Dottie and I, Tom and Catherine Carrigan, Chad Overway, and Jenny Montagu are in Kruger National Park, South Africa. There, we can get close to the beautiful wildlife of the sky, trees, land, and water (ours and theirs), as long as common sense and safety are in place.
The national park is known for its incredibly rich wildlife, with 53 species of fish recorded to live there, including some very large fish. Some fish are prized as game fish. However, you cannot fish in Kruger, as they are protected like any other animal.
As I observed the river, which is home to 53 species of fish, from the relative safety of a safari wagon, two other important reasons came to mind. It’s a crocodile and a hippopotamus.
Crocs have an average length of about 15 feet, and hippos can weigh between 3,000 and 9,000 pounds. They can move very quickly in and out of water. I’m sure one of them would put up a hell of a fight with my 5-weight fly rod – for about two seconds – before they swallowed it and me whole.
Kruger National Park authorities didn’t need to remind me that fishing was prohibited. To enforce the ban, there were many large, hungry resident “watchers” in the water.
But just for the record, the water there is relatively warm, so there are no trout. The most prized sport fish in the inshore waters where fishing is permitted is the tiger fish.
In the Western game fishing world, the tigerfish is considered to be Africa’s equivalent of the South American piranha. Like piranhas, individual tigerfish have razor-sharp interlocking teeth, along with streamlined, muscular bodies, and are highly aggressive and capable predators, often hunting in groups. African tigerfish are known to attack and capture birds in flight
Goliath tigerfish is one of the most famous. The largest on record weighed 154 pounds.
When I first read this description of Tigerfish, I thought why would it be, unless the players and anglers were all super tough, crazy guys who lost limbs and the winner was determined by who got away alive? I wondered if it was considered a game fish.
But apparently chasing tigerfish is a popular pastime in the Zambezi River near Victoria Falls in neighboring Zimbabwe, our next destination.
After some more research before arriving, we discovered that there were several guides who would take us to the Zambezi River in search of tiger and other local fish. The general explanation was as follows.
“When you book a Zambezi fishing tour with a professional fishing guide, you’ll embark on a small boat and drift peacefully between the channels, gentle rapids and small pools of the Zambezi River. Local hotspots are consistently proving themselves, regularly producing prized catches such as tigerfish and yellow bream.Further upstream, there are opportunities to explore uncharted fishing grounds.
Reading that made me want to consider that option for a moment, but just like the sea bream in the previous sentence, my own yellow belly overrode my curiosity. A fish that weighs 100 pounds, has lots of big, sharp teeth, has a piranha-like temperament, and can jump out of the water to catch birds in flight is too much “prey” for me. And speaking of fishing in uncharted waters, did we mention the Zambezi River is also home to crocodiles and hippos?
The title of my column suggests that I love destination fishing, but that may not be the case on this trip.
(Bill Lynch is the former editor and publisher of the Sonoma Index-Tribune and the author of three books. His new novel, MEKONG BELLE Love’s Impossible Choice, is available at Sonoma Readers’ Books and Amazon You can contact Bill at flyfisherbill@me.com).
