What It’s Like to Fly Fish for the Tigerfish of the Okavango Delta

I did three days on the Okavango River in Africa, chasing tigerfish with a fly rod. It was the most terrifying, memorable, and flat-out best fly fishing experience of my life.

The stuff of nightmares. | Photo by Ken Baldwin

Where the Wild Things Are

We pulled up on the inside point where a tributary flowed into the main river. I was setting the anchor when the water twenty feet away blew apart and a huge head—mouth wide open—came up out of the deep. I moved from the bow back toward the guide. This wasn’t a zoo, and there were no bars between me and a hippo.

Adam Kapinga, the Nxamaseri Island Lodge fishing guide, assured me we were fine—and to rig up. This was a good spot for tigerfish. How did he know this? Because all of the crocodiles are crowding the point. Welcome to Africa.

It goes without saying that we didn’t spend much time with our hands in the water resuscitating fish. | Photo by Ken Baldwin

Fly Fishing for Tigerfish

The tigerfish is an evil-looking, beast of a fish with razor-sharp fangs, a bad disposition, and not a picky eater. I came to fish for them in September, during the dry season, when the floodplains are empty and everything—fish, bait, and river life—is concentrated in the main channels. Prime time to target tigerfish feeding on the mass of life squeezed into what’s left of the river.

Be prepared to go through a lot of streamers. | Photo by Ken Baldwin

Using Largemouth Bass as My Reference Point

I tied on a streamer and cast just past the point into deeper water. If I were targeting largemouth bass, this would qualify as a classic ambush point. I had never fished for tigerfish, and this was my first cast of the day.

Africa Don’t Mess Around

A first cast usually consists of getting the amount of line out I want to work with, checking drag, loosening my fingers, and finding a rhythm. Once I get everything right, I ease into my casting and figure out a presentation that’ll get the fish to bite.

Nope - with zero awareness or expectations on my part, something deep slammed my fly and ripped the line right out of my hands. No subtle tap, no pause, no head shake—just the hit of a freight train headed out.

Blindsided by a Fish

Fly line burned through my fingers, and I could swear I’d hooked the hippo. Then a big fish rocketed out of the water sixty feet from the boat—and then it was off. WTF! What the heck just happened?

It seems apropos that a fish this strong and fast would have a tail that looks like it’s on fire. | Photo by Ken Baldwin

The Tigerfish

The teeth and the eyes are its most obvious features, but what leaves me shaking my head is their power and speed.

From Zero to One Hundred

When a tigerfish takes your streamer, it’s gone—your line rips through the water, and the next thing you see is the fish airborne. More often than not, it throws the hook. I probably hooked one in five that struck.

Learn the Strip-Set

You have to strip-set hard; lifting the rod like you would for trout does nothing. But that hit—even a few seconds of the fight—is everything. It’s a pure adrenaline rush.

Nxamaseri Island Lodge fishing guide Adam Kapinga had us on fish all day. | Photo by Ken Baldwin

Those Teeth Are No Joke

Tigerfish teeth are lethal. They will trash your streamers down to the head and hook. You need at least a forty-pound leader. Don’t bother tapering—just run five or six feet of forty-pound, then add six inches of wire. Scientific Anglers makes a great knotable wire tippet. I loop-to-loop it to the leader, then a no-slip loop knot to the streamer.

Streamers don't last very long in the teeth of a tigerfish. | Photo by Ken Baldwin

Check Your Leader, All of It

Check your leader often—up high too, not just near the wire. I got busted off on a big fish because of a tiny nick five feet up the line, a clean cut. My only explanation is that a tooth grazed it. After that, I checked every few fish and often found nicks.

Malachite Kingfisher. Sometimes I have to remind myself to stop fishing and take in my surroundings. So much other life is happening, and the fishing should be a small part of it. | Photo by Ken Baldwin

The Streamers

Don’t get fancy like I did. Forget the extra feathers and flash. Four- to six-inch streamers—Clouser or Clouser variations—were the most productive. They cast easier, sink fast, and like I’ve learned from chasing largemouth bass, a Clouser's dropping and hopping movement triggers strikes. Bright colors work. Silver and flash work even better. The water’s murky.

Fly Rods

My go-tos. The Abel SDS, a 9-weight St. Croix Evos fly rod, and the Scientific Angler Sonar Titan 3D sinking fly line. Any 6" colorful or shiny streamer will catch you a tigerfish. Just make sure your hooks are strong and big. I use Gamakatsu in 3/0 and 4/0 sizes. | Photo by Ken Baldwin

Leave your 8-weight at home. A 9-weight is the minimum; I sometimes fished a 10 when throwing topwater. Even a small three-pound tigerfish will put a bend in a 9-weight.

My Set-Ups

- St. Croix Evos, 9'/9-weight. A lightweight rod I can fish all day, that can handle the big streamers, and can blast out long casts when needed. This is one of my favorite rods in my collection.
- Thomas & Thomas Exocett 88. 8'8", 9-weight. I chose this rod because of its exceptional lifting strength. Throwing deep sinking lines and big streamers, I knew I would need a rod that could lift a powerful fish from debris and the depths.

A simple streamer that caught a lot of tigerfish. The Thomas &Thomas 88 in the 9-weight was perfect for tossing big streamers on sinking line. It's a powerful stick but light enough to throw all day. | Photo by Ken Baldwin

& Reels

- The Abel SDS 7/8 is my workhorse reel—it has a dependable drag, built for big fish, and can handle abuse. I'm comfortable fishing it up to a 9-weight.
- The Lamson Centerfire 10-weight. This reel has a great drag and is lightweight for its size. Casting a 10-weight rod in the brutal heat is work enough; I try to keep the reel lightweight.

We had to net the fish and then release them by deep diving them into the river headfirst. You don't put your hands in the water and take the time to revive a fish until it swims away. A crocodile can sneak up under the boat and grab the fish and you in one swipe of its toothy jaws. | Photo by Ken Baldwin

Fly Line / Leader / Tippet

If I were limited to one fly line, it’d be a sinking line. A floating line will catch a few fish, mostly small ones. The bigger fish hold deep, and you have to get down to them. My setup caught over forty tigerfish in three days:

- Fly Line: Scientific Anglers Sonar Titan 3D Sink I/3/5. I think this is the best sinking line on the market.
- Leader: Scientific Anglers Absolute Fluorocarbon Shock Tippet, 40 lb. A tigerfish’s teeth are built to cut through bone and scales; even a 100-pound leader isn’t safe from being sliced in half.
- Tippet: Scientific Anglers Absolute Predator 7×7 Knot-able Wire, 40 lb (6–10").

Stripping Gloves

I never completely relaxed with these guys around. | Photo by Ken Baldwin

Wear them. These fish are powerful, and when you hook one, and it takes off, your line will burn or cut into your fingers. You don't want to lose a big fish because you had to let go of your line.

Africa Is Unlike Anything I’ve Experienced

To state the obvious, fishing in Africa is different. In Alaska, you’ve got the bears—that keeps your head on a swivel—but beyond that, it could be Montana or Idaho. Any beautiful river.

We are not in Kansas anymore. | Photo by Ken Baldwin

“Welcome to the Jungle” (Well… the Okavango Delta)

But Africa? It’s game on all the time. You’re not at the top of the food chain. You’re not even one or two steps down. You’re in it—part of the mix—both predator and prey. And it makes for some of the most exciting and memorable fishing I’ve ever experienced. KB - Follow me on my Fly Fishing on SI's Facebook page.

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"Slow down...listen to the hoppers...be patient with yer wife...eat sardines with hot sauce... catch “Gagger” trout!!!" – Flip Pallot

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The gear reviewed in this article was provided to me at no cost for the purpose of evaluation.The views and assessments presented are my own.

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