Blinky: I saw your tiger fish photo in the album - what's the story there? Where did u go? What are tigers like to catch? They look impressive.

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I had to go to Cape Town in South Africa to board an oil rig a few years back. I had read and heard about Tigers and wasn't about to let this chance pass, I spent 10 days at the Shayamoya Tiger Fish and Game Lodge in the north of the country, smack bang in the middle of Zululand.
http://www.shayamoya.co.za/tiger_fishing.htm The Lodge over looks Lake Pongolapoort which also borders the small country of Swaziland.
Hooked onto heaps and heaps of Tigers ranging from little fellas up to about 2.5 kg was the biggest I managed to get in the boat. Very easy to get to take a lure, but extremely difficult to keep hooked, the mouth is just teeth and bone. 9 times from 10 the hooks get caught around one their teeth and the lure nearly always drop off during the fight.



They readily take live bait (Tilapia), dead bait (strips of Tiger Fish), flies (Pink Things absolutely slayed them) and lures. I used standard Barra gear but changed to a steel trace after being bitten off a few times. The fish seem to be everywhere all over the lake and up the river running in. We got them trolling and casting around weed beds, snags and the like also right out in the middle in 50 m of water with not a structure in sight! Also got them fly fishing in the rapids and white water of the Pongol River.
Great fish to catch, very acrobatic, similar to barra, taking to the air instantly when hooked. When using lures, flies and live bait they hit like freight train with a blistering first run, a couple of times I couldn't pull them up and lost the whole shop! Quite the opposite with the strip baits, at times you didn't know there was a fish on until you wound in! I reckon over the 10 days I caught and released about 200 tigers, with the usual story of horses being lost boatside. My guide estimated the biggest one I had on was about 5 kg, the record for the lake was 8.3 kg.



All in all it was an experience of a lifetime, I got to see all the African wildlife close up and personal especially during the pre-dawn drive down to the boat landing and the proccession of animals to the water side to drink was never ending. Even included two near-death experiences when we cornered a big bull Hippo up a creek that was too small for the both of us, in my ignorance, I'm happily snapping off photo's at close range while the guide is going ballistic! Second one was an adolescant Elephant tried to trample the ute (called a "backkie" in RSA) we were in, we were just idling down this bush track when out of nowhere comes this Elephant and attempts to tapdance on the bonnet. Between the Elephant charging at us trumpeting, the ute going flat out reversing back up the track, the guide screaming his lungs out and me thinking how great this was getting so close to the animals, all hell had broken loose! The photo doesn't really show how close we were, I could've reached out the window and touch him!



I found the stories you hear about J'burg being a dangerous place to be true. Had a few mugging attempts whilst there, Cape Town was much safer, only one mugging attempt and witnessed a stabbing murder! You take your life into your own hands if you venture out after dark on your own, not even safe to catch a cab at night, always use the hotel transport. Every man, woman and child possess a side arm and don't mind showing it off in public either!

Very scary yet exciting place.

Sounds like a real adventure - and it reminds you how lucky we are in Australia in terms of safety. The fishing sounds good - did u get any other species?

I have fished around the world but missed some of the great species - I'd like to try for Nile perch out at Lake Nasser and dorado in Bolivia, as well as PNG black bass. Tigers sounds like fun, but it also sounds like a stay in Jo'Burg or Cape Town requires a kevlar jacket and a Colt Anaconda on a side holster!

Riskiest place I have been was Sipadan Island, a great dive venue where Muslim extremists went in and took all the tourists hostage and killed a couple shortly after I was there. Villagers were also dynamite fishing on an island or reef nearby. It's a great place though, I felt safe enough at the time - except for the huge shoals of barracuda! But I was in most danger from drinking too much Tiger beer ...

Anyone else been on a great fishing adventure?

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I also got amongst Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass, they are very popular in RSA. There's a small dam closeby where I was staying that was stocked with both varieties. I spent a day there and went back a few times after spending the day on the lake.

had some great trips in my job, will post some soon along with places.

chanos.