Hungry tigers of barotseland
- Thread starter Ryan
- Start date
What an experience! We got back from a trip of a life time today.I have been following Ryan's Barotseland odessey on Sealine from the outset and we have experienced this privilege of catching monster tigers first hand, as he has regularly been posting on Sealine. We left Lanseria on Thursday 15 October with a few nervous passangers but were ably flown by Izzy. The flight took longer than scheduled due to a serious headwind and an extra unscheduled fuel stop. We only arrived at Barotse Tiger camp at 16h30 somewhat later than scheduled and prepared our kit and only had about 1 hour on the water that evening, with no success (I believe due to us not using live bait as there was no time to catch any).
The next day was spectacular fishing, mainly with live bait. The mornings started before sunrise with the guides Ryan, his brother Chris and Kelvin (a local), ably helped by Jan & Pieter catching live bait. We went out at about 7am and Ralph pulled out a 19lb on his first livey and I pulled out an 18lb, the two biggest fish of the week. These fish shattered our previous PB's by some margin. One cannot discribe the power of these buses. Over the 4 days we landed 19 tigers of over 10lbs, with 8 fish of 15lbs and above. We also caught tigers around the 7lb to 8lb range mainly on tiger wakkers, effzets and 2 trawling rapalas.
The majority of the big ones were caught on live bait with a couple caught on a tiger wakker. Jan caught a 17lb on a tiger wakker, also a PB by many pounds. Our conversion rate of takes on the live bait to landing was probably 1 in 4. This was due to a combination of tackle failure (knots, line breaks and traces bitten off) and very crafty tigers who managed to rip a live bait with 2 or 3 trebbles and a single off the trace without being hooked. The number of times we were bitten off was unbelievable with these monsters biting through 80lb plus wire. On one occassion I was bitten off using 108lb piano wire and 60lb tied double (and you thought only snoek can bite through traces!). We also had hooks and trebbles straightend on several occassions.
All 6 of us on the trip bettered our personal bests by some margin having previously fished Kariba, Cahora and various other spots on the Zambezi. Pieter, a relative newcomer to tiger fishing caught the most fish over 10 pounds (6 in total) with his best being 15,5 pounds.The comment from the guys in the camp was that there has not been a day this year that a trophy tiger (10lbs and above) has not been caught. If you want to catch BIG tigers and you can get up there, it is the place. If you do get the opportunity to go please check the tackle list posted by Ryan. You may think it is overkill but this is not Jozini. We ran out of trebbles and just had enough trace wire. You must change the hooks, swivels and slit rings on spinners to ensure a better chance of landing the big ones. A decent rod and reel with good braid is also essential or else you risk tackle failer (which we did).
To Izzy for getting us there & back safely, Ryan, Chris & Kelvin for showing us the spots and putting us on the fish and advising how to land them, as well as to Graham & Gerry for their hospitality, this was a trip of a lifetime. Glad you enjoyed the biltong
I will post some photos. The first is the 18lb I caught on a live bream.
The next day was spectacular fishing, mainly with live bait. The mornings started before sunrise with the guides Ryan, his brother Chris and Kelvin (a local), ably helped by Jan & Pieter catching live bait. We went out at about 7am and Ralph pulled out a 19lb on his first livey and I pulled out an 18lb, the two biggest fish of the week. These fish shattered our previous PB's by some margin. One cannot discribe the power of these buses. Over the 4 days we landed 19 tigers of over 10lbs, with 8 fish of 15lbs and above. We also caught tigers around the 7lb to 8lb range mainly on tiger wakkers, effzets and 2 trawling rapalas.
The majority of the big ones were caught on live bait with a couple caught on a tiger wakker. Jan caught a 17lb on a tiger wakker, also a PB by many pounds. Our conversion rate of takes on the live bait to landing was probably 1 in 4. This was due to a combination of tackle failure (knots, line breaks and traces bitten off) and very crafty tigers who managed to rip a live bait with 2 or 3 trebbles and a single off the trace without being hooked. The number of times we were bitten off was unbelievable with these monsters biting through 80lb plus wire. On one occassion I was bitten off using 108lb piano wire and 60lb tied double (and you thought only snoek can bite through traces!). We also had hooks and trebbles straightend on several occassions.
All 6 of us on the trip bettered our personal bests by some margin having previously fished Kariba, Cahora and various other spots on the Zambezi. Pieter, a relative newcomer to tiger fishing caught the most fish over 10 pounds (6 in total) with his best being 15,5 pounds.The comment from the guys in the camp was that there has not been a day this year that a trophy tiger (10lbs and above) has not been caught. If you want to catch BIG tigers and you can get up there, it is the place. If you do get the opportunity to go please check the tackle list posted by Ryan. You may think it is overkill but this is not Jozini. We ran out of trebbles and just had enough trace wire. You must change the hooks, swivels and slit rings on spinners to ensure a better chance of landing the big ones. A decent rod and reel with good braid is also essential or else you risk tackle failer (which we did).
To Izzy for getting us there & back safely, Ryan, Chris & Kelvin for showing us the spots and putting us on the fish and advising how to land them, as well as to Graham & Gerry for their hospitality, this was a trip of a lifetime. Glad you enjoyed the biltong
I will post some photos. The first is the 18lb I caught on a live bream.