Second day on the Kubu Queen
Trip Start
Jul 09, 2008
1
8
20
Trip End
Jul 30, 2008
Shakawe,
Botswana
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
We also had a go at fishing for the first time. Fishing always seemed a bit of a boring sport but I found it very addictive as I attempted to cast my line as close to the bank as I could. Of course our lack of previous experience showed as our lines became tangled around the reeds and a large number of lures were lost and lines were broken. Andy even managed to break the top of his rod when casting. We are still unsure how he did it. We all had a few nibbles on the line but caught absolutely nothing. Meanwhile Phil and Greg were fishing for fun and reeling in Bream after Bream. Good job too as this was to be dinner tonight. We asked Greg what would happen if he didn't catch anything. Had he a backup plan? He answered that he didn't and so far he had always caught enough so it hadn't been a problem. A large catfish was caught to feed the Sea Eagle but unfortunately he wasn't interested and watched with disdain from a large tree on the bank as Greg threw it into the river. The African Sea Eagles are very distinctive in appearance with a brown body and snow white head, breast, and tail and yellow hook-shaped beak - an amazing bird.
That afternoon we had another go at fly-fishing hoping that we could add to dinner but yet again caught nothing.
Tiger Fish - look at the teeth
Greg had also set two static lines to catch Tiger Fish and eventually there was a bite. Sam reeled in the first and although strong was finding it hard dealing with the fish as it jumped and writhed on the end of the line. When he did manage to land it, it weighed 7 1/2 llbs. George too had a go landing in a slightly smaller fish that weighed in at about 6llbs. These fish are ferocious predators with razor sharp large protruding teeth and the largest ever caught exceeded 35llbs so incredibly these were tiddlers in comparison. A little later Greg nearly managed to land a giant Bream but as often happens in these situations the line broke in the struggle. I wasn't quite as keen to reel in one of these monsters as Greg had told us of a woman who had been pulled overboard in her effort to land one of these. An even more scary story was that of a group of South Africans he had taken out who were teasing their friend as he struggled to land a Tiger Fish. Nothing could prepare them for what was to happen next as the fish was reeled nearer to the boat it had on the end of it a large crocodile!The Bream for dinner was lovely, fried in a little flour with salad, cous-cous and vegetables. It was just a little shame that we hadn't caught any of them.
