We arrived at Jozini at 12 30 pm on Sat not expecting the best weather or fishing, and we were right, well at least for day one! We set up camp, checked to see if there was hot water in the shower – there wasn’t ..eish and launched the boat, spirit’s still high regardless of the cold wind and overcast sky.
We fished the river section for a few hours with nada nothing and headed back to camp for some merry making! We condoled ourselves that this was a exploratory fishing session and at least the new route through Swaziland paid dividends. At least 2 hours saved right there on the travel time.
The merry making continued late into the first night not expecting what was about the happen on day two.
Day two – Woke up late with everyone feeling the Jonny and castles kicking in but we packed the boat with a fresh supply gulped a hair of the dog and we were on our way. We fished croc bay in the river section and saw where it got its name! We counted 7 different flat dogs and big boys at that. (Pictures to follow). We tried spinners, rapala’s and sardine but again nada nothing... we decided to head out to an old favourite spot across the dam to see what we could do. We got to “Barbel Bay†but again we were drawing a blank, now the beers started to flow again to drown our sorrows.
Another boat pulled up with two guys fishing small rapalas and bang they got two smallies right next to us fishing in extremely shallow water. Now it was time to get serious, beers back in the cooler and spoons on! I never tried one of these because I didn’t trust such a simple lure but I had nothing to loose. We started the drift along the bank casting shallow and what do you know 5 minutes later I’m in .. bang a small 1.5 kg, bang again mike is in, bank bang John and I on a double hook up, all in the same weight range. We drifted further down what is now known as “fat cat alley†Bang a huge hit We saw a monster scream off length ways with my spoon, winding furiously to get a tight enough line to strike but I was met with only slack. I cast again BANG – It’s a monster a short fight and we had a 4-5kg tiger alongside the boat. We only had a boga grip which it have lost a lot of fish with and in the hast I refused to use it and tried to tail grab the beast but a quick head shake and it was gone... Lesson learnt – a CAR net in on the shopping list. We continue to pound the buggers for a few more minutes and then the fish gods turned off this light switch – DEAD nada nothing...
We headed back to camp to celebrate a fantastic day with Jonny and Mr. Castle.
Day three we got up earlier with a new zest – we fished hard all over the place – fat cat alley produced again but the monster still had tooth ache and would not bite again. We fished a number of small bays and got a lot of fish on the deep side of the weed banks. Not a bad day, sun was potent and we got off the water with mild sunstroke. We were all well cooked after a long winter.
Day four – we packed up and headed out for one more bash at the big one – nothing nada but what a beautiful place the dam was like a mirror, the sun was hot and that was it, we had to head home.
All in all a great weekend and who says fishing in winter for tigers is useless!!
We fished the river section for a few hours with nada nothing and headed back to camp for some merry making! We condoled ourselves that this was a exploratory fishing session and at least the new route through Swaziland paid dividends. At least 2 hours saved right there on the travel time.
The merry making continued late into the first night not expecting what was about the happen on day two.
Day two – Woke up late with everyone feeling the Jonny and castles kicking in but we packed the boat with a fresh supply gulped a hair of the dog and we were on our way. We fished croc bay in the river section and saw where it got its name! We counted 7 different flat dogs and big boys at that. (Pictures to follow). We tried spinners, rapala’s and sardine but again nada nothing... we decided to head out to an old favourite spot across the dam to see what we could do. We got to “Barbel Bay†but again we were drawing a blank, now the beers started to flow again to drown our sorrows.
Another boat pulled up with two guys fishing small rapalas and bang they got two smallies right next to us fishing in extremely shallow water. Now it was time to get serious, beers back in the cooler and spoons on! I never tried one of these because I didn’t trust such a simple lure but I had nothing to loose. We started the drift along the bank casting shallow and what do you know 5 minutes later I’m in .. bang a small 1.5 kg, bang again mike is in, bank bang John and I on a double hook up, all in the same weight range. We drifted further down what is now known as “fat cat alley†Bang a huge hit We saw a monster scream off length ways with my spoon, winding furiously to get a tight enough line to strike but I was met with only slack. I cast again BANG – It’s a monster a short fight and we had a 4-5kg tiger alongside the boat. We only had a boga grip which it have lost a lot of fish with and in the hast I refused to use it and tried to tail grab the beast but a quick head shake and it was gone... Lesson learnt – a CAR net in on the shopping list. We continue to pound the buggers for a few more minutes and then the fish gods turned off this light switch – DEAD nada nothing...
We headed back to camp to celebrate a fantastic day with Jonny and Mr. Castle.
Day three we got up earlier with a new zest – we fished hard all over the place – fat cat alley produced again but the monster still had tooth ache and would not bite again. We fished a number of small bays and got a lot of fish on the deep side of the weed banks. Not a bad day, sun was potent and we got off the water with mild sunstroke. We were all well cooked after a long winter.
Day four – we packed up and headed out for one more bash at the big one – nothing nada but what a beautiful place the dam was like a mirror, the sun was hot and that was it, we had to head home.
All in all a great weekend and who says fishing in winter for tigers is useless!!
