The Sunday Mail
The Kariba Invitation Tiger Fish Tournament’s ultimate prize of a car is proving elusive!
This year’s edition of Zimbabwe’s biggest fishing tournament was held at the traditional venue, Charara Campsite in Kariba from October 18 to 20.
In the last three editions, not one angler has caught a fish weighing the required 10kg or above to claim the top prize, which this year was a brand new Isuzu KB250 Fleetside bakkie courtesy of Isuzu Zimbabwe.
Trevor Merrier narrowly missed out when his catch weighed in at 9,76kg on the first day of the event. The second best catch weighed 9,2kg.
There was visible dejection on faces of some of the anglers on the final day.
One of them, who has taken part in previous editions of the competition, jestingly suggested that “it is much more possible to hit an iceberg in the man-made lake than to get a 10kg catch at present”.
Pat Driscoll of team Charter Africom was the last to win himself the grand prize a Chevrolet Utility, sponsored by Autoworld Zimbabwe, in 2014 after catching a tiger fish weighing 12,035kg.
Before Driscoll, the KITFT top prize was won by Ian Wheeler, who caught a 10,420kg tiger fish.
Statistics from KITFT organisers give hope to anglers.
There has been an increase both in the number and weight of fish caught at the just ended 56th edition of tournament compared to the previous editions.
The two biggest catches last year were 6,09kg and a 4,39kg, which was much lower than the 7,56kg and 5,92kg that made it to the top two in 2015.
This year we are talking of plus-9kg.
The overall team weight of fish caught by winners Fins Fishing as they successfully defended their KITFT title increased from 80kg last year to 121kg.
This was for 47 and 60 fish respectively.
Simple arithmetic show the average weight of a single tiger fish was 1,7kg in 2016 compared to 2kg this year.
Glow Trek Petroleum, who had a total catch of 103,765kg was second-placed followed by ULTC Glow Petroleum with 89,335kg.
A general look at the figures seem to suggest the tiger fish population is gently recovering.
KITFT director Rod Bennet attributes the positive change to favourable weather conditions.
“The tournament will recover in two years time. There has been good rains and we are expecting the same this year, which is good for tiger fish breeding. Catches have not been as good as in the past due to number of factors among them poor rains and poaching,” said Bennet.
“We have, however, been engaging relevant authorities like the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Authority who are our partners to get rid of some loopholes that are stifling the growth of the tournament.”
ZimParks are the custodians of the tiger fish. This year, 56 teams participated in this edition of the tournament.
The figure is a far cry from a high of about 250 teams that took part in the tournament five years ago.
One of the tournament consultants and Kariba resident, Laiton Kandiwire, believes economic challenges have contributed to local participants developing lethargy towards the tournament.
The costs of hiring a boat and tournament fees are generally considered exorbitant for an average employee in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe Tourism Authority head of corporate affairs Sugar Chagonda says there is need to come up with strategies to revamp the event.
“KITFT is known world over and has great potential to market Kariba as a destination. It has capacity to boost international arrivals and to promote domestic tourism. Adventure activities like tiger fishing, Tour de Tuli, Donnybrook Car Rally are crucial components of our tourism package,” said Chagonda.
“Tourists organise their holidays to coincide with such events. That is why we are worried about the dropping number of participants at the tournament. ZTA is ready and willing to assist in boosting the event.
“We met organisers of the event and pledged to support them. This event should be big again.”
Tiger fish is Africa’s finest and most flamboyant game fish and is known for its sheer aggression and pound-for-pound strength, ranking as the world’s most powerful fresh water fish.
Tiger fish is clearly distinguished from other fish through a ferocious set of razor-sharp teeth enclosed by a boney head, black/blue lateral tiger stripes and bright yellow to red caudal fin. Females are larger than their male counterparts. The fish rarely attacks a stationary target.
The tiger tournament has been successfully held in Kariba on an annual basis since 1960.
