Tigerfish: the jaws of the Okavango

Today we're going to be talking about a very special fish, part of the Alestidae family, the Hydrocynus vittatus, commonly known as the Tigerfish.

Not to be confused with its big cousin the Hydrocynus Goliath, which is much bigger than our main interested party. Rodmaps went to hunt him down in Botswana, on the Okavango Delta. This delta has the particularity of flowing into the Kalahari Desert, unlike the others which normally flow into the ocean.

It is a magical place that has an extraordinary flora and fauna, hundreds of kilometers of papyrus where dozens of endemic bird species nestle in this region of the world. You will come across hippos, Nile crocodiles, antelopes, elephants etc ...

Morphology of Tigerfish

Our Tigerfish has an impressive four part jaw, a row of canines that fit perfectly into each other, a tapered body built for speed. He also has a silvery robe, horizontal black lines all the way down the body, and orange fins. This species weighs on average between 1 and 10 kilos, but can exceed 15 kilos. It all depends on the geographic region where you will be looking for it.

Tigerfish behavior

Like any predator, it spends a lot of time resting and hunting other fish in its ecosystem. It tends to stand in the feet of papyrus, to ambush tilapia (its favorite prey), but also to escape the big African catfish and the Nile crocodiles who are happy to eat them.

How to fish for Tigerfish?

A few months of the year, an incredible phenomenon takes place in the delta: "The Barble Run", when catfish come to eat the forage fish fry that have hatched in the aquatic vegetation. You can hear the sound of the predators' jaws closing on the defenceless prey. The tigerfish are not far away, standing just outside, chasing any survivors who try to escape.

Egrets don't hesitate to join in on the feast, which will give you a great visual cue for where to throw. If you don't have any of those things, power fishing is a great way to trigger keystrokes while letting yourself drift down the river, which has earned us some great specimens.

Another way that will help you locate them is the presence of crocodiles. If you see any, fish around as the saurians readily devour them, it is a big part of their diet.

Prepare your equipment well

This fish has an extremely strong "weight/power" ratio. Precise, careful tackle is needed to fish it properly. Because of its teeth, we advise you to fish with steel leader because we had our 100lb fluorocarbon line cut. As you can see, you have to pull out all the stops. We also recommend changing the original hooks.

The canes:

We also recommend multi-strand rods.

• Jabbers spinning wanderlust
• Beastflogger casting of Jabbers
• Wanderlust casting of Jabbers
• H1N-60R from Deps
• H2N-64R from Deps
• HS1OS-66R from Deps
• Golden Mean Deep Core Monster MHS610
• Hookers "the forways"

Lures:

• Rubbers jigs: surprising to fish this fish with specific blackbass lures, and yet they were formidable in efficiency with weights of 21 and 28 grams.
• Cranckbaits: the shallow-dip (SR) and moderately-dip (MR) crancks are extremely popular with these predators in open water when throwing blind.
• Jerkbaits: take small models to throw in the catfish balls, and you will catch the 2 species by bringing back slowly and erratically.
• Surface lures: They worked but only during times of tigerfish frenzy, I would recommend wooden lures notwithstanding the plastic ones work just as well. But generally, an attack = a decoy! So it is you who see.
• The models: OSP blitz max, OSP Blitz mr, DEPS evoke, DEPS balisong 100SP, Jackall aska, OSP durga, OSP asura, OSP dunk48, EVERGREEN wildhunch, RAPALA flat rap, LUCKYCRAFT staysee90, OSP bent minnow 106, DEPS flatback 28gr.

 Enjoy!

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