Fly Fishing For

Being rather amused  and glancing up from the mid 90's sports magazine I was reading that was notifying the world that the first Tiger Fish were just now being taken on the fly. My eyes went to the mount on the wall taken from Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe , Africa in 1989. The smile widen as I whispered to him, “that is what they think, fellow.” (Tiger Fish -  scientifically known as Hydrocynus Vittatus, or commonly known as the "striped water dog".

I was traveling the world as I often do, “with a fly rod in my hand,” and ended up in Zimbabwe.  Having heard about the fighting Tiger Fish, I had brought my variety of flies, my faithful four piece #9  Orivs fly rod, and the extra spools, lines, and usual equipment we fly fishermen carry. Having made my way over the nation to Fothergill Island at Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe I was more than anxious  to spend the day on the lake trying the various flies. I had hired a local to drive the sixteen foot  aluminum boat to likely looking places that Tiger Fish would hang out. He was not a guide, but there were “no fly flishing guides,”so I was just as well off with a boat and driver. The boat is a necessity  due to the presence of crocodiles along the shore.

I had spent the night listening to the hyenas send their haunting laughs into the night shadowsas I tried to sleep in my new surroundings of Lake Kariba . At that time (have not been backsince) Fothergill Island offered comfortable, open-style thatched rooms which have a small wall with poles supporting the thatched roof, and open front with no door. There was mosquito netting over the bed. Had I not traveled some thirty trips into the Amazon Jungle of Brazil with the same fly rod in my hand catching the famed Peacock Bass and Black Piranha, sleeping in huts and hammocks hung between trees, I might have felt concerned about the wild animals that freely roam this part of the lake.

You may see lions stalking a prey, bull elephants fighting in the water, buffalo herds grazing the green grass of the shoreline, or, as I did ¯ have an elephant walk the shoreline following me in the boat with my fly rod waving in the air, “wondering what this could be about ?” I noticed thehippos keeping a watchful eye on the day's fishing and had the boatman take me up into a cove where there seemed to be a family reunion taking place. I wanted to take pictures of the hippos, but little did I realize it was mating season and that was what all the thrashing was about. I soon found out how little they appreciate visitors during this activity, as they began to charge the boat, running underwater on the bottom, popping up around us and trying to turn the boat over. The boatman recommended we abandon this idea we and quickly left the area and got our focus back on fly fishing. That was agreeable with me, the sex life of the hippo looked pretty basic, and I figured I had enough enilightment in that area for now.

At that time I had no thought that I may be the first person catching a Tiger Fish on the fly rodusing a fly. As my first fish started stripping line I realized this may be the closest thrillequaling the fighting Peacock Bass in Brazil. The set of the hook in its bony jaws starts thefish to repeatedly tail walk as
if flying, while shaking its head violently in it's search for freedom,dive, run, and in general, “all hell breaks loose” at the other end of a limber fly rod. The bestmonths for catching Tiger Fish? All year round, although best in warmer months from March to May, and August to the end of November. The water is clear in these months - before and after the heavy rains.

I found fishing around the drop-offs and partially submerged trees, to be the best fishing. TheTiger Fish can also be found in river estuaries and off weed beds. Since this is some of, if not the earliest experimental fly fishing to take place on the lake, I was trying white Lefty's Deceiversand baitfish imitations bright hair streamers (a special multi-colored one I made up that had worked good on Peacock Bass), and Clouser flies- all with sinking lines or floating lines with long sinking tips. I found all of these flies to produce strikes.  My acquaintance,  Peter Capstick (picture to the leftt)¯ yes, the world famous White Hunter of Africa who at that time lived in South Africa, wanted to fly fish the Amazon with me.  We never made it before his death, but his part of his world held something perhaps equal in fighting power¯ just not as aggressive toward the fly. Below are some fly rod caught world trophies. Happy Traveling.

http://www.s-h-systems.co.uk/zimbabwe/kariba20370.html

http://www.s-h-systems.co.uk/zimbabwe/kariba.html

        ALL CAUGHT ON ORVIS FLY RODS

     Record Black Pirhanha    15lb. Peackock Bass 

                         Amazon Jungle, Brazil          

Tiger Fish    13lb.+ Bone Fish   

  Africa               Belize

           12 lb. 10 oz. Rainbow Trout

                     Argentina