Zinave record tigerfish
Zinave record tigerfish: Our first fish to Zinave National Park was exactly three years ago in September 2023. Since then, we have made an annual trek to this very special place every year. And every single time we have had life experiences that neither we and especially the kids will ever forget.
If you want to read about our first trip there, the history and information on the Park, the amazing project and all the fauna and flora it offers, read the link below.
When we did the first trip there it was extremely dry, there was hardly a trickle of water on the river below the camp. We walked miles in search of fishing grounds but to no avail. Then in August 2021, we made our second trip there and this time the river was in full flow.
This time it had adverse conditions but on the other side of the coin – too much water, which was running fast and muddy and being the peak of winter too cold for decent fishing. But, having said that we did find some tigerfish and everyone in the family caught their first one’, the best coming to Gretha, a fish probably just short of 10 pounds.
The boys with some Zinave Tigerfish on our second trip there in August 2021, two years later a little Duarte broke the park´s Zinave tiger fish record.
3rd trip to Zinave
This time we had a short 4-day trip with the boys along with my mate Bruno and his daughter and son.
Again, Justin was a great host taking us on drives and welcoming us to camp in his garden when a group of very grumpy 20 Italians raided the main camp…as always thanks, Justin!
Game Viewing…
We had some great drives and as usual saw a lot of Game including the first Rhino´s we ever saw there and the first ever for the boys. Really cool stuff and nice sunset´s and great barbecue dinners every evening with awesome company and some nice chilled 2M´s…
So special to have such a wild and beautiful place so close to home…
Certainly, one of the boys’ favorite places to go to…
After s short first light fishing session, on the third morning myself and the boys went for a drive with Justin and we saw the boys saw their first ever Rhinos. They were recently introduced to the park and another 10 are coming in the first week of September. That same morning Bruno also went for a drive with his kids and apart from the normal game such as buffalo, giraffes, endless waterbuck´s, kudo, etc etc they saw a big herd of elephants having a ball on the park´s main lake…
Snake water pipe…
It’s standard practice when one goes into the open toilet to have a good look around to see if there are any unwanted creatures before going about one´s business. That’s exactly what I did in the early morning on our first day!
5 minutes after I cleared Bruno walked in and not knowing I had just been to the toilet he did the same scan around but noticed that one of the bronze water pipes going from the toilet to the wall was moving.
Something was not right and after close inspection he saw it was an obvious snake.
A quite large (for its species) Marble Tree Snake which our Bruno with the help of the previous evening dinner braai tongs moved away from the toilet and into the bush…
Quiet a nice start to the trip and one that made sure the kids followed all (or almost all) standard practice…
https://www.africansnakebiteinstitute.com/snake/marbled-tree-snake/
We did not fish much during this trip but except for the first day made sure to have a short session most mornings.
In previous year´s one felt much more confident to walk around with the kids and fish – the first year the water level was very low and one could see much better and the second with the high-water level we always fished from the boat which despite all the crocodiles and hippos around gives one a more comfortable feeling.
This time and with mid-water level all our fishing was done in a couple of deep-water pools from the shore and seeing all those crocodiles around us as well as one of which being a sleep slope where buffalo and other game is known to come down for a drink did not give us that much confidence especially with the kids being so keen and not always keeping the desired distance from shore!!!
But all in good fun and despite the fishing not being great we got the one we were looking for!
The Zinave record tigerfish!
We had a late start the first morning and skipped the fishing but a visiting SA scientist came back at lunch and told us he had a good session albeit fruitless seeing using more GT drag than what he should for the light gear he was using he got broken by some big tiger fish…
We did a very short session that afternoon, missed a few small bites and then went for a sunset drink waterhole to see the elephants come and drink for the evening…
Amazing bite…
Early the next morning we walked from camp to a close by deeper pool for a short session.
Not 10 minutes had elapsed when there was a big boil from what was obviously a big fish on Justin´s stick bait. It’s so cool and visual to see these come on surface baits!
He came a second time but also missed but by now everyone was locked in to the bait and when it took the third time it was the most amazing aggressive bite and hookup!
Duarte was fishing next to Justin who was really cool and changed rods with him…
Next thing the fish started jumping and this time, even though I have very limited experience on this fishing, I could see this fish was in a completely different category than we had ever seen on the Park…
It was a really cool and long fight for the young lad.
Midway and seeing no one had thought about bringing a camera I ran to the camp to get my phone and got back just as they had subdued this amazing tiger fish into the sand bank.
Quick couple of pictures and we let it go.
Anywhere between 7 to 8 kilos, Justin told us that fish broke the Zinave Tiger fish record for sure and in a good way!
We caught a smaller specimen but that fish surely made the trip and back in Vilankulos the boys still got a grin on his face…
Thanks Justin and Zinave for another memorable trip…
memories that the boys will cherish for a lifetime!
Duartes Zinave Record Tigerfish
Justin and Duarte about to release the biggest tigerfish caught at Zinave National park, a truly great catch caught on a surface stick bait which provided for a spectacular take…
Dario´s Tigerfish
Dario with a smaller specimen he caught early the next morning also on a stick bait…at the park’s biggest lake – Justin is a Zinave legend, a wealth of knowledge on the park and a great guy who is always willing to go out of his way for a great experience – thanks boet!
Camp Boabab, with Bruno, Duarte and Justin @ Sunset –
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