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SPINNING &
CRANKING
Introduction
Spinning
or cranking (or basically casting a lure for those of us who don’t
understand these bass borne jargonisms) is most productive over the winter
months of May through to August. However these are not the only months
spinning should be considered as this technique is also used to
successfully target tiger over the months of September to December, even
though trawling is more effective at this time.
The
tigerfish is a very aggressive and ferocious predator that will attack
just about any moving object smaller than itself when feeding. The use of
lures is ideal for catching this hard fighting piscatorial specimen
especially over the months of June July and August when dropping
floodwaters provide the tiger with a smorgasbord of fleeing baitfish to
choose from. – (Check out the section on the upper Zambezi
to see exactly why June to August is so good for spinning and
Fly-fishing)
Techniques & Tactics
Spinning for tigerfish can be both fun and exciting
but it requires being flexible in your fishing style. There is no one
specific way to catch a tigerfish and then again there is no one specific
type of lure. Tigerfish can change their feeding patterns pretty quickly
and you need to understand what might have worked one day, might not
necessarily work the next. The biggest advantage you may have over the
tigerfish is by having an experienced fishing guide that can read these
changes and adapt different techniques.
Where to Fish
A very important decision any guide has to make
before choosing a lure or colour is to decide what area to fish. I always
take into account where the greatest concentration of baitfish is going to
be. Over the months of June, July and August this decision can be quite
difficult as I have 75kms of river to choose from. Over this period the
massive floodplains spanning between the chobe and the Zambezi
are dropping and emptying into the main river channel. At this time there
is a great concentration of baitfish “washing” off the floodplains and
hanging in cover and small bays. It is important to understand that
baitfish will always be on the move at this time of the year as they have
to escape the dropping water and disappearing cover. It is when they are
the move that they are most vulnerable to predators and this is where you
find the tigerfish feeding.
How
to fish
There
are numerous ways of spinning for tigers; majority will be done by boat.
Which ever technique you use should be dependent on what feeding pattern
the tigerfish are following.
The
most popular and successful way is by drifting the faster flowing water
of outer banks of big bends and casting fat raps and magnums close up to the clay banks
and retrieving them back to the boat. The strike zone here is usually in
the first 5 meters from the bank, but its not uncommon for a tiger to
come charging out of the depths from under the hull and engulf your lure
only a couple of centimeters beneath the surface (usually making you wish
you had packed a spare change of pants on the boat).
Another
technique includes tying up to grass points where 2 channels converge and
fishing the “meeting” downstream water. Here tigers like to wait in
ambush and patrol the tumbling currents, feeding on any small fish caught
up in the wash.
The
“Frenzy”
For
a couple of weeks over June and July small juvenile bream about 8-9cms
long congregate in large schools under the cover of floating grass banks.
They take their solace in safety of numbers and when the time is right
they break off in a mad dash for downstream cover. The tigerfish round
them up like rodeo crazed cowboys and smash through the “bait ball”
chomping as they go. In an attempt to flee, the baitfish are forced to
the surface sprinkling in all directions where excited squawking
grey-headed gulls join in the feast. The result of this ambush is a
fisherman’s utopia – the screaming diving gulls are a dead giveaway of
the “baitball”and all that is needed is to cast a lure in the general
direction of the mania and give a couple turns of the handle……. but
sometimes its not that easy, the adrenalin flows thick on the boat,
causing clouded judgment and trebles to find every object except the
water and target intended, it sometimes takes one or two of these feeding
frenzies to steady oneself (or remove hooks from guides ears) and
properly undertake the job at hand.
The
Retrieve
There
is the great misconception that one must crank quickly to catch tigers,
but that is not always true. Yes a fast retrieve can work but once again
if the water is dirty or there are low light conditions that are
affecting the visibility of the lure, a slow or staggered retrieve can be
the only option. I will sometimes let my lure “swim” by itself in the
current when tied up in a stationery spot if I want to target a very
specific area.
The
Strike and Fight
I
have 2 theories about striking and I myself cannot tell you which one is
better. The tigerfish has an extremely hard and boney mouth that is
covered on the inside with a thin layer of white flesh.
The first theory I have revolves around
the thin layer of white flesh and the use of treble hooks. I believe that
when fishing with treble hooks a light drag must be set. The reason for
this is trebles do not have the leverage to work there way into the bone
of a tigerfish’s mouth but rather has the holding power to grapple the
white flesh. If there is too much pressure put on these hooks while
grappling they tend to either bend straight or rip out. The key here is
not to strike on the bite and let the fish run a short distance before
slowly tightening down a fraction on your drag. Then hold pressure all
the time and let the fish dictate what it wants to do, don’t try to horse
him around. You will find with this method the tiger will often end up
swimming to the boat as he is guided by the lure, rather than getting him
excited through a lot of pressure and making him want to fight.
The
second theory revolves around changing all your treble hooks on your
lures to single hooks (something like a 2/0 gamagatzu thin gauge hook),
using a slightly tighter drag and after the pickup letting the fish
tighten up all the slack in the line and then striking it. It is
important to wait till the fish has started to take line off the reel
before striking as this makes sure any bow that might have been there has
been removed.
Another
tip while fighting tigers is keeping the rod tip down and at a 90degree
angle to the fish so that rod has the same bend that it might have if it
was straight up. The reason for this is to keep the tiger fish down when
it wants to jump (as it will often want to do). Although always great to
see the acrobatic display of a tiger in-flight unfortunately it is
usually followed by disappointment as you realize he has managed to throw
the hook.
Boating
the beast
After
you have fought the opening rounds, don’t be another statistic who said
“Yeah, I hooked a beast…. but lost him at the boat!” it is the last
furious runs that the tiger makes when it sees the boat that usually
cause such heartache. Once you have it within 2 rod lengths of the boat
lift the rod so it is now directly in line above the fish. When the tiger
wants to dive let it, just drop the rod tip down as it pulls away, then slowly
lift and reel. Just remember that with only a few meters of line out it
has very little stretch and your drag has to be loosened a fraction or
else you run the risk of a snapping off. Once the monster has done its
last dance you can ease its head above the water and “slide” the fish
over to the guide where he will safely net it or preferably use a boga
grip.
“Boga’s”
are a Tigerfishing guide’s best friend – this neat little contraption
lips the fish and weighs it at the same time. I used to have a problem
when netting my fish that the other trebles of the lure usually got
caught in the net and caused even more damage to the fish as it would
stay longer out of the water and the net would remove a lot of the
antibacterial slime found on the body of the tigerfish making it more
susceptible to infections. The other big plus is that I don’t get bitten
trying to take lures out of the jaws of death anymore. Be weary of the
tiger’s teeth they are covered in an anticoagulant secretion that causes
immense bleeding even from the smallest wound. I found the best thing for
a nick or cut from a tigers tooth was a coating of lip ice over the wound
that then stung for a couple of seconds but then sealed the wound and
stopped it from bleeding (sorry to any doctors out there, its probably
not the right thing to do but its what works for me).
Now
that you know what to expect when spinning for tigers here’s what you
will need:
Spinning Equipment
Needed
Line
Just
like any other fishing techniques line characteristics dictate the
equipment we use. In this case it is imperative that you use nothing less
than a 20lb breaking strain monofilament line I like the Rapala “tough”
mono fishing line, the 20lb has a .32 diameter and as it states is quite
tough. I am not a great supporter of any braided lines, although they
posses some extremely impressive properties, I have witnessed time after
time mono getting more strikes and landing more fish. The only reasons I
can come up with is that mono has more stretch which is critical in the
initial pick up of the tiger fish (something I will go more into detail
in regarding lures, hooks and techniques) and that its appearance under
water may be similar to that of nets used in the river that all fish
learn to avoid like the plague. Once again these are merely observations
and not gospel if anyone has any other views you are most welcome to
forward me your ideas.
Reels
Now
with the correct line in hand you can choose which reel you would like to
bring along to the battle. I find that if you are not experienced with
baitcasting equipment (multiplying reels) leave it at home! A good
quality spinning reel can be just as good for cranking for tigers and you
won’t be sitting with a birds nest when you could be cashing in on some
excellent fishing.
It
is important that when choosing a reel that it can firstly hold 180m and
more of .32mm diameter mono line, and secondly has a good drag system. If
choosing a spinning reel make sure it has a good front drag system as
tigers are notorious for making a mess and mockery of reels on their
first hard run. The shimano Sedona 4000Fa and Symetre 4000fa spinning
reels are perfect for tiger fishing, as well as the Shimano Curado and
Calcutta multiplying reels
Rods
OK
now you’ve spooled up and are looking for that stick that’s going to help
bring that big-boy to the boat, these are some things you need to
consider:
1.
You’re going to need a rod that’s comfortable to
cast and matches your reel size so usually a 6’6 to 7’ bass cranking rod will suffice.
2.
Definitely graphite that has
some backbone – usually a medium to medium heavy with 3/8 – 1 oz lure weight rod will
do, just remember not too much backbone you don’t want to be striking
with a broom stick that’s going to rip the lure right out of the tigers
mouth.
I recommend rods similar to the shimano nexave
range of spinning and baitcasting rods.
Lures
The right size, colour and swimming depth are
extremely important when spinning for tigers. There are 3 lure types that
I will always have in my box, these being: 11cm
floating rapala magnums
7cm floating rapala fat raps
5cm floating rapala fat raps
The reason I use these 3 types of lures is because
they are all different in size and run at different depths
I use the 11cm when doing fast trawls and spinning
in deeper waters.
I use the 7cm when spinning in deep water holes and
current drop offs and when doing slow deep water trawls.
I use the 5cm when spinning in deep and shallow
water and doing slow shallow water trawls.
The reason I use floating magnums as opposed to
sinking is that a lot of times I encounter line bites and snap offs that
can be very irritating and costly
– the nice thing about floating lures is a fair amount of the time
the lure will rise to the surface to be recovered and used again. I also
get a higher strike rate using the floating version, it can be 1 of 2
things, and either the steel lip of the sinking lure is off putting to
the tigers or the sinking runs at a much deeper depth than the floating
and out of the fishes range.
These 3 lure types will cover just about every
fishing situation when spinning for tigers but choice of colour is the
most important decision you will have to make.
Lure Colours
Colour becomes a critical factor when spinning for
tigers; I am always changing my lure colour if I am not getting strikes.
There are many factors which determine what colour should be used, these
being: water clarity; visibility; baitfish type; time of year; time of
day; weather and list goes on and on. Looking at all these factors I will
always have in the back of my mind an order of colours that I will be
trying throughout the day.
Unfortunately the successful colours change from
day to day and the narrowing down process has to be repeated over and
over so the best thing to do is have a wide selection of colours in your
box.
Herewith are the lure types and the colours you
will always find in my box: (picture of rapalas)
11cm floating rapala magnums - Fire tiger
Black/Gold
Silver mackerel
Silver
Perch
Green
mackerel
Red
head
Shiner
Purple
mackerel
7cm & 5cm floating rapala fat raps Red Craw
Fire
tiger
Black/Gold
Silver
Grey shad
Silver
chrome (red lip)
Blue
chrome (green lip)
Trace setup
I will always use a plastic/nylon or carbon coated
trace attached to my lure. This will be between 30 – 40lb breaking
strain. Clip-on traces are a must for spinning. They make lure changing
effortless, but some clips require “crimping” after attachment to prevent
opening after hooking into a big fish. I usually use 2 short 10cm or 12cm
clip on traces back to back and the first swivel cut off. The trace is
then connected directly to the mono line, the reason I do this is because
it is not uncommon for a tiger to go for the flash of a swivel ahead of
the lure causing a line break.
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