|
FLY FISHING
Haydn Willans with a 13.5 lb
Tiger caught during the catfish run in August in the Kasai
Rod: 8wt Stealth Magnum plus Reel: Stealth Bluewater 7/8/9 Fly
line: Airflo depth finder 300g on int r-line
Fly Fishing for Upper Zambezi Tigerfish
The
Upper
Zambezi is a Mecca for fly fishermen
over the months of May, June and July when fishing for these beasts is at
its best using lure and feather. Why these months you ask? Well its all
in the water level of the river at this time. May is the time of year
when the river has reached its highest level over the floodplains and
turns to start emptying its bounty into its main channel. A variety of
species ranging from robbers and barbs to bulldogs and bream have been up
on the floodplains from January breeding and feeding and are now forced
to make their way into the main channel before dropping water levels may
cause them to be landlocked and eventually stranded on dry ground.
The
tigerfish and other predatory fish such as the Nembwe bream and sharp tooth
catfish feed on these “baitfish” which find themselves
concentrated in feed off channels and bays. In June there is a mass
exodus of this baitfish moving down stream to areas of more cover and
structure. This movement causes “bait balls” to be formed and
separate from the safety of the clay bank edges and move out into deeper
waters where the bait balls are rounded up and attacked by tigerfish and
grey headed gulls (incidentally very similar to that of Bonito or
albacore feeding in frenzies out at sea.) This makes for extremely
exciting sight fishing with varying sizes of tigerfish being caught from
4 to 10lbs readily and on occasion fish between 12 and 16lbs can be
landed.
As the water level drops over the rocks
of the Mambova and chobe rapids from August to November so targeting
shallow water tigers becomes more of a reality from the confines of
wooden dugout mokorro. This is truly the most natural ways of fishing for
the tigerfish and lends itself to great bird watching and the feeling of
really being one with the river.
At
the end of November the rainy season starts and water levels start to
steadily rise again bringing with it dirty water and an end to fly
fishing the upper Zambezi.
Simon Parker - The “Guru” of the Upper Zambezi with a 10lb tiger
Rod: 8wt Stealth magnum plus Reel: Stealth LA1 Line: Airflo depth finder
300grain on fused int running line
Fly fishing
Equipment needed
Rod
8
to 10 weight fast action rods are required.
Nothing
less than an 8 weight rod should be used as heavy fast sinking lines need
to be thrown maximum distances.
Reel
The
reel you choose must correspond to the weight of your rod and must have a
descent disc drag system as tigerfish are notorious for burning out reels
in there first 50 meters of their run. Your reel must also be able to
hold about 200meters of Dacron backing.
Fly-line
Once
again the fly-line you choose must correspond with the weight of your rod
and must preferably be a fast sinking shooting head for May, June, July
and August.
I
recommend anything from at least a 250 grain to 300 grain fast sink
shooting head with fused running line similar to that of the airflow
depth finder shooting head system. Alternatively a DI6 or DI7 weight
forward but the reason I prefer shooting heads is that presentation
isn’t that important with tigerfish but rather being able to
achieve maximum casting distance.
From
August to December an intermediate fly line should be packed for fishing
the shallower Mambova and chobe rapids.
Leader
line
Tigerfish
are in no way leader shy so you can use 3 - 4ft 20 – 25lb breaking
strain monofilament, I personally prefer Maxima ultra green 12.5kg
(25lb). Wire leaders are a must as no monofilament line is a match for a
tigers teeth, a 40lb piano wire will suffice. I prefer piano wire as
apposed to a braided wire as braid tends to spiral after a heavy take.
Flies
I
recommend an assortment of saltwater flies, my personal favorites are
deceivers and clousers tied on a 1/0 or 2/0 gamagatzu B10S stinger thin gauge
hook – I find the thicker the hook the harder it is to set into the
tigerfish’s boney jaw.
Colours
change according to the time of the year and water clarity but I always
have red/yellow/white; blue/white; green/white; chartreuse/white and
plain black deceivers, polar fibre minnows and clousers in my box. But
bring as many different types of flies as you can with you as I am not
scared to try anything new and neither are the tigers it seems.
  
Leader
Set-up
I
generally set-up my leader as follows:
-
3ft to 4ft 20 - 25lb mono leader line attached to fly line using nail
knot or an Albright knot, (I don’t, as a rule use braided loops.
The change in texture and colour sometimes invites an excited tiger fish
to part off your mono leader leaving you wondering what exactly just
happened – guides knots have too been known to take the uncalled
for abuse and blame for such stealthy tigerfish handiwork!)
-
next comes the 15 - 20cm 30 – 40lb piano wire tippet tied to the 20
-25lb leader line using an Albright knot (in my mind it is the only knot
that if tied correctly should be used for this join as the wire tend to
cut any other sought of loop or single knot attachment, the Albright knot
is also extremely neat.)
-
lastly comes the fly joined by 3 long wraps and 4 tight turns.
|
