My Travels

South Africa IX - Victoria Falls & Travel Home

Sat, 4 Aug 2007 08:40:42 -0600

After breakfast Keith, Rowdy and I visited Victoria falls before catching our early afternoon flight in Livingstone.

Victoria falls was magnificent. The water above the falls is deceptively calm, the water over the falls majestic. There is a fascinating juxtaposition on tropical and arid landscape on account of the spray from the falls, which has a very clear boundary. There are some very nice locally hand carved souvenirs available at the falls. In addition to the falls, we saw numerous baboons in on the side of the road between the falls and the airport.

This has been a fantastic trip.

South Africa VIII - Tigerfish Day V

Fri, 3 Aug 2007 08:39:26 -0600

We started the day with a nature walk on the island with Paul after breakfast. Fishing was everything we could have possibly have hoped for and more - Rowdy and I each boated 13 lb tigers!

The one hour walk with Paul around the island opened my eyes to the breath of compelling natural features that have been in our backyard all week. During the walk Paul pointed out: mustard trees, which locals use to clean their teeth; baobab (upside down) trees, whose white fuzzy fruit tastes like sour apple; fig trees; plate thorns or “come back” trees; velvet monkeys; the jacoberry tree; African Mango stain; a monitor; and the sausage tree, which is reputed to have special male enhancement powers. According to Paul, adolescent males make a small cut on their members, mix the blood with the milk from the sausage trees phallic fruit and then pluck the fruit when it is as big as they aspire for their members to be. Apparently one individual let his fruit get so big that the corresponding effects rendered him almost unable to walk.

One of the primary reasons that the upper Zambezi river fishes so well during the winter (May through August) is due to the small fry that spawn during high water in April and then increasingly densely congregate in the main channel as the water recedes. As the water drops even further in the Kasai Channel, barbell (catfish) get pushed closer to the edges of the grass, which pushes even more bait fish into the tigerfish’s feeding zone, which, in turn, avails even more fishing opportunities. Wind and cold air tend to push the bigger tigerfish down even deeper; it is not coincidence that our most productive day was the most still with warmest air temperatures.

We got on the water around 10 and started the day’s fishing on the Zambezi about 500 meters upstream of the confluence with Kasai. Both barbell and tigers were popping everywhere. We spent some time tied to the grass and some time anchored 60′ to 100′ out in the channel as we drifted down. At 11 am, while tied to the grass, it happened; my first and only shot at a big tiger. The beast ate my size 2 GRGB clauser aggressively, took about 60′ of line, stopped running and teased me about 100′ from the boat, counting on impatience to overcome me. As big as this fish was, she put up more of a mental fight than a physical one; how typical of a woman. After a few minutes she started making her way to the boat. There was a near earth shattering lull in the steady line tension, my heart leapt and my stomach dropped. By the grace of the fishing gods, it quickly came tight again as my fish steadily felt increasingly heavy. She arrived at the boat with her wits about her and enough energy to carry on an extended boat dance, during which she repeatedly surged and flashed, showcasing her majestic beauty. After what felt like an hour, but I am told was only fifteen minutes, she conceded the fight. Her heavy head barely fit in the net and Keith had to tail her in order to bring her home. What a beautiful sight. She weighed 13 pounds and measured 80 cm - an elegant trophy tiger by any standard. After a paparazzi-esque photo barrage, we gently revived her until she was ready to resume her duties at the apex of this food chain. I spend the rest of the day with a lighter heart, lighter feet, smoother cast and repeatedly caught myself smiling wildly for no apparent reason.

The rest of the day continued to be productive. I brought a 4 pounder to the boat, without realizing that it was on. It spit after its first boat dance surge. Rowdy also landed a 13 pounder around 3:30 on a size 2 yellow and grey clauser. The fish put up a great fight a Rowdy fought her like a champ. A perfect compliment to my start to the day.

We finished the day drifting down the Zambezi just above the Kasai. I put my last cast out across the lower edge of the Zambezi-Kasai confluence just as the top edge of sun dropped below the horizon.

boga grips, not to be confused with gugger’s grips,

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South Africa VII - Tigerfish Day IV

Thu, 2 Aug 2007 08:38:21 -0600

We started the day floating the rapids near the camp in a canoe and spent the rest of the day working the Kasai Channel. It was a bit hotter and the wind was down quite a bit, very conducive to getting into the bigger tigers.

I floated the rapids with Keith and Stan in a traditional size, three man canoe. Rowdy floated with Paul in an inflatable. I had a blast. It was great to see the camp from the water, as well as the finger of the Zambezi that the elephants crossed during dinner the night before. I boated two small tigers that were about 1.5 lbs on a size 2 RGBG clauser. Rowdy, unfortunately, did not have a good a time in the inflatable, but did boat one respectable smaller fish.

It is very interesting, by the way, that anglers in this part of the world refer to the size of their catches in pounds, especially the fly anglers. Another notable point is that Malorone, one of the leading malaria medications, predisposes the body to sunburn. I became aware of this after wearing a visor for a couple of days and burning the top of my head for the first time in my life. I have not had a problem since I switched back to my hat; no exposure issues anywhere else on account of wearing SPF 50 during the day and putting on long sleeves, pant legs and a bavaclava in the evenings when the mosies (mosquitoes) become active. I probably should have read the warning label on the prescription more carefully.

The late morning and early afternoon produced two great fish for Rowdy, one of which weighed in at 8 lbs and gave him a backing burning run followed by a great fight. Rowdy played it very well, especially near the boat, where an angler has to be very patient while the fish surges under the boat before netting it, especially with a wireless leader. Rowdy’s next fish was about 3 lbs, but is particularly notable since he had to hand line the fish to the boat. While I was diligently stripping my fly, Rowdy paused briefly before starting to reel up and got a nice take. The fish started taking line until a large tangle jammed in the middle line guides. With Keith’s help, they set the rod down and hand lined the fish home - I got a great video of the mayhem.

We pulled up to the next beat, where Paul implored his unique anchoring mechanism; he tied a knot with the grass around the bow railing. They use this technique 90% of the time and it works great. I finally got a little bit of tiger love and brought a 3 lb fish to the boat on a GRGB kaluser. I still haven’t seen my backing and am cautiously optimistic about tomorrow producing a great fish, or at least a great run. I’ve been covering water like mad, but have not yet caught the fish that I came for. Don’t get me wrong, this has been a fantastic trip, but I came over here so excited about the tiger’s legendary backing burning runs that it has been a bit of a downer to have watched the line next to me light up a half dozen times in the exact same lie as mine, without getting a hint of action. I did have to clear a bit of line for one fish earlier in the week, that, almost on queue, spit at the end of the run. I also had two big fish tap my hook near the end of a long swing, jump and go about their business. While they were great fish, they did not deliver on the action side. Some things are not meant to be perhaps, which leaves me no choice but to focus on the process not the outcome. That’s a lot of what I love about fly fishing, I suppose, the process. While I have not experienced the adrenaline charged side of this trip, I have been blown away by another disparate form of mother nature’s beauty.

The variety of wildlife in the flood plane that we’ve been fishing has alone been worth the trip. My favorite part of the day, however, has been the evenings. Around four in the afternoon the sun drops her majestic rays on the water, my hopes for fish swell as the horizon fades from blue to pink and purple. Over the next two and a half hours the colors on the horizon become increasingly profound and eloquently frame the large orange sphere in the sky before her disappearance ends the day.

Another favorite aspect of fly fishing is its seeming boundless dynamic nature. The tigerfish has definitely made its contribution here. Of the twenty or so takes that I have enjoyed this trip, no two have been the same. In fact many of them have not even been similar. Some have been fierce, others subtle and others firm and deliberate.

South Africa VI - Tigerfish Day III

Wed, 1 Aug 2007 08:33:28 -0600

Keith and I tied a few red bodied kalusers with black and grey wings before breakfast, ate and then we all hit the river. We spend the morning chasing nembwe and tigerfish on the Zambezi and the afternoon pursuing tigers on in the Kasai channel. The weather was mild and very comfortable, although we did contend with an intermittent gusty upstream breeze on the Zam.

Nembwe are very territorial and favor undercut banks. Keith’s strategy for effectively presenting a fly involves casting straight downstream, stripping the line towards the bank, such that the retrieve is actually through the undercut section. Keith also advocates letting some line out after every couple of strips because the nembwe often take on the drop. These tactics were very effective and we enjoyed consistent action on the Zambezi. Rowdy landed a 2 pound male and a 2 pound female nembwe on a size 2 fire tiger, an orange body clauser with a green wing. I brought a 3 pound mail nembwe and a 2 pound tiger IDB on Keith’s copper clauser, copper body with an orange kinky fiber, red and black buck tail, and peacock wing. The nembwe did not give us much of a run, but are stout fighters and fun fish to catch and photograph. Another Zam highlight was a nasty looking 4′ monitor that came out of the water very close to one of the beats that we were fishing.

During this trip we have almost exclusively fished 1′ of 25 lb, 4′ of 20 lb leader with a 1′ 30 lb shock tippet. Keith favors tying this “wireless” leader with Maxima Ultra Green. Alternatively, one can fish a thin wire tippet, but on account of the prolific small fry, the winter tigerfish on the upper Zambezi feed more selectively and imitative patterns are more effective. Their summer counterparts on the lower river prefer big, loud attractor flies, especially in blue and white, and perpetuate the feeding patterns that earned the tigers their “eat anything you put in front of them” reputation. Although, Keith and the other leading guides in the region continue to refine their tactics and flies throughout year and are achieving increasingly productive results.
There were quite a few twitchers (local term for bird watchers) on the water when we got back to the Kasai in the afternoon. There were also plenty of birds and a few resident crocs. It’s a great feeling to get to know some sections of this water well enough to be able to identify the resident animals. Rowdy and I both got a few strong takes, but the big fish did not commit. We each boated a few respectable tigers on the go-to size 2 red bodied clausers with a grey and black wing. The tip section of my 8 wt Sage Xi2 gave way towards the end of the day and I’m looking forward to getting on the water with my 8 wt XP tomorrow, which hasn’t seen any action in quite a while; hopefully it’s still a fishy stick.

We had a very tasty pork and beef stir-fry for dinner, after which we retired to the fire pit for cigars and man talk - guns, planes, bows, hunting and, of course, fishing. It blows my mind how many incredible fishing opportunities in sub-Saharan Africa - I can’t wait to get back here and experience more of them.

South Africa V - Tigerfish Day II & Chobe National Park

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 08:31:03 -0600

After another great breakfast, I took my first shower with water warmed by the “donkey stove.”. Both the pressure and temperature were very comfortable. During the day Keith, Paul, Rowdy and I traveled from our camp in Nambia up the Kasai channel into Namibia, passed through immigration, where we turned onto the Chobe river which separates Namibia (river left) and Botswana (river right) and into Chobe National Park.

Keith and I talked over breakfast about my lack of hookups. The current theory is that I need to get my flies deeper, which renders the intermediate sink lines with shooting heads worthless for this trip - I’m glad that I purchased so many. Keith and the other guides here swear by the Airflo DI-7 in 8/9 for 8wt rods and 9/10 for 9 wt rods.

We fished a few beats on our way to Chobe National Park, which produced several small tigers and one big run for Rowdy. I caught my first tigerfish on a Luther fly, a black and grey clauser with a gold body and red flash. I’ll be tying more of these tomorrow morning, as this one did not last long in tigerfish land.

Chobe National Park was truly spectacular, especially by water. We arrived at mid-day and were practically the only boat on the river. During the couple of hour trip through the park the species we saw included: goliath heron, puku (a flat plains antelope), sabel (a black antelope), Egyptian geese, white face whistling ducks, blacksmith blover, kudu, guinea foul, wart hogs, king fisher (very impressive divers), spurring goose (huge), impala, hippo, elephant, cape buffalo, martins and got nice pictures of little bee eaters, malachite king fisher, fish eagle.

The afternoon fishing was more productive than Monday, but still failed to produce a large tigerfish IDB (in da boat). I had two fish in the 7 to 8 lb range on briefly. Both fish hit near the end of my swing, took rather mildly, ran just a few feet, jumped and went about their business. I did manage to land a few decent fish in the 2 lb range and took my first picture with the ghoul teeth. Rowdy also boated a couple of respectable fish.

We proved Keith’s theory about getting my fly deeper - I look forward to continuing to refine this theory over the rest of the week and actually land a few big boys.

We returned to camp a bit after dark and had drinks and dinner at the BOMA, a big open meeting area at the far end of the camp. During cocktail hour numerous elephants were stomping around across a narrow finger of the Zambezi. Near the end of cocktail hour, several of these elephants crossed the river under the moon light. It was truly a breath taking experience. We enjoyed sausage and t-bone steaks with roasted vegetables and potatoes and melie pap or sadza (boiled maize), a regional stable.