Barotse Floodplain Zambia 2010

Early season April through July

Last year I had the privilege of being able to assist one of the camps in Zambia for six months and to get to really know and have an intimate love affair with this section of the Zambezi. It is really one of the special parts of this mighty river being the biggest and most upstream floodplain of any other along the river system. The floodplain reminds me very much of being in the Okavango with beautiful rolling grass floodplains inter dispersed with patches of high ground that are lined with Palm trees let alone the myriad of birdlife that abounds in this area it was really amazing to arrive at the high water and watch the water drop over the next 6 months in places at high water the river was up to 80km wide.

In the early part of the fishing season the tigers are mainly are predominantly pack hunting and if one is able to get a fish on the end of the line and hold him there the other people on the boat will also have opportunity to go tight and it can be very chaotic 4 anglers all tight on 10lb + tigers makes for some insane antics and a flurry of words. It is some of the most insane fishing I have ever done and I have been fortunate to have fished many, many destinations. The biggest secret is to find the shoal and because they are pack hunters they are continuously on the move.  One has to stick to the normal tactics for tiger and look for them on structure tiger fish and bass are very similar that they like underwater structure – stump fields, sandbank drop off’s, fast flowing water, floating reeds, channels, top and bottom of islands basically anywhere there is a change in the water movement or depth. The Tigerfish here are typical river fish with Big heads and long bodies and here they are highly aggressive and have a tenacity to destroy tackle and lures like I have seen in very few other places.

One of the really great things about this area is that at this time of the year there are feeding frenzy’s especially when the water starts dropping off the flood plain and the baitfish are forced back to the main river the water opens up as the water is churned white by big marauding tigers that thrash the baitfish in to balls and a massacre ensues somewhat similar to the catfish run in the Okavango except these are all tigers– throw something into these frenzy’s and hold on tight as you are going to go tight you are invariably going to have several fish go on and just as quickly go off and then on again. The tigers are big strong and hungry one day I had a fish of about 12 lbs on and managed to get him close to the boat when 3 huge submarines in the 20+lb class came up and promptly grazed what I had on the end of the line there tenacity and ferocity is something to be seen. I also had on several occasions while fishing in the river half a bream come up floating next to the boat and the part that we retrieved weighed sometimes around 4lbs these big tigers have absolutely no fear. The area is netted extensively but due to the vastness of the flood plain netting has little impact on this region and there is sufficient structure in the river to prevent the locals from drag netting the river. The diversity and amount of species there is truly amazing – I was fortunate to catch many species and some of them were added to my life list of new species.

I went to Barotseland with the intention to disprove the theory that braid vs mono has to be used anyways I was forced to eat very humble pie – I got totally wrecked on 20lb mono and although I have to say the results using mono during live baiting sessions was more successful than with braid but lure fishing with braid definitely has it’s merits and hookup and land rate is way better than mono using lures. I then also wanted to start on 20lb braid and this very quickly escalated to 50lb and it was still totally mind blowing how you could still get a proper hiding on 50lb gear.

Lure that are a definite must sometimes these can be critical in finding where the fish are holding these can be trolled behind the boat at varying distances - I have always been a great fan of the Salmo range of lures – they are tough and very resilient and really stand up to the beating that tigers lay out my favorite lures up there were the Salmo Executer 8sr, Salmo Perch 8DR these lures in Hot Tiger, redhead and the other natural colors trolled at idle speed behind the boat covered much water and were able to locate fish during quiet spells there was also several occasions that other species such as large 3 spot, humpbacks and Nembwes were also picked up inadvertently while looking for these big tigers some of these fish were definitely trophy fish running in the 8lb class and for bream these are huge.  Goya also produces a lure called the Zambezi shaker – this is a killer lure and one of the many advantages of this lure that it is totally weedless and this helps when fishing over stumps and rocky areas.

A few things to remember when you up your breaking strain  - you will need to up all of the terminal tackle such as split-rings, trace, hooks etc. Even big strong hooks may be too hard and have a tendency to break off at stress points like where the barb has been cut into the shank (Mustard Big guns suffer this problem.) By far the most effective lure in the early part of the season was a double copper spoon around 55mm long ideally with some red in it. Then the ideal is to put a single hook at the top of the spoon – here I like the VMC Siwash 4/0 and at the bottom of the spoon a VMC Siwash 5/0 facing the opposite direction and you may ask why many fish are caught on the top hook – why – one can only surmise that maybe a tiger attacks the head of a fish to immobilize it that it can come back to feed further. The split rings of choice Spro 65lb and Spro 100lb Powers-swivels – it seems the conventional barrel swivels just seem to pop. Knot2Kinky’s Knotable Trace wire is the stuff and works like a bomb I started off with the lighter wire but eventually settled on 30lb when fishing lure and moving up as strong as 55lb when fishing live bait.

To get down to the nitty gritty of how to fish the spoons is to cast them as far as one can and allow it to sink till it hits the bottom. Now the big secret in fishing these spoons is to fish them much like a jerk bait/rattle trap for bass – basically the key is to rip the lure off the bottom with a flick of the rod and a few short sharp bursts of reel handle turns. Then allow the spoon to sink back to the deck and repeat the process varying the amount of turns and the speed of the turns. I found that it is normal that when one rips the spoon from the bottom it gets slammed so hard that sometimes it feels as if the rod is to be pulled from your hands. One can only theorize that the tiger sees the flash of the lure and comes to investigate and as he gets close to the lure it suddenly darts off and much like in the case of the bass it is a reaction bite they just well simply have to grab it. Another successful method of attracting the big tigers is to buddy cast – this is where you try and land the spoons on the same spot in rapid succession the sound of the lure falling in the water sounds like baitfish scattering from marauding tigers and this in turn lets the other tigers believe there is a pack hunt on the go –so they respond and normally the lure will be hit either as it hits the water or as it sinks below the surface. Your drag has to be set reasonably tight and you will need to ensure a good solid hook set so the correct rod is in order. Rod of choice for me was a 7ft Bass Jig rod XH (Extra heavy) for me this was a crucial 7’6. Diawa Pro caster rods were also very good. I saw that the best reel for this type of fishing was the Shimano Calcutta 250DC – this has an electronically driven casting drag and allows for the operator to throw anything from very light lures to big heavy solid ones in windy conditions with little effort and without the threat of over winds - trust me when the fish are in a frenzy there is much operator error as the adrenalin pumps and over winds are common place and this can mean the difference between going tight and not. Braid is all important I found that Power Pro braid was by far the better of the braids and had less knot and general failure over other braids – your knots when tying braid are critical as these are often the weak link so take the time and learn these knots as they will stand you in good stead when required.

Once the hook is set it is very important to keep the line tight and to bully the fish they are exceedingly powerful fish and even with a tight drag they will still peel line from the reel. Fishing with heavier tackle also allows one to bring the fish to the boat quicker and because they build up lactic acid very quickly in their systems a quick release is the key for survival – there are mortalities but these can be minimized with a quick fight and speedy release.  What a pleasure to fish a piece of river where 10lb + still abound and there is a chance of catching these big beauties daily.

I hope to in later articles about this area cover live baiting, using inline spinners and cover fishing for the breams species in this beautiful part of the river.