Whitewater nileperch
The morning mists lay heavily over the Nile. Deep below me the
massed waters thundered relentlessly through Devils Cauldron. Standing beside an inferno of whitewater, spray and backcurrents I stood as hypnotized and gazed over the canyon. Eventually the cries from soaring fisheagles circling high over the crest of the cliffs, brought me back to reality ; 500 meters steep descent loaded with fishing tackle and photo equipment.
Text and photoes: Jens Bursell, 1995,
My blood was very nearly boiling when I, after negotiating the steep rocks, finally found myself 10 meters above the surface of the river. Barely 100 meters behind me the Nile thundered through a six meters wide rock-crevasse and plunged through an nearly perpendicular gorge 40 meters into the deep, - Murchinson Falls. Through the dense foliage I could barely make out a large shoal of tigerfish foraging in a small pool. Carefully I climbed closer and slid free of my gear. Anxious to get hold of some bait as quickly as possible, I mounted a light rod with a single hook size 4 fished free line. The fish gyrated, splashing wildly in the swells, and in the clear water I could clearly distinguish every scale on their tigerstriped flanks.
A piece of fresh cassavapaste was squeezed around the hook, and with a light underhand cast the bait landed right on top of the fish. In fractions of a second the shoal was transformed into ashimmering chaos of black-, silver- and peachcoloured stripes, which like a foaming superorganism simultaneously fell upon the slowly sinking bait. After a short while I had plenty of baitfish for a couple of hours fishing.
Stalking from the rocks
It was my plan to stalk along the edges of a small rockpoint, where I during the preceding days had experienced a phantasticfishing, - landing fish up to about 70 kilos. Already halfway out the point I saw a good nile perch turn in the surface, so it was with raised expectations, that I began making up the tackle. On account of large quantities of crushed water hyacinths on the surface and ragged rocks on the bottom, neither float- nor bottomfishing was the optimal solution. The experience during the previous days fishing quite clearly pointed to freelining with live tigerfish as bait. Several fish had been lost using 0,61 nylon hook-links, so I had switched to using a triple-link of 0,56 Big Game, simply 3 single monofile laid parallel and tied to hooks and swivel respectively with a grinner. Personally I prefer soft nylon hook-links to wire, which on account of its greater rigidity provides a more unnatural presentation of the bait. Halfdead or dead baitfish result in markedly inferior catches than quite fresh live baitfish, partly because they are less alluring, partly because they float to the surface and get tangled into the floating weeds. I had therefore started fishing with a double set of hooks comprising a single hook size 6/0 placed in the mouth of the fishbait to take the strain of the cast and a triple hook size 8/0 hooked into a corner of the dorsal fin. If the triple hook is hooked directly into the back or the neck of the fishbait, it dies much faster.
Already in the first cast I had a bite, and after a short fight I could land a small fish of about 30 kilos. Also the following cast resulted in a run, - a baby of about 10 kilos; but thereafter all was dead for several hours.
Running out of bait
I was eventually running out of fresh bait. A wind had risen and leaden stormclouds built up over the canyon in menacing formations. The shoal of tigers had disappeared, and under the pitchblack cloudcover the visibility in the water had been drastically reduced.
The only way to catch livebait was now to blind trot a chubberfloat along the currents edge of small pools. After about an hour I finally succeeded in catching a perfect tiger. I was just about to cast out, when the storm broke. The rain hammered down in thigh-thick spouts , and within a few minutes Devils Cauldron was transformed into a veritabel witches cauldron. Like stanzas from a doomsday mass performed in a deathdrome of rocks and water, gigantic flashes of thunder ripped through the canyon time and again. Wet through I dropped my rod and ran down the rock to get under the cover of my poncho. 10 meters from cover I slipped right over a sharp rock edge, and seconds later I lay aching all over, protected from the rain by the overhang , looking directly into the barrel of an AK-47. Overwhelmed by mirth at my graceless entry and sheepish expression, my rangerguide Canan removed the machinegun to a more reassuring position and lit another fag. Through the clouds of smoke I could just discern a few drops of blood on the sharp edge of the rock, within a few moments washed clean by the driving rain.
An hour, several fags and even more tall stories later, the clouds lifted as well under as above the poncho. The sun shone from a cloudless sky. Anxious to get going with the fishing, I began to get ready to catch some more baitfish. The cassava paste, which now most of all called your mind to lukewarm porridge, was saved from drowning with the aid of some maizeflour, and before long I was busy scanning the edges of currents bordering the small pools for tigerfish. All was dead, and despite an hours intensive fishing I only succeeded in landing a solitary Syndontis catfish.
On account of the hefty venomous spines on the edges of the dorsal and pectorals, - this fish is the last thing a predator with a preference for unperforated guts would think of biting into. As the creature - like Marlboro Man in extremis or a hogtied Gollum in The Dead Marshes - began to emit inarticulate hissing sounds, which even the intuition of a mollusk would interpret as most pitiable, I decided to release it for the benefit of possible as yet undiscovered species of predatory fish with galvanized intestinal walls.
I soon regretted, that I had not cut off the spines of the fins of the animal and casted it out to the nile perch, which were now hunting at full speed a few meters from the rocks. From a high rock I could in a quiet pool bordering whitewater faintly make out scattered shoals of tigerfish in wild panic. Incessantly giant shadows cleaved the shoals like aquatic sumo wrestlers. Frustrated, I tried again and again to tempt the, at least equally frustrated fish to take the bait. No wonder they had other things on their minds than eating, only to be eaten themselves twice consecutively. In the final analysis, as I realized, in comparison mine was a luxury problem, which could be handled.
New hope
The afternoon sun burned mercilessly, and the humid heat was eventually nearly unbearable. A casting length downstream a band of nile crocodiles lay with mouths agape and appeared to enjoy life. Bathed in sweat I ignored with increasing unconscious apathy the botfly-like stings of the tsetseflies, which more or less had converted my back into a crater-landscape of swollen bites.
With an exertion close to despair I let the cassava bait sink in under the rocks at my feet, and finally I succeeded in hooking a tigerfish of just under 2 kilos. The fish, which was rather too big to cast out with the rod, was mounted on a double set of hooks and by hand thrown into the backwater behind some large rocks. The very moment the bait fish hit the surface, a gigantic broadside the size of a door flashed a couple of meters under the surface. With a grim concentration, which had seemed impossible a few minutes earlier, I mended the line free from drifting water hyacinths and slowly let the tiger swim out into the border between maincurrent and backcurrent. Again a diffuse flash was seen, and with heavy blow, my 3 lbs "Silurius" catfish rod was fully bent double. With a immense speed the fish swam directly towards me, and it was only just, that I managed to keep a tight line during retrieving. Like an immovable rock the fish stood unyielding under me. The seconds felt like hours and nothing happened.
Fish of a lifetime
At the opposite shore a couple of huge crocodiles slowly slid into the water. The fish rose to the surface with interminable slowness. In cascades of water and debris of floating weeds the enormous animal crashed half out of the water and wriggled with back and head free of the water alongside the rock. Within seconds the fish was to be found in the middle of the wildest whitewater, and far more than 100 meters of line had run off the spool. The the line-bow, was on account of the strong current - ominous, to say the least. Only when the fish crashed clear out of the water 50 meters upstream of, where I thought it was, did my situation fully dawn on me. Large amounts of floating weeds from the mainstream had fastened to the line and made it impossible to make direct contact with the fish, which time and again jumped out of the water further and further upstream. Feverishly I loosened the clutch to avoid linebreakage, which merely resulted in the fish battled still closer to the waterfall. The deflecte
d line (line bow ?) was being pulled upstream and was with alarming speed closing in on the point of the rock promontory. There was nothing else to do but to get out onto the point before the line was cut by grating against the rocks.
At extreme hazard I climbed with one hand seeking support along the edge of the steep rocks, with the swells from large whirls in the current constantly lapping over my feet. The line had at that moment tightened onto the rock point, as I finally arrived to free it in the very nick of time. Fractions of a second later the fish made a vigorous run straight across Devils Cauldron and now swam downstream again. After 20 minutes of hard fighting the fish was finally back at my shore and slowly began to get closer to the starting point for its escapade to the falls. Again it stood unshakingly firm. Displeased at the thought of having to repeat the nearly mortally dangerous trip along the slippery wet rocks, I gave the fish full stick towards the edge of the point in order to provoke the beast to make a run in the opposite direction towards calmer water.
The tactic were successful, and after a few runs into the pool the fish began to show real signs of fatigue. Canan was getting ready with the flying-gaff and climbed with considerable difficulty down onto a rock, from which he just could reach the water without the danger of slipping in. Confronted with a pair of unblinking eyes the size of tangerines and a broadside the size of an Ankole cow he was nearly falling on his backside from fright whilst he excitedly shouted a string of Gulu words at breakneck speed. Several times he tried to gaff the fish in the mouth, but because of the large swells from the current quite a few tries were required, before he met with success. Dripping with sweat he tried to lift the nile perch free of the water, but the fish was too heavy. Quickly his friend Fred came to his aid, and finally the fish came half free of the water. The spool was released, and I threw the rod to one side in order to help landing the fish, but to my horror I saw, that the steel gaff slowly was straig
htening. Neither Fred nor Canan had in their eagerness discovered the catastrophy, and in a panic I threw myself from the rock and got a hold of the gill-cover, just as the fish slid off the gaff. Quick as lightning Fred grabbed hold of my shirt and stopped me from being dragged down by the fish. With an extreme exertion Fred and Canan managed to drag both fish and angler to safety. Never have I been so relieved.
The rangers harboured no doubt, that this was the biggest fish they had ever seen and estimated it to weigh 110-120 kilos. I have subsequently gathered data on the lengths and weights of big nile perch caught in nets in lakes Victoria and Albert, and based on this information it seems to be more realistic to assume, that the fish weighed between 90 and 100 kilos. But who cares - the fish was big enough to give me the kick of my life.
The nile perch
The nile perch, which is the biggest freshwater-fish in Africa, has for hundreds of years fascinated people and fishermen all along the Nile. In ancient Egypt the nile perch was a highly revered fish, and certain places it was actually worshipped in cults. Thus in certain places mummyfied nile perches have been found in special burial sites. Today the fish is without a doubt the most popular gamefish in Africa and is at the same time of enormous commercial significance in the whole of its area of distribution. Originally it was naturally occuring in the Nile downstream of Murchinson Falls, lakes Albert, Turkana and Chad as well as the Senegal- Niger- and Congo-riversystems. In 1955 lake Kyoga was stocked with nile perch , whence they over a short span of years spread to lake Victoria. The fish, which most of all looks like a cross between a mega-bass and a monster zander, can reach an impressive size. Fish weighing up to 360 lbs have reportedly been caught by commercial fishermen!! The official record for nile perch caught by anglers in Uganda is presently 80,5 kilos, but fish over 200 lbs+, - not officially reported, have been caught in the Nile.
Practical Advice
The fishing at Murchinson Falls is unbelievably inexpensiv (1995), if one arranges the trip avoiding the use of various Safari bureaus. Making use of "Matatus" (local minibusses) from the airport in Entebbe you can on a single day by way of Kampala, Masindi and Bulisa make the trip to the National Park Border for 6-8 USD hours. Take a special hire or hitchhike to Murchinson National Park Headquarters at Paraa. Special hire is considerably easier and costs at the most 12 USD possibly less depending on negotiating skill. In Paraa there is an inexpensive guest camp: "Paraa Rest Camp", where you can stay overnight, feed at small expense and the following day board a boat up to the falls for 6-35 USD. The price depends on the number of passengers taken. From the landing stage there is half an hours walk up to "Top of the Falls Camp", where camping costs 4
USD pr night. The camp is extremely primitive; water and bath is in the Nile. Food, pots and pans and kitchen utensils you have to bring with you from Bulisa or Masindi. The cooking you have to do yourself over the camp fire. Firewood and beer are the only items, that can be bought at the camp. Day-tickets cost 4
USD, full day 8 USD and season-tickets 16 USD. Further a rangerguide costs 4
USD half day and 8 USD full day and is officially compulsory on account of the many crocodiles and hippos found along the river. Top of the Falls Camp is simply a must for every angler with an adventurer's blood in his veins. Every single night the hippos graze in the camp a few meters from the tent!
You have to bring all your fishing gear with you, do not expect to be able to buy anything in East Africa. On account of the great quantity of floating weeds in the Nile spinning is just about impossible. On the quieter stretches devoid of snags you will be able to manage comfortably with compound-action rods of 2-3
lbs TC, a solid reel with a perfect working clutch and a capacity of at least 200 meters 12-20 lbs line, providing that you are fishing with small baitfish. If you are fishing with large baitfish of 0,5-1,5 kilos in strong current with plenty of sharp rocks and wish to stand an even chance of controlling and landing fish in excess of 50-60 kilos, then a 3,5-4 lbs TC compound - action rod, Multplier or a large fixed-spool reel with a capacity of at least 250 meters 30 lbs line would be preferable. In places with an overabundance of rocks, lines of up to 50 lbs may be necessary in order to land big fish. Bring single and triple hooks in sizes 5/0-8/0 and a strong gaff for the landing (!) Fishing for livebait is best done with hooks size 6-2, 0,25 line and possibly a couple of chubber floats. The fish can be caught the year round; but the best fishing is mostly in the dry seasons on account of the reduced incidence of floating crushed water hyacinths. If you are not used to travel and manage under extremely primitive conditions, then an unassisted trip to the Nile is not to be recommended. If you are interested in a prearranged safari, you will have to be prepared to put up a lot of money, typically 500-750 DM (225-350 pounds) pr. day! Such a luxury safari, where everything is prearranged, can be undertaken by amongst others HOT ICE, P.O.Box 151, Kampala, Uganda.