T -
TIGERFISH
Tigerfish can refer to fish from various families, and derives from official and colloquial associations of these with the Asian tiger. However, the primary species designated by the name "tigerfish" are African and belong to the family Alestidae.
The African Tigerfish is overall silvery in colour, with thin black stripes running horizontally. It has an elongated body and a red, forked caudal fin with a black edge. Its head is large, as well as its teeth, of which there are eight per jaw. Males are larger and more full-bodied than females. It grows to a length of 105 centimetres (41 in).
When flyfishing for Tigerfish you should use 8 to 10 weight fast action rods. The reel you choose must correspond to the weight of your rod and must have a descent disc drag system as Tigerfish are notorious for burning out reels in there first 50 meters of their run. Once again the fly-line you choose must correspond with the weight of your rod. The recommended lines are anything from at least 250-300 grain fast sink shooting head with fused running line. In terms of leaders you can use 3-4ft, 20-25 pound breaking strain monofilament. Also, you have to use wire leaders as the Tigerfish have very sharp teeth. For bait you can use an assortment of saltwater flies, deceivers and clousers tied on a 1/0 or 2/0 gamagatzu B10S stinger thin gauge hook. Colours of the flies can be white, blue, yellow, red, green etc. One other way of catching a Tigerfish is spinning. The most popular and successful way is by drifting the faster flowing water of outer banks of big bends and casting fat raps and magnums close up to the clay banks and retrieving them back to the boat. The strike zone here is usually in the first 5 meters from the bank, but its not uncommon for a Tigerfish to come charging out of the depths from under the hull and engulf your lure only a couple of centimeters beneath the surface.
Internationally
This species' distribution covers the Niger/Bénoué, Ouémé River, Senegal River, Nile, Omo River, Congo River, Lufira, Lualaba River, Luapula, Zambezi, Limpopo River, Rovuma, Shire River and Wami River;as well as Lakes: LakeBangweulu, Moéro,Tanganyika, Upemba, Rukwa and Malagarazi. It is also found in the Okavango Basin and lower reaches of coastal systems south to the Pongola River and in man-made Lake Kariba and Schroda Dam.