Fresh Hwange Fishing Reports

We experienced some of the highest rainfall locally and in the catchment (Angolan heights) which resulted in one of the highest levels experienced in over 40 years on the Zambezi river. The middle Zambezi is generally gorges or narrow rocky flood plain and does not have the wide sandy flood plains like the upper Zambezi but the high water levels provides ample habitat for the fish to breed and juveniles to find protection in the grass, reeds and rock pools in the flooded river banks. The water levels have now dropped with the rainy season over and majority of the excess water flushed from the barotse flood plains. The winter water temperatures are low but warmer than previous years which has resulted in the Tiger fish feeding more aggressively. By targeting the rapids just above deeper pools with sinking lines and heavy clouser & crazy charlie flies, we have been able to catch some decent size specimens. We mainly use 7-9 weight fly rods with fast sinking intermediate to fast sinking lines (DI-5 to DI-7) and large arbor reels with cork drags. The leaders are not tapered, 7-9 foot and 20-30 pound mono with 20 pound steel piano wire trace. These winter fish have got a lot of energy and hooking up into a 3-5kg Tiger fish results in some burning fingers and screaming reels. The majority of the fishing is done from the 14 ft Dory boats which are specially adapted for skimming through river sections which are shallow or have rapids. They are shallow draft and have short shaft motors.