![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/4ffb3cfde9f39.jpg\")
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One of the major fishing events in Africa is the annual Okavango catfish run. This takes place during spring and early summer each year. The catfish run coincides with the dropping of water levels on the floodplains in the panhandle area of the Okavango swamps. All of the smaller fish species, such as bream, momyrids, robbers, minnows and catlets which have taken advantage of the flooded areas around the channels for breeding and shelter are now forced back into the main channels and there are great concentrations of baitfish in the papyrus and floating hippo grass along the channel areas at this time.<\/p>\n
Catfish from the entire Okavango area move into the panhandle in their thousands to take part in a feeding frenzy during this period. Both sharptooth catfish (Clarius gariepinus) and blunttooth catfish (Clarius ngamensis) take part in the runs. The catfish gather in large shoals and move up current, many of them in the grass and papyrus on the edge of the channel. The disturbance caused by the shaking of the reeds and the noise created by the slapping of tails and gulping of air of thousands of catfish is phenomenal. This noise disorientates the baitfish, and drives them out of cover.<\/p>\n
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Tigerfish take advantage of this feeding opportunity and patrol the channels in packs, smashing into any baitfish that venture out of the cover and into the channel itself. The reeds along the banks are packed with birds, from herons and egrets, to kingfishers and fish eagles. This makes the catfish runs easy to find, just follow the flocks of birds.<\/p>\n
I was privileged to experience the catfish run last year, having been invited up to Nxamaseri camp, which is situated right in the Okavango panhandle. The runs were a little late in the season due to a double flood earlier in the year. This suited us fine, as our trip was planned for a late season run. It also meant that we basically had the catfish runs to ourselves, only seeing one other boat once during three days of fishing. <\/span>This was a big advantage as not all boats always understand the nuances and etiquette of fishing the catfish run.<\/p>\n The way to effectively fish the catfish runs is to drive the boat slowly through the channel, to a point just above the run, where there is a small clearing in the reeds or grass along the bank. Anchor the boat in the middle of the channel and start casting your lures or flies towards the banks. The tigers most often seem to be in the front to the middle of the run, with less tigers around the back end. This could be due to the fact that the catfish stir up a lot of sediment in the water and the water at the back of the runs is quite dirty.<\/p>\n The Okavango catfish run is an excellent opportunity for fishermen wanting to catch tigerfish in large numbers on fly or spinning gear. Due to the high concentrations of fish in a small area, the action is thick and fast. There are opportunities to cast at swirling tigerfish, as they chase prey spectacularly along the water’s surface. This is often very satisfying, and the competition factor of fish hunting in packs make the tigers even more aggressive than normal. In the past the Okavango was always said to have smaller tigerfish. This does hold some truth, but there are still very respectable tigers to be caught during the catfish run. We landed two fish of eleven pounds, and a number of nine and ten pounders. The reason I am talking in pounds here, as opposed to the metric system, is that tigerfish are considered trophy fish once they reach the ten pound mark.<\/p>\n We found that using 30 gram broad bodied copper spoons, rigged with single hooks is the most effective way of targeting the tigers during the catfish run. The spoons can be allowed to sink down to a couple of metres depth, then retrieved fairly slowly at that depth, which is where most of the tiger strikes come from. The broad spoon blade flutters enticingly with the smallest of movements, throwing a bright flash which is irresistible to tigers. The single hook set up means that there is far less weed being caught up in the hooks. Weed on the hooks kills the natural action of the lure and makes it far less attractive to fish. With all the disturbance of the catfish in the grass and along the bottom there is a fair amount of bits of plant matter drifting in the water that clogs up treble hooks quickly. The single hook also gets a good hook up on the tigers, penetrating their hard, bony jaws efficiently. The tigers so often throw the lure on the jump, as they shake their heads viciously when they come out of the water. A solid hook up is essential to stop the hook being thrown.<\/p>\n When re-rigging the spoons it is important to replace the swivel and split rings that come supplied on the spoon. They are weak, and obviously, as these spoons are made in Germany, they are not designed for fish as hard fighting as tigerfish. It is a good idea to buy some quality split rings that will do a better job, I like the 70lb Owner Split rings, though they are quite expensive. It is also important to use a decent quality ball bearing swivel on the top split ring. The cheap barrel swivels are no good for this, as they do not spin freely enough. I find the Centro #1 ball bearing swivels to be excellent. If you do not use a ball bearing swivel the spoon will spin when retrieved fast, or even slowly against the current, causing line twist. The twist in the braid will result in wind knots, which will cause your line to snap when the fish hits you.<\/p>\n It makes sense to use a large, but sharp single hook. I find that 6\/0 is the right size for the 30 gram spoons. I like a hook with a short shank and a wide gape. The VMC 7265 OB live bait hooks are ideal. When fishing the Zambezi I like to rig two single hooks onto a spoon, one on the top and one on the bottom. For the Okavango catfish run I find that just one single off the bottom is better. The main reason being that you hook up less often on floating bits of weed, and also when casting very close to the banks(which you do a lot of in the catfish run) there is less chance of snagging a bit of underwater structure.<\/p>\n I like using braid on my reel for this type of fishing, it is so direct and the hook sets are generally very good. I use 30lb Sufix Performance braid, which is super strong for its diameter and is capable of withstanding the shock of the hard smashes that one gets from tigers. I use a 1.5m leader of 40lb Sufix Zippy mono, joined by an improved Albright knot to a 20cm piece of #5 Malin piano wire. The piano wire is Haywire twisted onto the power swivel on top of the spoon.<\/p>\n Surface type lures, such as Rapala Skitter Walks, Storm Rattlin’ Chug Bugs and Skitter Pops can also be a lot of fun to fish with, particularly when the light is low early in the mornings and in the evenings. The tigers smash viciously and repeatedly at these lures, which is very entertaining for the fisherman. There are a lot of missed strikes on surface lures, which really get your pulse racing, but you can catch some very good fish this way. Again when fishing surface lures it is crucial to use braid as the current quickly creates a bow in your line and you do not have direct contact when a fish hits your lure. The thinner braid has less water resistance and cuts through the current better.<\/p>\n When it comes to rods and reels for this sort of fishing I find that a fairly stiff rod of around seven foot is ideal for the job. I prefer the Shimano Beastmaster Special Tiger rod, which comes in a handy two piece version and is ideal for travelling. The strength of this rod is exceptional, and it can be used for a variety of saltwater fishing requirements as well. I have even caught sailfish on mine! This gives me confidence that it has more than enough power to set the hook in a tiger’s bony jaw, and also to wrestle those big catfish away from the reeds when they get hooked. I find that a good front drag spinning reel such as a Shimano Symetre 4000 is the answer, as it has a smooth drag and enough line pick up to help with hook setting and keeping line taut during the fight.<\/p>\n Of course in all the feeding frenzy, when fishing with spoons there are a number of catfish hooked as well. We landed a good few sharptooth and blunttooth catfish on spoons during our visit. The biggest was a sharptooth catfish of 23lbs. The catfish in these runs are absolutely full of energy, and fight like no other catfish I have caught. The blunttooth catfish in particular jump from the water during the fight frequently, which is unusual behaviour for a catfish. When you hook one of the big whiskery fish you need to be quick to get them away from the reeds along the bank, otherwise they will burrow into the grass and you will lose both the fish and your lure. Once again if you are fishing braid, then you have more strength at your disposal to pressure the fish quickly.<\/p>\n There are some very reasonably priced options to fish the Okavango catfish run, with camping available in the area and it is possible to drive all the way to the panhandle with a car from South Africa. This makes it within reach for many of us South Africans, and I believe that any keen angler and nature enthusiast should try to fish this spectacular event at least once in his life! It makes sense if you are going to go all the way there to take the right tackle to get the best out of your trip, so be sure to do plenty of preparation, as they say in the classics; Train hard, fight easy!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of the major fishing events in Africa is the annual Okavango catfish run. This takes place during spring and early summer each year. The catfish run coincides with the dropping of water levels on the floodplains in the panhandle area of the Okavango swamps. All of the smaller fish species, such as bream, momyrids, robbers, minnows and catlets which have taken advantage of the flooded areas around the channels for breeding and shelter are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":199,"featured_media":3018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[51],"tags":[349,350,348,302,228],"class_list":["post-3017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-destinations","tag-catfish","tag-nxamaseri-camp","tag-okavango","tag-tigerfish","tag-zambezi"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/4ffb3cfde9f39.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3205,"url":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/?p=3205","url_meta":{"origin":3017,"position":0},"title":"Guma Lagoon Camp, Okavango. Day 1","author":"Craig Thomassen","date":"October 22, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The Okavango catfish run is an annual event, where thousands of sharptooth and blunttooth catfish from all over the Okavango congregate and move up the main channels en masse, flushing the baitfish out of the papyrus and going on a feeding binge. This takes place between September and November, depending\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"b2ap3_thumbnail_DSC_4671.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fishbook.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/b2ap3_thumbnail_DSC_4671.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2148,"url":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/?p=2148","url_meta":{"origin":3017,"position":1},"title":"A Worried Man","author":"Brad Cartwright","date":"June 18, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Guy Lobjoit is a worried man One of the owners of Guma Lagoon Camp in the Okavango Delta Panhandle, Guy has spent most of his adult life introducing tourists and friends, to the many natural splendors of this watery wonderland. The Okavango is not a place for the faint of\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fishbook.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/WFTWEBBLOG130318OP.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fishbook.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/WFTWEBBLOG130318OP.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fishbook.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/WFTWEBBLOG130318OP.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fishbook.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/WFTWEBBLOG130318OP.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2981,"url":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/?p=2981","url_meta":{"origin":3017,"position":2},"title":"Tigers of Tanzania","author":"Craig Thomassen","date":"July 3, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Tigerfish are Africa\u2019s own freshwater game fish, they occur nowhere else in the world. There are five species of tigerfish on the African continent, of which three are considered to be prime angling species.\u00a0 The best known of these is Hydrocynus vitatus, the species that is caught in the Zambezi\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Destinations"","block_context":{"text":"Destinations","link":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/?cat=51"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2861,"url":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/?p=2861","url_meta":{"origin":3017,"position":3},"title":"Tigerfish on Surface Lures","author":"Craig Thomassen","date":"June 13, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"On a recent trip to Barotse Tiger Camp In Zambia I decided that I was going to dedicate a fair bit of time to catching tigerfish on surface lures. My mate Gerard Simpson, who is one of the co-owners of the camp told me that they had been having some\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Destinations"","block_context":{"text":"Destinations","link":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/?cat=51"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11939,"url":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/?p=11939","url_meta":{"origin":3017,"position":4},"title":"Targeting Tigers","author":"Gareth","date":"February 24, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Unlike the upper reaches of the largest river that empties into the Indian Ocean, as you cruise down stream, fishing in the lower Zambezi is more focussed on what you can see and throw at. Below Kariba the river spreads into many channels, with the largely controlled flow rate from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Airflo\"","block_context":{"text":"Airflo","link":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/?tag=airflo"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fishbook.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Untitled-1-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fishbook.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Untitled-1-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fishbook.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Untitled-1-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fishbook.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Untitled-1-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fishbook.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Untitled-1-1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fishbook.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Untitled-1-1.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2565,"url":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/?p=2565","url_meta":{"origin":3017,"position":5},"title":"Wlldfly Crew revisit the Lower Zam & Tsika Island","author":"Gareth","date":"December 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Video - Tsika Island - Lower Zambezi River The Wildfly crew managed to get back to our favorite destination down on the lower Zambezi in early November\u2026.. We took our local Notties publican, Clive Foss, along to keep things lubricated and on his first day on the river he landed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Destinations"","block_context":{"text":"Destinations","link":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/?cat=51"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8sv9-MF","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/199"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3017"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13525,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3017\/revisions\/13525"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/4ffb3d7cd010c.jpg\")
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