We went to Jozini over easter weekend and had a very enjoyable trip.
We were a group of friends and between us had 4 boats. We arrived last as we only left Pretoria very early on Friday.
It was eveident that the dam water level had dropped conciderably since the Tiger tournament at the end of September and if it stais like this will make for a difficult tournament this year.
At about eleven we had managed to launch "Imfezi" and we decided to troll for the afternoon. Despite changing lures and staying all along the old river bed drop-off we did not manage one strike the whole afternoon on lures.
We did a quick stop on the way in and put out some live baits and managed to catch one tiger before calling it a day.
Saturday called for a change in tactics, live bait and sardines it would be.
Circle hooks on the livies and my son also tried some sardines.
Frustration frustration!! 7 lost fish by 09h00! The fish also seemed to know exactly where the hooks where on my son's sardine baits as they would chomp them off just behind the hook.
As for the livies on circle hooks. Had plenty pick-ups, let them run and then lifted the rod. The fights did not last very long as the baits were spat out and the hooks did not set. One bait was swallowed so deep by one of the tigers that the nylon coated steel trace had teeth marks in it about 300mm from the hook.
Some were pretty awesome runs but no hook-ups. In the afternoon we had no success. It seemed the tigers were on the bite early morning and would go off the bite at about 9-10. Afternoon they would only start biting late.
Sunday called for another change in tactics. Short shank J hooks and live bait was the new plan. Alas! We landed 7 and lost 2 in about two and a half hrs. The one lost never hooked up properly and the other one managed to also bite through the main line above the hook.
Sunday afternoon saw a bit of a thunderstorm come through with some rain and the water temp dropped by one degree and that was the end of the fishing for the weekend.
What was quite evedent was that the tigers were rather pale(not much colour in the fins).
It was a great weekend and all four boats managed some nice Tigers with the largest one going 3.49 kg. We also caught some nice barbel in between the tigers.
Plenty of game was spotted and it was nice seeing quite a few White Rhino still walking around with horns.
A troubling visitor was a huge croc at the boat launch site. In fact on this trip was the most crocs I have ever seen there. There were quite a few of them around and normally they would move off but this time they stayed close or would actually come closer which is troubling.
Never the less, excellent weekend and I am looking forward to the Tiger tournament this year.
We were a group of friends and between us had 4 boats. We arrived last as we only left Pretoria very early on Friday.
It was eveident that the dam water level had dropped conciderably since the Tiger tournament at the end of September and if it stais like this will make for a difficult tournament this year.
At about eleven we had managed to launch "Imfezi" and we decided to troll for the afternoon. Despite changing lures and staying all along the old river bed drop-off we did not manage one strike the whole afternoon on lures.
We did a quick stop on the way in and put out some live baits and managed to catch one tiger before calling it a day.
Saturday called for a change in tactics, live bait and sardines it would be.
Circle hooks on the livies and my son also tried some sardines.
Frustration frustration!! 7 lost fish by 09h00! The fish also seemed to know exactly where the hooks where on my son's sardine baits as they would chomp them off just behind the hook.
As for the livies on circle hooks. Had plenty pick-ups, let them run and then lifted the rod. The fights did not last very long as the baits were spat out and the hooks did not set. One bait was swallowed so deep by one of the tigers that the nylon coated steel trace had teeth marks in it about 300mm from the hook.
Some were pretty awesome runs but no hook-ups. In the afternoon we had no success. It seemed the tigers were on the bite early morning and would go off the bite at about 9-10. Afternoon they would only start biting late.
Sunday called for another change in tactics. Short shank J hooks and live bait was the new plan. Alas! We landed 7 and lost 2 in about two and a half hrs. The one lost never hooked up properly and the other one managed to also bite through the main line above the hook.
Sunday afternoon saw a bit of a thunderstorm come through with some rain and the water temp dropped by one degree and that was the end of the fishing for the weekend.
What was quite evedent was that the tigers were rather pale(not much colour in the fins).
It was a great weekend and all four boats managed some nice Tigers with the largest one going 3.49 kg. We also caught some nice barbel in between the tigers.
Plenty of game was spotted and it was nice seeing quite a few White Rhino still walking around with horns.
A troubling visitor was a huge croc at the boat launch site. In fact on this trip was the most crocs I have ever seen there. There were quite a few of them around and normally they would move off but this time they stayed close or would actually come closer which is troubling.
Never the less, excellent weekend and I am looking forward to the Tiger tournament this year.
