When I got engaged in 2011 Jonny and I started to think about what we should do for our honeymoon. I’m no ordinary girl and the idea of sitting on a beach for two weeks really wasn’t my cup of tea; to me it seemed obvious what we should do, so after a bit of planning we booked our honeymoon to Botswana and Zambia. Our wedding was in April, but because of the optimal time for tiger fish we had to wait until September for our trip. We had a wonderful wedding day but our honeymoon seemed such a long way off!
Eventually the day arrived and after a connection in Qatar to Johannesburg and then a flight in a terrifyingly tiny plane we arrived in Kasane, Botswana. We visited the Chobe National Park early in the morning and again in the afternoon. We saw leopard, sable antelope, African wild dogs and huge numbers of elephants. We were amazingly lucky to witness a pride of lions take down an antelope.
In between trips we sat and looked out over the Chobe River. Unable to access the banks we could only watch the boat traffic going up and down the river and wish we could get out there to fish.
After our 3 day stay in Botswana we headed to the Kazula ferry, the point where four countries meet: Zambia, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe. Once across and through passport control into Zambia we headed to our new base, the supremely beautiful Waterberry Lodge, about thirty minutes from Livingstone. The lodge was situated right on the banks of the Zambezi river so we could sit out and watch the sunset, listening to the calls of hippos and trying to contain our excitement about what the following day would bring!
We were up early but our path to the boat was blocked by a hippo that was happily munching the lawn. Only when its hunger had been satisfied could we load our fishing gear and a chilli-bin full of cold drinks onto the boat.
We fished still and running waters with both lure and fly at the edges of the rocks, by overhanging trees and in fast flowing rapids. We managed to catch a number of smallish tiger-fish from 2 – 4 lb. They were extremely aggressive takes, and when one hit you knew about it.
Tiger-fish have very hard plated mouths and so the quality of the strike was very important to ensure you didn’t lose the fish. On a number of occasions we were treated to some aerial displays as the fish tried to throw the hook.
The next morning our guide decided to take us to a different location further downstream. It was about 30 minutes away so we sat back and enjoyed the beautiful African sunrise, passing a flock of pelican, some waterbuck and a warthog drinking at the water’s edge braving a crocodile attack. We even heard the deep rumbles of lion coming from the Zimbabwean side of the river.
We reached a rocky area in the middle of the river. There were channels running between some of the rocks and the water was running white around them. We were able to beach the boat and climb out onto the rocks to fish. We had talked about trying some top water flies to see if we could provoke a tiger attack so I tied-on a purple gurgler style fly and cast it into a channel between the rocks. A couple of strips of the line and the water erupted as the gurgler was engulfed. The line went tight and my rod arched over. The fish fought hard and I was terrified it would flick the hook, but eventually the tiger was tamed. Tiger fish are beautiful and bad ass, stunning silver with dark black stripes, bright orange fins and of course a mouth full of super sharp teeth!
For the next stage of our adventure we hired a truck, bought some supplies and headed 3 hours west. The road was very dodgy in places with pot holes the size of our truck. We wove our way through little villages and eventually made it to a lodge about one hour from Sioma. The cabins were very basic, with no electricity and the evening shower-water warmed only by the sun during the day.
The guides at this lodge habitually took people out in the boats to troll up and down all day, so when we turned up with our spinner and fly rods we got a few curious looks. Our guide was very accommodating, taking us to some islands where we could climb out and cast from the rocks. He even took us to a shallow barrage where, despite us seeing a small croc, he said it was safe to paddle and cast from! We fished here for two extremely frustrating and amazing days.
Remember how I said they have very hard mouths earlier? Well, I lost eight tigers in a day! They would take and I would strike (not hard enough it would seem) then they would jump, stick up their middle fin and spit the hook, leaving me with a limp line and a racing heart. After the eighth I was feeling so frustrated with it all, and I really learnt the meaning of one last cast, one last cast!
The light was fading as the sun started to dip so I decided to go for a lure – a bronze spoon with a big single hook. I cast out and began the retrieve…a knock? Was that a knock? I cast again to the same spot, drew back the lure and bosh! I struck the hardest I could! The tiger showed itself to me by jumping right in front of the beautiful fading African sun, a sight I will never forget.
Africa is a special land and once you have been there and taken in the breath-taking landscapes, the wildlife, the plants, the trees and the smells and have spoken to the wonderful people, it will get under your skin. Getting to fish in this land for these special fish was a dream and one day I will go back and get a bigger one!
Article first published on FishingTails.co.uk
