Home | Tours | Gallery | Videos | Articles | Destinations | Guides | Species | 20 Pound Club | Why us | Contact us | Links    
Articles:
Fly Camping the Okavango
T +27 (0)33 344 2250 C +27 (0)84 622 2272
email enquiries@tourettefishing.com
Rockavango - It's Not All About the Runs | Bushmans River | Fly Camping the Okavango | Mnyera River, the Quest for Trophy Tigerfish
Duzi Scalies | Exploring the Lower Zambezi | Fly of the Tiger | Inhaca | Lady Jacqueline | Mainline Tigers | Simply Tigers
Sustainable Fishing Ski Angling | The Copper Clouser | The Realm of Hells Gates | Tiger Flies
Tiger Rush. Prospecting The Lungwebungu River | Trophy Tigers - 2010 | Unprotected tiger fishing | Zambezi Drift

Click here to download PDF - 1

Click here to download PDF - 2

Click here to download PDF - 3

Click here to download PDF - 4

Click here to download PDF - 5

Fly Camping the Okavango We had stopped for lunch on a remote Okavango island, after a potential catfish run had been found during the morning session. The camp was promptly set-up, canvas bed rolls, inflatable mattresses, mosquito nets and the simplicity they offered were the order of the day. A good pile of fire wood was easily collected; fold up tables erected and the bare essentials carried off the boat. While a pot of coffee was brewed to chase a good lunch, leaders were retied, and fly boxes restocked. Everyone was smiling with banter spurring on the high spirits of the camp. It was the golden hour of the evening that was on everyone’s lips. For we were camping on a remote island on the Okavango River, far from our lodge, with a good cat fish run building momentum within a stones throw from our fly camp. Perhaps the reason for the boyishly laughter was that everyone knew the potential that evening held. That when the light faded and the tigerfish were attacking the flies at fever pitch, we were going to be the only anglers with a line in the waterThe Okavango River spills into the North Western corner of Botswana, after a long journey through the Caprivi Strip of Namibia, and the catchment area within Angola, although along these sections it goes by the names of Kanvango and Cubango respectively. Although the river travels for many hundreds of kilometers before entering Botswana, it is the truly remarkable that happens when the rising waters reach the flood plains of the Okavango delta. There is a marginal elevation difference between Shakawe, in the north of the pan handle, and Maun, some 400km away. With very little gradient, the flooding water creates a seemingly endless area of lagoons, winding river, oxbow lakes, floodplains and papyrus. The area is vast and its largest covers a staggering 16 000 square kilometers. Considering the perfect nursery these flood waters provide for juvenile and small fish species, one can hardly comprehend the volume of potential tigerfish fodder that thrive in this temporary asylum. Due to the huge surface, up to eighty percent of the deltas water is lost through evaporation. At its lowest, the area drops to 9 000 square kilometers. It is the poor misplaced Pisces from that difference of 7 000 square kilometers that make the Okavango River an incredible place to be when the mounting baitfish are finally flushed out into the main channels, where the tigerfish lie in wait. This situation is not dissimilar to the receding flood waters of the Upper Zambezi, which also results is some amazing fishing opportunities, but rarely cumulate in the schooling catfish and frenzied feeding on the scale of the smaller Okavango River. Notably there are catfish runs on the upper Zambezi, but most often these take place in the smaller Kasai Channel, and from this it can presumed that factors that lead to the schooling catfish are not present in the larger expanse of the Zambezi. catfish run will build up over a period of hours to days, and its presence is often given away by the tell tail signs of waiting birds, and the clapping sounds the catfish make in the reeds. The sight of hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of irate catfish thrashing the sawgrass and papyrus is really something to get the heart rate up. Some runs will last days, and can get better over time. Moving at walking pace, the runs mood will change as it passes different stretches of river. Upon reaching stretches of the river that hold large numbers of baitfish, the mood becomes aggressive with the slow clapping sound converting into violent thrashing, as the hyped catfish work in teams to try flush out the hapless baitfish. There is no doubt that this increased excitement within the river bank vegetation is felt by the tiger fish, and will lead to the tigerfish having a heightened sense of aggression. It is these passages when each cast, and retrieve of the fly line, demands utmost concentration, as the anticipated bite is often eminent. Most runs will hold large numbers of Tigers, but one must pay constant attention in order to make the most out of these unique fishing experiences. Probably most importantly one must be able to forecast where there will be a large number of baitfish holding. This single aspect can be the difference between good, and mind blowing fishing. While following the run, one must always be on the look out for stretches where the magical equation of high bait concentration, deep water and structure coincide. In these situations it is essential to move ahead of the run, get well positioned, and ready. The anticipation of the catfish arriving at the forecast hotspot is intense, this sharp sense of awareness is fine-tuned upon arrival of the catfish as they chase schools of dash tailed barbs, bulldogs, bream and silver robbers into the deeper water. When all the factors are right, the fishing becomes a visual sensation, as the fleeing baitfishes are annihilated by surface boiling tiger fish. Some of these runs are mind blowing, with so many tigers smashing bait fish on the surface, that guests had the pleasure of literally sight casting to specific fish. Singling out the large tigers, and not wanting to waste precious time on “rats”. There are other tell tales signs, to look out for, while following the mass of cat fish. Birds can be a useful tool. The egrets and herons, working the river edges, become not unlike excited children that have just been given buckets of sweets, as the catfish find bait and literally chase them out of the water and into the waiting bird’s mouths. On a run that spans up to a kilometer of river, these hyped birds can pin point where the action is hottest. Other birds that work extremely hard to help the fly fisherman get onto the action are the white winged and whiskered terns, the two tern species that are a common sight around the catfish runs. Differing from the egrets and heron, which rely on the catfish chasing the bait fish out the water, the terns patrol the air above the deep channels on the lookout for robbers and bull dogs that are swimming for their lives on the surface of the deep water. As these exceptional little birds do in the open ocean, they have an amazing ability to know where the tigers are going to tear the surface apart, and hence make the tiny baitfish more vulnerable to the terns. The feeling of watching a tern dive on boiling tigerfish is reminisce of watching them in action over schools of tuna or bonito. Without wasting time, and getting positioned up river from the feeding birds, a drift over the area will often result in being able to cast to white water of the boiling tiger fish.In Africa we are blessed to be able to fish wild, vast areas, but sometimes the vastness of a fishing area can be daunting, and sometimes a curse. This is most definitely the case with the Okavango River. It can take a lot of time and effort to find a run, covering many kilometers of water while searching for this action. There is much excitement upon finding a good run, after pending a large portion of a day scouting areas a long distance from camp, and more disappointment when having to leave the run in the early evening, in order to get home. Leaving a fishing area in this manner is often at the prime golden hour before sunset. It was this disappointment of having to leave hot fishing action that lead to the concept of fly camping these areas. Fly camping gave us the ability to fish further, and for longer, away from the lodge. With a simple, but comfortable, fly camp packed onto one of the boats, there was a degree of flexibility that gave us more time, over the critical late evening while fishing these far a field runs. To start the boat, and leave a run when you can see Tigers boiling all around you, can only be described as heart breaking, and something that haunts you for days to come. On the other hand, already having a camp set-up on a nearby island, translates into being able to fully enjoy the fishing, without the shadow of the long drive home hanging over your shoulders. It is a special feeling to watch other boats leaving when the fishing is starting to gain momentum, thus leaving all the water in our hands. Returning to our private island well after sunset, staring a fire, star gazing while reminiscing about the days fishing, and experiencing a closer bond to the river after a magical days fishing is a hard experience to describe, but in one word it is exceptional.The 2008, Okavango Catfish Run season proved to be everything, and more, than was expected of this phenomenal natural event. The fishing was exceptional, and mixed with the experience of fly camping on small islands, while exploring remote stretches of the river, is something that definitely found a special place within the hearts of Tourette Fishing team. There is that saying: that every South African should run the Comrades Marathon at least once, and perhaps the same adage could be used for fly fisherman and the catfish run on the magical Okavango River, and waking on a isolated island, with birds calling, the kettle already boiling on the camp fire, and the first rays of the sun creeping over the horizon, and the expectation of the tigers only a quick breakfast away.
 
Home | Tours | Gallery | Videos | Articles | Destinations | Guides | Species | 20 Pound Club | Why us | Contact us | Links
Copyright © 2009 Tourette Fishing | Disclaimer