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The Fishing Report

The Archive: Rio Azul, Imbabala Safari Lodge, Chile, New Zealand, Lake Tanganyika, Bassas da India, Des Roches Island, Farquar aboard the MV Illusions, Barotse Tiger Camp, Chawalo, Neptune Warrior - Trident Tested, Ngwezi Houseboat - Okavango,

Lake Tanganyika

Lake Tanganyika - Nkamba Bay

It was with some trepidation that the Wildfly crew set off for Lake Tanganyika on the first shoot of 2008. With a fishing show to shoot, edit and air every two weeks, there is very little time to waste targeting fish which are not reasonably plentiful and prolific. In this instance we were after the Nile Perch ( along with the almost mythical Goliath Tiger ) and in reality, from a fly fishing perspective, we had very little information and not much word of mouth advice to go on.

Accordingly, we packed an unreasonable amount of tackle and an inordinate number of flies, got together a few hardened anglers who would keep working water others might consider deader than the Dodo and headed off into the unknown. We were in for a pleasant surprise… Image.

Nkamba Bay Lodge in Zambia is perched ( no pun intended ) on the South Eastern tip of the mighty Lake Tanganyika in a magnificent and totally uninhabited bay surrounded by hills covered with impenetrable indigenous bush and forest. The Lodge has recently been given a makeover with all nine suites upgraded to what can only be described as real luxury, especially considering the logistical aspect of getting anything to this remote and inaccessible piece of paradise. The common areas are shaded by thatch, surrounded by lush lawns overlooking a sparkling blue pool and have views over the Lake to both the DRC and the escarpment in Tanzania. Situated in a National Park, the bay itself is a protected area and game, including elephant, lion and buffalo pass through on occasion.

Access is easiest using SA Airlink to Ndola ( approx 2 hours from JHB ) with a charter flight in to Kasaba Bay ( also 2 hours ) then a further 1 hour trip by boat up the lake to Nkamba. The flight from Ndola to the lake leaves one in no doubt as to the remoteness of the destination….800 kilometers of bush, bush and more bush.

The Lake itself is magical, crystal clear water populated by big pods of contented Hippo, large flat dogs and as we were to discover, abundant numbers of various fly friendly fish species. With an average depth of over 500 meters ( over 1000m at its deepest ), this body of water is truly an inland sea, along with sand dunes in places, shells and mollusks and reputedly up to 6 meter swells in inclement weather. Image

On a body of water this size, guides who know the area, weather and best fishing grounds are an absolute priority and fortunately this is the case at Nkamba Bay. There are 3 good speed boats available and in certain areas it is possible to get a line into deep water from the banks. Fast sinking lines ( Rio 600 - 700grain ) are a must, with heavily weighted flies adding to the chances of success. Finding drop offs and rock structure is the key and with the clarity of the water, this is not too difficult.

On day one Stuart Du Toit justified his selection by landing two fine Nile Perch ( approx 7 and 3 Kg, one morning one evening ) with the balance of the team picking up a number of Nkupe ( up to 2kg ), Cichlids and Red Breasted Bream ( 1 kg ). However as clearly explained to him over the sundowner Bells…..day one is just a warm up. Tyrel Manson was working himself hard with long beautiful casts accurately placed over drop offs and underwater lairs returning few results.

The weather patterns here are like clockwork, beautiful flat water in the mornings with strong winds and rough water from around 11.30am to 4pm then dying down again for the evening sessions. The sky here seems endless and during the rain season can vary from deep blue to thunderous black and every hue between. First light is the time to be heading out.

Morning of day two saw Mark Yelland more excited than a schoolboy getting his first grope. Fishing along a 6m drop off, using 20 pound leader and a well weighted Black Whistler he was smashed and left holding a tattered tippet. Reloading a new Whistler ( again just 20 pound fluoro ), presented with his customary precision, the fly had hardly broken the surface when the reel started screaming. Amazed, mark saw a big Tiger jump once and head for the depths….at this point the fact that he was on nylon added to the old adrenaline rush, followed by muttered commands to “ get the f*&&^% net ready “. Ten tense minutes later and Mark was holding his first Goliath Tiger ( approx 8 kg )….the line fortuitously threaded between two vicious teeth. A number of lesser species were caught through the session and even Gareth managed to get on the board with a beautiful Nkupe of 2 pounds, although this was later embellished to the point of perhaps being a world record in the specific genus. We found that using smaller clouser minnows on 01 hooks in anything from black and white, blue and white, orange and red all worked well for any number of species. When targeting the larger Perch and Tigers however, much bigger flies ( around 6/0 ) fished deep is the only realistic technique. For us the colours that worked best were black with some flash, black whistlers, orange and yellow brush flies and red and black mega clousers. All flies should be weighted with big dumbbell eyes in order to get them down rapidly into the strike zone and keep them there as long as possible. Image

Getting from the fishing grounds back to the lodge takes no more than half an hour, giving one the chance of getting out early after a rusk and coffee and returning for a late morning brunch and siesta. In fact, the afternoon sessions were disappointing for the first couple of days, so we changed the strategy to stay out longer by taking a packed lunch onto the water which we ate in the shade of magnificent old trees on the grassy banks. It was at this point that yours truly got involved….having been severely injured in a near fatal motorcycle accident I had taken some much needed recuperation time for the first few days, but having watched my mates battling for bigger fish I decided I would have to work through the pain barrier in the interest of the team and show as a whole…accordingly, after dosing with strong pain killers.

Brad Cartwright