Unleash the Tiger in you, its Compo Time

With summer fast approaching, the Tigers will start feeding more readily, not that they haven’t over the last few months but it should really start heating up now. Competitions such as the Go Fish Tiger Classic at Jozini Tiger Lodge 23rd to 27th October and other weekends up to your favourite Tiger spots are on the cards. So, what’s the right way of going about things and are there any new tips and tricks out at the moment…Jesse Schubach walks us through…

THE SPOTS
The spots I concentrate on are very similar to those you would for bass- being structure, rock piles, reed lines, colour line between light and dark in the water and different water temperatures. Tiger also prefer moving water as opposed to still water so anchoring in a river mouth near an eddy (swirls) which sometimes hold bait or a rip with moderately flowing water is a good idea. Often you travelling long distances to these spots so know what wind is going to be picking up during the day so you know what time you may have to leave to make your weigh in.

HOW TO FISH
Either you can drift with the current and throw spoons and spinners but most boats will anchor in that moderately flowing water and put baits out. Livebait is always best so a tilapia or barbel as one bait, a fillet as another. Both on balloons and a running ball sinker on the leader, above the trace wire to keep the bait down in the current and not near the surface. Then using spoons and spinner, cranks or skitter walks or poppers spin off side of the boat enticing the tigers to come onto your baits. When putting out strip baits putting a duster in front of your Sardine or chicken fillet works very well as its hardy and stays on longer than Sardine. Look for a duster that has red in it, so red and gold or red and sliver or red and purple, anything with red in it. I don’t think they can see colour but red resembles blood so I think it’s a good colour to stick with. If the wind picks up a bit, it sometime gets better as the fish won’t be able to see your craft in the water and at this time ,using spoons works well as the water visibility drops. As the sun comes up the larger fish will move a little deeper and will start feeding on the drop offs. Always look for bait on the water and smashes near reed beds etc. If you see something, anchor near there and throw spoons and put baits out. As the sun comes up the oxygen in the water will dissipate and the fish in the area near the river will come in towards the river mouth where the water is flowing to feed in water that is more oxygenated. If the water is clean use spinner and lures with silver and lighter lures such as fzett spoons, Africa lures spinner and Halco and Rapala trolling lures and the cleaner the water the faster the retrieve on these lures. In Stained water look at using lighter shades of copper spoon and gold in lures and fish them a little slower but still with a moderate to quick retrieve. In Muddy water, copper, dark orange and reds work well in lures and often bright colours as well. The lures must be fished on a slower retrieve, lures with lots of vibration are very good to use in this type of water.

RIGS AND TACKLE
When fishing spoons, crank baits, drop shots and surface lures use a 7ft Daiwa Megaforce Tiger Tamer with a 2500 to 3000 Grinder filled with Sunline Super PE 25lb braid. Spinning with braid enables you to cast long distance and you will be able to pick on the bite and set the hook better with the directness the braid gives you.
When Trolling baits and fishing live baits you can use a Baitcaster or SL20SH or a Daiwa Millionaire on a Tiger Tamer. You can troll with the grinder option as well but it is better to troll with a monofilament line, especially if you are fishing a lone line trolled behind the boat. The Daiwa Sensor or Maxima 15 pound line is ideal . The leaders that you can use are 0.4ml or 0.5ml Maxima 20 to 25lb Ultragreen leader.

PRO TIP
In muddy waters you can attach a chicken fillet or sardine fillet on the back of the spoon for extra scent and troll it about 50 metres behind the boat.
On your live bait and bait rig, from you leader of about a metre, attach a small no 6 to no 8 power swivel, then from the power swivel another metre of 25lb nylon leader/ fluoro to a piece of 30/40lb carbon coated wire attached to a circle hook ( Mustad 5/0 Finewire) or a double hook trace ( 3/0 O’Shaughnessy snelled to a size 4 Mustad ultra) using Snell knot. Attach a balloon to the top part of the swivel with an elastic which makes it easier to pull off when the fish strikes and will help for a better hook set than tying the balloon directly onto the line. The only difference to the fillet trace is that you will replace the double hook or circle hook with a Mustad Grip Pin Max 3/0 or 4/0. The carbon coated wire gives the bait a more lifelike look as opposed to the stiffness of the piano wire. You can use no5 piano wire on your spoons.

**There are still places available for The Go Fish Tiger Classic at Jozini Tiger Lodge 23rd to 27th October. Give Mbali a call on 035 572 1020or email conferencing@jozinitigerlodge.co.za**