We returned from our annual Mteri trip about a week and a half ago and i thought it was about time to post a report... We left Jo'burg at about midnight on the Thursday and headed off to Zim, we hit the border at around 6 and had the most hassle free crossing we've ever had (although i must say we've never really had issues at the border, as long as you don't get one of the locals to help you and you know what to do, it should be relatively painless!), we were through both sides in 45 min...
We were hoping to be on the water by just after 10:00, however we were a little late as my grandfather was a little late (we were meeting him at Ngundu Halt, he was travelling from Bulowayo) and this meant we only got on the water at about 12:30.
The first afternoon's fishing was tough and we caught quite a few dinks, with nothing over 2kgs coming out. The next morning was more of the same and we were starting to get a little worried. We were fishing all of our normal spots in the reeds and trees just off the reeds, but nothing was coming. We were fishing later in the year, than the past few times we had been there, but we assumed our normal spots would produce...
It was extremely hot there, with temperatures at about 29 at 07:30 and up at about 39 by 10:30. This made us decide to change tactics. We went up river and started fishing off the channel, the water moves from about 26 feet to 12 feet off the channel. We were still only catching the odd fish and nothing big yet. I decided to try cranking with a DD22 and this started to produce results, i caught about 5 fish in the next hour and the attitude on the boat started to improve.
My mate (Nick)persisted fishing plastics and it seemed like it had paid off when a monster hit his bait and surfaced next to a tree, the fish was definitely over 3 kgs, unfortunately the fish came off and there was an awkward silence on the boat for the next minute. About 5 mins after that i was cranking and my lure was about a metre from the boat when a monster fish sucked in it and turned away from the boat, i was in such shock at seeing the fish and then my lure dissappear that i forgot to strike. Now 2 fish over 3kgs missed...
We continued working the same area and finally Nick managed to land a decent fish, 3.6kgs. We were over the moon, Mteri had delivered a fish finally! The afternoon continued with more of the same, with me losing another monster and Nick landing a 3.8kg. I persisted with my crank and it finally paid off when a beauty sucked it in and headed off at full steam! After a few minutes of fighting my m,ate landed the fish for me and i had a new PB of 4.3kgs!
The evening was ended off when my other mate (Simon) on the boat with us catching his PB, he had never caught a fish over 2kgs and he managed to eclipse this by going straight to a 3.5kg! The day ended and we were happy with our days rewards, 2 PBs and 2 fish over 3kgs for Nick.
The following morning we tried more of the same and had a few decent fish early but nothing big. The crank bite seemed to have dissappeared. Nick tied on a magnum fluke (the bait is enormous) and we were fishing deep trees on the river channel very slowly. Nick manged to pick up a fish of 3.7kgs doing this. This ended our big fish for the trip. In the end, in 3 days of fishing we caught 70 fish on our boat, with a 3.5, a 3.6, a 3.7, a 3.8 and a 4.3. It was the most fish we have caught there but was still a successful and as always fun trip. Will be back next year again!
We were hoping to be on the water by just after 10:00, however we were a little late as my grandfather was a little late (we were meeting him at Ngundu Halt, he was travelling from Bulowayo) and this meant we only got on the water at about 12:30.
The first afternoon's fishing was tough and we caught quite a few dinks, with nothing over 2kgs coming out. The next morning was more of the same and we were starting to get a little worried. We were fishing all of our normal spots in the reeds and trees just off the reeds, but nothing was coming. We were fishing later in the year, than the past few times we had been there, but we assumed our normal spots would produce...
It was extremely hot there, with temperatures at about 29 at 07:30 and up at about 39 by 10:30. This made us decide to change tactics. We went up river and started fishing off the channel, the water moves from about 26 feet to 12 feet off the channel. We were still only catching the odd fish and nothing big yet. I decided to try cranking with a DD22 and this started to produce results, i caught about 5 fish in the next hour and the attitude on the boat started to improve.
My mate (Nick)persisted fishing plastics and it seemed like it had paid off when a monster hit his bait and surfaced next to a tree, the fish was definitely over 3 kgs, unfortunately the fish came off and there was an awkward silence on the boat for the next minute. About 5 mins after that i was cranking and my lure was about a metre from the boat when a monster fish sucked in it and turned away from the boat, i was in such shock at seeing the fish and then my lure dissappear that i forgot to strike. Now 2 fish over 3kgs missed...
We continued working the same area and finally Nick managed to land a decent fish, 3.6kgs. We were over the moon, Mteri had delivered a fish finally! The afternoon continued with more of the same, with me losing another monster and Nick landing a 3.8kg. I persisted with my crank and it finally paid off when a beauty sucked it in and headed off at full steam! After a few minutes of fighting my m,ate landed the fish for me and i had a new PB of 4.3kgs!
The evening was ended off when my other mate (Simon) on the boat with us catching his PB, he had never caught a fish over 2kgs and he managed to eclipse this by going straight to a 3.5kg! The day ended and we were happy with our days rewards, 2 PBs and 2 fish over 3kgs for Nick.
The following morning we tried more of the same and had a few decent fish early but nothing big. The crank bite seemed to have dissappeared. Nick tied on a magnum fluke (the bait is enormous) and we were fishing deep trees on the river channel very slowly. Nick manged to pick up a fish of 3.7kgs doing this. This ended our big fish for the trip. In the end, in 3 days of fishing we caught 70 fish on our boat, with a 3.5, a 3.6, a 3.7, a 3.8 and a 4.3. It was the most fish we have caught there but was still a successful and as always fun trip. Will be back next year again!