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FRESHWATER ANGLING => Tigers/Yellows => Topic started by: Tommo on May 29, 2012, 09:17:42 AM
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I thought I would share with you guys something that I tried out on the Zambezi last week at Barotse Tiger Camp with great success.
I had been thinking about catching tigers on dropshot for a while. I had caught quite a few in the past, with a stinger hook trailing behind the dropshot, but it wasn't ideal, as the stinger hook often tangled up with my trace, or got snagged in the plastic. The main issue here is that a normal jighead doesn't work well with tigers for two reasons. Firstly the tiger often hits the lure behind the hook, and secondly if you do get a hookup it is for a very short time, as the tiger quickly throws the hook due to the weight of the jighead.
I wanted to place the hook further back in the plastic, and not have it directly on the weight, so that the fish had less leverage to shake the hook when he shakes his head.
I used an improvised bait needle, made from a piece of heavy piano wire to thread a piece of soft, wire through the plastic. I inserted the point of the needle into the soft plastic at the back, where I wanted the shank of the hook to be and pushed it through up to just behind the head, then pulled the soft wire through. I then tied a 4/0 VMC Siwash hook onto the soft wire and pulled it into the plastic. The large eye on the hook keep it from turning and holds it straight. I then cut the hook off a jig head, just behind the keeper and pushed the keeper into the nose of the plastic. Then tied the end of the soft wire to the eye of the jighead, simply using a series of half hitches. Below is a pic of the finished item.
(http://i1236.photobucket.com/albums/ff447/craigfish1/Barotse%20Tiger%20Fish/aa3.jpg)
This then gave me a dropshot rigged with the hook further back in the plastic, and not directly attached to the hook, meaning that the fish would not have as much leverage from the weight of the jighead when it jumped and shook its head.
This lure was what we used when the fishing got slow during the middle of the day, when the bigger tigers had retired to the deeper dropoffs in the middle of the river. It was great in that it got down, and could be bounced along the bottom, and over the dropoffs. The tiger smashed these dropshots and our hookup and landing rate was very good indeed!
One fish would invariably destroy the lure, and a new one would need to be made each time, re-using the jighead and the hook, and a new piece of wire and a new plastic. With practise I was getting quite quick at making them though, so it wasn't a huge mission.
(http://i1236.photobucket.com/albums/ff447/craigfish1/Barotse%20Tiger%20Fish/aa2.jpg)
Above is a pic of one of the tigers we caught with this setup. Below is a close up of another, showing the jighead and wire in place.
(http://i1236.photobucket.com/albums/ff447/craigfish1/Barotse%20Tiger%20Fish/aa.jpg)
This setup is something that works, and could be prepared for beforehand by rigging a number of soft plastics with the soft wire already pulled through, so that a hook just needs to be tied on and a jighead inserted. This would make it quicker on the boat.
The materials that I used were: Bimini Jigheads, Explorer knottable wire, VMC Siwash hooks and McArthy softbaits. The softbaits that we used were in the orange colour shown above and the Orca colour (black above and pearl below) both worked very well. I like the McArthy plastics as they have enough toughness to grip properly on th hook keeper and still soft enough to have a lovely natural movement in the water.
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Very innovative Craig! Thinking out the box!
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Thanks Tommo! Another addition to my Zambezi prep list!
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:fshn: awsome stuff as always tommo.
Think need to do a tiger fish trip again
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Great stuff Tommo and good advice (clap) . I have been giving this some thought for a long time but using a sardine and hook it in the same manner. The sardine will only last for 2 or 3 casts but I am going to give it a go when I am going down next week on the 10 ft spinning set up. Need to see what will happen :hehe:
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(clap) :win: ..Very Nice Tommo ... :tkx:
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Nice one Tommo I am going to be at Sekoma Lodge over this weekend coming, wish i'd seen this before i'd left to add to my tackle array... thanks for sharing. Have you been to Sekoma any tips?
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I haven't stayed at Sekoma yet, but have fished that area quite a bit. This time of year there should be water spilling off some of the floodplains, those spill off areas should be holding fish waiting for baitfish to be forced into the main river. Early mornings and evenings you can fish lures near the surface or midwater. When the sun is high allow your lure to sink deep and work it slower near the bottom. Look for bird activity and work those areas, that is where the baitfsh will be.
You will also find Nembwe around those little spilloffs, so try and drop a lure right against the bank where that is happening and use small twitches to move it and keep it in the zone for as long as possible.
Have a great trip, I look forward to hearing about it.
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@ L Hooker, the other thing, I don't know if you read my other report on the tigers on topwater http://www.ultimateangling.co.za/index.php?topic=9960.0 (http://www.ultimateangling.co.za/index.php?topic=9960.0)
But very important to get the hook shape right. If your hook points are bent inwards, do some work on them with pliers to get the point as straight as possible...
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@ L Hooker, the other thing, I don't know if you read my other report on the tigers on topwater http://www.ultimateangling.co.za/index.php?topic=9960.0 (http://www.ultimateangling.co.za/index.php?topic=9960.0)
But very important to get the hook shape right. If your hook points are bent inwards, do some work on them with pliers to get the point as straight as possible...
Thanks Tommo will check it out
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Thats awesome Tommo!
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Nice idea Tommo
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I really like that Tommo :tkx:
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This makes a whole lot of sense. The majority of strikes I get on livies is in the middle of the bait. I will try this and drink a rum to you on the first one I get.
A couple of years ago I went to an aquarium at Hartebeespoort Dam. They had some tigers in a circular concrete dam with a viewing window below the waterline. Lucky for me I arrived right at feeding time. The guy had a bucket full of live kurper (small) and chucked a few at a time into the dam. I remember the tigers barreling in and biting at the kurper, no finesse in picking a bait and then manouvering it to swallow it whole. Just go in at top speed, smash, bite and swallow before turning at speed to pick up any pieces that was left (cut off by their teeth) and sinking.
Placing the hook like that makes sense, but I have to add, at Jozini I've had tigers biting around the hooks, no matter where I've placed them. At times I've even thought of making a daisy-chain with knottable wire and smallish hooks and wrapping it around the bait as you do with cotton when wrapping a sard to your hook.
Thanks for sharing.