Tigers – Striped Water Dog
- This topic has 13 replies, 11 voices, and was last updated Mar 17, 2008 at 5:25 pm by
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I have no idea where this was taken, not by whom or on what, I think it was on a fillet… but it is worth a look…
This is the giant of the Tigers, commonly known as Goliath Tiger… it used to be found in one lake in central Africa, but has been moved to a few other large impoundments.
They do not like moving water and tend to remain in the impoundments they are place, unlike the regular tiger that is found in most of the other waterways throughout the tropical region of Africa… the theory goes that if there are Flat Dogs (Crocodiles) there will the Striped Water Dogs (Tiger)…
Is that a real fish?! The reason I ask is where is the guys other hand at that is holding the fish?
Joel
Tigerfish – they’re real. Live in S. Africa and Namibia, right, Mike?
What’s interesting to me is that its *upper* jaw appears to be able to open; I have never seen that on a fish before.
Ugly bastards.
Zach
Yip, that be a real fish… and I doubt that that one went back; it is a large specimen, probably on a wall somewhere now.
Nothing ugly about the regular ones, the giants tend to loose some colour…
That looks like it might be Cahora Basa, they were relocated there in the mid 80’s… it is a large impoundment on the lower Zambezi, there are no records of that species being introduced into Lake Kariba, but there are some guy who say it was done on the sly…
The goliaths were originally in just one of the African great lakes and became a generic mutation…
The common strain only gets to about 20lbs, but they fight like demons… they make incredibly fast and hard runs, they get air-born often and in the first few runs, you might be fighting the fish in the air for half the fight.But they live in warm water where the air temp is in the upper 90’s and often pressing into the 100’s and in some cases upper 100’s, so the fish build lactic acid quickly and even big ones are landed quickly… if you can keep the hook in that bony mouth… 50% of them will throw the hook in the first jump…it is an incredible sound, they chatter their teeth as they jump and you can hear it ½ a mile away. BTW those teeth are not for show, they WILL take your finger clean off, through the bone…
They have an incredible turn of speed, the fastest fresh water fish by a long way… but it is not only the fish… to catch them you need to be in the remote parts of Africa and often you will have Elephant, Rhino’s and all sorts of game feeding on the banks of the river, less than a good cast away and you in this little boat.
And yes, I would not swim anywhere you would find Tigers… there are three things in Tiger water,
Hippos – they kill more people in Africa that any other large animal.
Crocks – self explanatory.
Vundoo – a monster barble (catfish, in your terms) that have been recorded up to 10 feet.
Also, Tigers are in Malaria areas…Not to put you off, they are great fish and catching them is half the fun, the rest is in the surroundings, the scenery and the environment…
Guys, if you want the best holiday you will ever have, get yourselves down this part of the world, the big ticket is the air fare, the rest you can do at a fraction of the price you would expect.
So by now your Google’ing tiger fishing…
I’ll save you some time…
http://globalflyfisher.com/fishbetter/tigerfish/
http://www.flycastaway.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3&Itemid=5
Hi Aaron
Yes you can catch them on fly, they are an awesome fresh water game fish… Deceivers and Clousers… mute colors, but they have to have a tiny splash of red…
BRoss
The goliath was only in one lake and has been introduced into a couple now, but you are quite right, they are very limited in distribution. I would not recommend that they are the only species you target on an African trip.
And yes, South Africa make an excellent fishing destination,
Northern Mozambique for some salt…
Vaal River for some Large Mouth Yellows…
Okavango for some Tigers and Game viewing…
Kenya for some Nile Pearch and more Game viewing…Three weeks of some serious destinations and the only expensive bits would be the air travel… you will be well fished out and have seen some serious parts of the world…
Mike
It appears in that picture that is left arm has been bitten off by the tiger fish.
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