Just got back from a trip up to Ngwenya lodge which is situated on Msuna Island in Zimbabwe. It is down river from the Deka river on the Zambezi. This was our second year back at the lodge and fishing these waters and we managed to hook up some awesome fish over the week we were there. We arrived on the Sunday to be greeted with some swealtering heat of over 40deg C so we thought we were in for a great weeks fishing. Our first day out on the water the temperature dropped significantly and conditions were overcast with patches of sunlight. We hooked some awesome fish during these conditions, with plenty bites. The biggest fish was caught by myself coming in at 16lb with a close second at 15lb by my mate on the same boat. The 3rd fisherman on our boat also managed to land a 12lb to complete the boat's trifector of 3 massive fish on our first day out! It was an awesome day's fishing. The days after that the temperature remained around the 32 deg c mark and fishing became much tougher but we still managed to get plenty bites together with fish coming in around the 6-12lb mark. All in all we caught around 30 fish but the average size was awesome with our group definately focusing on quality instead of quantity. Fishing was tough but the beasts were definately biting and were definately around. Spinning was not as productive as we would have liked and the fish only seemed to really come onto the bite when it warmed up dramatically on the last day with my mate catching an 11lb fish on the morning we left.
In terms of lures that we used, we mostly fished Rapala supershad raps in red head, perch, firetiger and concentrated deep channels of 8m plus. We had plenty bites on the redheads with our lures being savaged including a lure where the entire tail of the supershad had been bent 90 degrees! We also found that keeping the treble hooks on the back was more successful than the ones with singles that had been replaced which was contra to what everyone initially thought. I managed to get some solid takes on my Rapala supershad gold shiner and managed to land the 16lb (my PB) on it as well as a 9lb. Another lure that also seemed to work well and got good bites was the Sensation baby tiger but the hooks need some attention as I definaterly lost fish as a result of the smaller hooks on it. Will make a plan for next year. With regards to spinning we used Mepps no4 red and again got some good bites on them but we only managed to land around 4-5 fish when spinning. Spinning with Red mepps with a piece of fillet on the back definately trumps anything else in my view. Guys tried other lures but always came back to red Mepps4. We also drift baited a bit and managed to land 3 good tigers using Kapenta and also got some good takes by what was probably big vundu as all the line was stripped.
In terms of the lodge, the facilities are excellent, food amazing and the guides are top notch and very knowledgeable and passionate about their fishing. Highly recommended and hence it was our second year back. The major dissapointment is that the Zambians are begining to net the area at an increasing rate with them laying nets in the middle of channels now which is very sad. The Zimbabwean authorities are trying their best to control netting in the area and hence no nets are visible on the Zim side but with Zambian authorities doing nothing, the locals are taking full advantage. Hopefully both countries can pull their weight in order to save the tiger fish as if they dont the spawning acitivites will be dramtically affected. Having said this, there are still plenty plenty fish in the region so dont let it put you off going there!
All in all a great trip with our group having never consistantly caught fish this big! Keep up the good work Ngwenya lodge! PS all fish caught, safely released back into the waters of the Zambezi.
Picture of the biggest fish of the week and my personal best - 16lb caught trawling on Rapala Supershad Gold Shiner!
In terms of lures that we used, we mostly fished Rapala supershad raps in red head, perch, firetiger and concentrated deep channels of 8m plus. We had plenty bites on the redheads with our lures being savaged including a lure where the entire tail of the supershad had been bent 90 degrees! We also found that keeping the treble hooks on the back was more successful than the ones with singles that had been replaced which was contra to what everyone initially thought. I managed to get some solid takes on my Rapala supershad gold shiner and managed to land the 16lb (my PB) on it as well as a 9lb. Another lure that also seemed to work well and got good bites was the Sensation baby tiger but the hooks need some attention as I definaterly lost fish as a result of the smaller hooks on it. Will make a plan for next year. With regards to spinning we used Mepps no4 red and again got some good bites on them but we only managed to land around 4-5 fish when spinning. Spinning with Red mepps with a piece of fillet on the back definately trumps anything else in my view. Guys tried other lures but always came back to red Mepps4. We also drift baited a bit and managed to land 3 good tigers using Kapenta and also got some good takes by what was probably big vundu as all the line was stripped.
In terms of the lodge, the facilities are excellent, food amazing and the guides are top notch and very knowledgeable and passionate about their fishing. Highly recommended and hence it was our second year back. The major dissapointment is that the Zambians are begining to net the area at an increasing rate with them laying nets in the middle of channels now which is very sad. The Zimbabwean authorities are trying their best to control netting in the area and hence no nets are visible on the Zim side but with Zambian authorities doing nothing, the locals are taking full advantage. Hopefully both countries can pull their weight in order to save the tiger fish as if they dont the spawning acitivites will be dramtically affected. Having said this, there are still plenty plenty fish in the region so dont let it put you off going there!
All in all a great trip with our group having never consistantly caught fish this big! Keep up the good work Ngwenya lodge! PS all fish caught, safely released back into the waters of the Zambezi.
Picture of the biggest fish of the week and my personal best - 16lb caught trawling on Rapala Supershad Gold Shiner!
