Herewith report posted on another site.
Maybe useful.
Excuse the pic code, too lazy to put them on.
Having spent or rather mis-spent some of my youth around Vic Falls, I have tried to give my kids some idea of the experience via an annual fishing trip as soon as they reach an age where they appreciate it.
This year it was the turn of my youngest now that he has reached 10. Now Cole has caught bottoms, tail, longfin, bass, carp, trout etc but has had to wait his turn on tigers.
Last Monday we left Cape Town at an unearthly hour and then connected via Joburg on the flight to Livingstone. I had booked Sekoma Lodge through Gareth Coombes, as my fishing buddy had visited last year and highly recommended it - especially for youngsters. Sekoma is situated above the Falls on the floodplain in the Caprivi strip area and is very close to Impalila, Ilombe, Shackletons etc, but due to its island location and experienced guides with quality boats, is quite unique.
The fishing theory is that as this part of the river is at the lower end of the floodplain, once the river level starts to drop after the seasonal floods, it sweeps all the young, small baitfish into the main current where the tigers queue up for a conveyor belt of protein. Feeding frenzies are common and the action is generally hectic, although the time span can be limited to a short two-week period, and rarely extends over a month. This years flood lasted longer and was higher than normal, and as a result the hectic season hadn't really started. Now this is not encouraging news to hear when you arrive, and I had fears of another – “You should have booked next week / month…..â€.
Nevertheless as soon as we stepped off the shuttle boat, we dumped our gear, rigged rods and hit the water. Our guide, Alec, recommended experimenting to see what the flavour of the week would be. Well, we didn't exactly cover ourselves in glory! We tried casting Rapala Magnums, Shad Raps, Fat Raps, DD6, DD10, weighted jigs, plastic grubs, Mepps, EffZets, and even resorted to casting out a deadbait......a few half hearted knocks from undersized fish were all we got. Eventually we fished a small pool and each got a couple of small fish, at least the duck had been broken, but the fishing was certainly tough. Around the bar that night we heard of a few better fish being taken upriver on a black and red bucktail jig, which we quickly procured from the bar!
After an excellent meal and a few Mosi's we retired to plan our first full day. We decided to drift and try and cover a large section of water alternately fishing with spinners and jigs. This requires accurate casting as you are pitching into very small areas of either eddies, tributaries or holes in the grasses along the banks.
I fished with a 7' Shimano Nexave (15-30lb), Stradic 5000 loaded with 30lb yellow PowerPro and Cole used his 8' Sensation Tiger Tamer with a FinNor Lethal 40 and 20lb green Sufix 832. We also used another Nexave with a 5500 Ambassador for the deadbait rod and a 8 weight fly rod for when I wanted a change. Terminal tackle was as simple as possible. Braid tied directly to a tiny barrel swivel and then a 40cm (60cm on the yellow braid) piece of 25lb piano wire to the lure / jig / fly. No snaps, coated wire etc - keep it as unobtrusive as possible.
After a early morning run into the bitterly cold morning wind we started fishing seriously.
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Cast after cast, hitting each zone expectantly but with nothing to show. This continued until about 11 when Cole fluffed a cast and it dropped his DD10 short into a mass of floating weed. As he pulled it free a large bucket mouth engulfed it and crash dived. Both Alec and I shouted nembwe (green bream) and sure enough we soon netted a great specimen of around 7lbs - a really good size for this fish. Nembwe are aggressive, predatory fish and have been overfished quite extensively in the system due to their excellent eating. This one was destined to breed again however and we soon released it. We returned to the camp in high spirits for lunch and Cole was duly congratulated on the catch of the day. The afternoon was quiet with me releasing only one 5lb tiger despite our best efforts. As the rest of the fisherman (the camp can accommodate up to 24 guests) returned we were regaled with stories of bigger fish feeding at Golden Pond about an hours ride upriver. Gareth, who was in camp hosting a group, had accounted for 11 fish himself up to 14lb!
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This made the choice for the next day easy and we duly set off with high expectations. Most of the guys on the river had the same idea and Golden Pond soon looked like Cape Point on a Saturday morning when the tail are thick! As so often happens in fishing though, don't fish yesterdays fish! Whilst the fish were there, they were very finicky. A couple of boats eventually cracked the code and caught a few fish on a jig twitched dead, dead slow on the bottom. I managed an 8lb and Cole got a 9 but that was it for us. Most boats blanked or managed one fish, whilst the top boat managed 6.
Clearly a change of plan was called for so that our last day would produce some fish. Listening to the bar chat that evening I decided to head further down river than the other boats and fish in a smaller area known as JoJo's. My reasoning was that the while fish were tuned into the baitfish being swept off the plain, they didn't like the wind as the ripple it caused meant they couldn't distinguish the bait from the surface - so I wanted somewhere more protected, and they certainly didn't like noise so I wanted to be boat alone. As the fish were higher in the water column, I ditched the jig in favour of a small copper Mepps to imitate the bait. The decision was touch and go for the first hour after we reached JoJos as the wind blew and the locals were still pulling their nets from the night before.
Fortunately the wind soon dropped and it coincided with the Zambian fisherman retiring to repair nets. We soon got a couple of knocks on the Mepps but no hook ups and I think this was because we were retrieving too fast in order to give the blades some action. I changed both rods over to 22gram copper EffZets and then we finally got a decent take. In short order we had an 8lb fish released and then proceeded to have the best 4 hours of tiger fishing I have ever experienced in 25 years of fishing the river. The fish simply turned on and their activity called in more and bigger tigers and so it continued. I started off with an 8, then a 10lber, then a 5 then 7 and so it went on.
Cole then got his first 10lber
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and then followed it with a 12. That is simply a fantastic fish for the river. But then he managed another one of 15lb! Many guys have fished the river for years and have not been privileged to catch a fish of this size. To say I was stoked was an understatement!
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Not to be outdone I elected to cast further up current and let the spoon sink thinking that the bigger girls would be holding a bit deeper. Sure enough I got a solid take and soon had an 18lb tiger in the net. My best on the river.
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This was an epic day, but more was to come. I followed it up with a 17lb fish and then switched to a chiselnose plug to see the surface takes - just for the fun of it.
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A few fish stuck (most knocked the plug skywards!) and I added another 10lber to the list. Cole meanwhile was fished out. We had already missed lunch (amazing how for once in his life, food was not a priority!) and had thoughts of heading back. I mentioned to Alec that with this many big fish around, there may be the elusive 20lb river tiger around. Bearing this in mind I told Cole to go for one more cast, as far as he can. No sooner had he done so and started his retrieve, then he went properly vas! Alec and I both looked at each other and said "big fish". The fish then jumped about 60m downstream, and we said "Bloody big fish"!
Cole fought it like a pro, rod down, lots of pressure, changing angle, walking it around the motor, doing everything right. Finally the fish was boatside and gave one last jump right next to the engine. My heart was in my mouth as I was praying that the hook would hold, which it did, and Alec then scooped it up into the net.
The shouts were loud, high fives all around and all Alec could say was "big fish, big fish,".
The fish was clearly close to the 20lb, and then Cole asked what was the record for the area. Alec said 21lb as he unhooked the fish and grabbed it with the boga.
Silence as he held it up and then he said "21pounds................and a half". :mrgreen:
I swear every boat on the Zambezi could have heard our shouts of joy. What a fish!.
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We took some photos and then made sure she was healthy and strong before releasing her and saying a silent prayer of thanks.
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Needless to say, we stopped for the day and returned to the lodge.
That night around the fire the story was told and retold and the pics shown on the screen and Cole took pleasure in buying everyone the obligatory round of drinks.
It was a long night following a long day, but I am sure we will both remember it as long as we are fishing.
I have no idea of how to follow that up though!
For the record, I highly recommend Sekoma which can be booked through Gareth Coombes - and if he is in camp, spend some time him - a truly excellent angler and one that all of us, despite our own expertise, can learn from.
