstream from where it joins the Zambezi River. Kasane, Botswana, lies farther upstream and across the river a mile or so while Victoria Falls, one of the world's truly great natural wonders, roars 40 miles downriver.
Owner/managers Ralph and Dawn Oxenham were my hosts. Ralph grew up fishing the area waters while living in Livingstone, Zambia, near Victoria Falls. A decade ago he quit his job selling agricultural chemicals and built Ichingo - a classic little safari-style tent camp and lodge at river's edge. Fishermen from around the world, including many Americans, come to Ichingo for the tigerfishing. Accommodations and food are topnotch and knowledgeable guides with modern outboard-powered boats give guests ready access to many miles of great waters on both the Chobe and Zambezi rivers.
So why tigerfish? It's that big teeth thing.
One has only to look into the mouth of a tigerfish to understand its name. The species is abundant and readily caught throughout most of the Zambezi River drainage system in southern Africa. And while any tiger is fun to catch, especially on a fly rod, double-digit fish up to 20 pounds are not that uncommon while record-book tigers exceed 30 pounds. Another species of tigerfish that inhabits the deep waters of the neighboring Congo River basin, the Goliath tigerfish, is known to grow in excess of 100 pounds. The formidable teeth on this predator are enough to give anyone pause about the wisdom of wade fishing. Fortunately, tigerfish show none of the nasty habits of their more famous cousin, the pirhanna, and they pretty much stick to a diet of smaller fish.
That's not to say anglers should do much wade fishing. An abundant population of Nile crocodiles also inhabits the river. Spotting 10 foot or longer crocs sunning themselves on exposed river banks adds an interesting element to the fishing experience, to say the least.
I was fishing with an 8-weight fly rod equipped with a shooting head on a sinking line and an 8-inch length of 30-pound wire trace as my leader. You can fish with the wire-braided leaders commonly used for big northern pike, but more often than not a large tiger will rip his way through it before coming to the boat.
Besides tiger fishing we experienced incredible game viewing while fishing from the relative safety of our boats. Being on the water for the most part provides a nice buffer between you and nearby elephants, cape buffaloes, lions, giraffes, zebras, impalas and many other species of game that come to the river to bathe and drink.
This isn't necessarily the case with hippos. Crocs get most of the bad press but hippos probably kill more people in Africa every year. Hippos are a concern not to be taken lightly even from the relative safety of a large fiberglass boat. However, they're an even greater danger to natives who ply the river's waters in their traditional wooden dugout canoes, called mekoros.
Nearby Kasane, which most tourists and visitors can easily fly into from Johannesburg, South Africa, via Air Botswana, is the gateway town to Chobe National Park. Chobe is home to much of the wildlife that comes to mind when Africa is mentioned, especially elephants. Tens of thousands of elephants inhabit the vast reaches in and outside of this massive park. Botswana is a sparsely populated country that also contains two of Africa's other great wilderness regions - the Okavango Delta and Kalahari Desert. With a relatively stable economy built upon tourism, diamonds and agriculture the country has very little conflict and is a favorite among international travelers.
April is high water season on the Chobe and Zambezi rivers. Both rivers are usually bank full with rainwater flowing down from headwaters located upstream in Angola. Despite rivers being near flood stage, water clarity and fishing can still be quite good at this time of the year. However, fishing for tigers in the Dark Continent is at its very best during Africa's dry winter months of July, August and September.
Denver Bryan can be reached at denver@denverbryan.com, or view his photos at www.denverbryan.com. |
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