One area which is likely to be little effected are the floating bream cages around Antelope Island. Located in deep water, dropping levels will have little consequence. While this will be true of other areas on the lake, now is a good time to pull out the contour maps of Kariba’s lake-bed typography. There are myriad of pinnacles, rocky ridges and cliff drop-offs at varying depths, which as the water drops, will offer possible fish-holding zones. Such areas have the potential to further level the playing field, and lucky anglers who have done some homework and are able to locate something unique maybe no one else has, could find a winning formula.

 

One very interesting aspect to all of this, is that since the last time KITFT was fished at such low water levels - almost a decade - many team structures have changed. Team members who fished together, have for the most part moved on to join or start other teams. So, while there is “secret” information few have, that information is now spread among a much larger group of anglers. Gentlemanly behavior will be the order of the day, though we can expect to see some furrowed brows and disenchanted anglers as past spots are shared.

 

Many scientists are predicting climate change worldwide, and some specifically commenting that the Zambezi is in for some lean years as flows decrease. Eddy Cross concurs, writing “A good friend of mine is Professor Euan Nisbet of London University who is a world renowned expert on atmospherics. He says that the specialists he confers with say the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone is shifting northwards by 18 degrees. You can watch this system moving every day on satellite images as it is the main rainfall system of the continent. This winter I have been surprised by how far into the Sahara Desert the rains have reached, perhaps Euan and his colleagues are right. (Euan comes from Mberengwa in Zimbabwe.).

 

“If that is true, it has profound implications for southern Africa and the whole Zambezi system. Ever since I went on a short fishing trip on the flood plains of the Caprivi Strip, I have been concerned that the hippo populations in the floodplains of the upper Zambezi are being shot out or dying of disease. I saw not a single hippo in the flood plains I was fishing in, even though we penetrated them for 35 kilometers. Ever since, I have been pointing out to anyone who will listen, that if the hippo populations in the flood plains of the upper Zambezi are wiped out, there is no one to maintain the drainage channels that feed the water back into the main river system in winter. Such a development would create vast swamps of stagnant water and deny the Zambezi of its life blood with dire consequences for all who depend on the river downstream.”

 

Dire predictions for sure. For the meantime though, one might have to walk further to boat moorings, and no doubt the electricity shortage will have negative impacts, but one has to try look at the bright side. If there is no power, you may as well be on the water fishing KITFT. At the very least, one should be armed with a note book, a GPS and even a camera, as all this data may well be significant in the next decade.

He kicked out hard, and in that same instant he saw the crocodile as it launched itself at him and gripped his arm in its massive jaws! Even in the terror of the moment, Alistair realised that the tip of the crocodile’s jaw was about a metre from its eyes. The observation was only theoretical, for in the second Alistair felt himself being spun around as the fearsome reptile tried to tear his arm out of its socket. He felt the solid tail twisting around his legs as the crocodile looked him straight in the face. With his good arm, Alistair tried to jam a thumb into its eye but couldn’t reach. The crocodile began to gain control and was pulling him into shallower water. Alistair realised that this would mean that his enemy would be able to use the leverage of the bottom and pull him under the water to drown. In cold-blooded desperation he forced his good arm down the reptile’s throat and curled his thumb and fingers around the flap that seals off the crocodile’s lungs when it goes under water. This sent the beast into a frenzy, but made it release Alistair’s badly mutilated arm and allowed him to escape and clamber up the steep bank. He was attacked again as he scrambled up the exposed roots and out of the river, but the reptile’s strikes fell short and Alistair collapsed against a fallen tree.

Another prominent KITFT angler who has extensive experience of low water fishing, is Colin Osborne. Though not actively fishing now, I approached him for comments on his experiences. He said “For me one of the most important factors in pre KITFT preparation was establishing the depth of the thermocline”. The thermocline is the break between warm and cold water which is clearly visible on modern day depth sounders. He continues “This gave me a good starting point.

I found the tigerfish did not like going into the cold or dark water. The cleaner water areas usually became light impenetrable around 60 to 62 feet. Thermoclines would vary from year to year, getting up to 50 to 60 feet at the lowest water levels depending on currents. Getting the two close together was always the best. The sauce pan effect that creates the currents will have to be understood better too as the river lines and ridges seem to turn the bite on or off depending on these currents”.

 

Their team strategy back in the days before the rule of a “closed lake” relied heavily on doba-doba type fishing over pre-baited spots. Colin continues “In the deep spots where the kapenta would come to rest in the dark or cold water, we found it better to be ‘trickle feed’ rather than dumping. Using suspended old-style doba-doba fishing will be the best, and remember the big tiger can bite like a niloticus when it is deep - slow and gentle. The new modern braid lines will help massively. The quicker you get the fish up to the surface the less chance he has to snag you on a tree. I used to call it ‘hacking the fish’. Remember to give a little slack as the fish explodes out of the water. The long casting rods are going to have to be replaced with stiff pitching equipment”.