Tiger fishing Tackle

Jozini tiger fishing is very varied, with many different types of fishing areas, allowing for the use of several techniques, so its good to have a nice variety of Tiger fishing tackle and lures to fish for Tiger fish in Jozini Dam.

There is so much fancy tiger fishing tackle out there these days, and most of it is better at catching fishermen than it is at catching Tiger fish. We have tried it all and still use the basic tackle below.

Below is a basic list of tiger fishing tackle will will need at Jozini Dam.

8 - 12 kg monofilament line (nylon). In open water, Tiger fish can be landed on lighter lines, but when tiger fishing in structure at Jozini, higher breaking strength line is essential.

Use braided lines only if you are accustomed to braid. Braid, even though it has good strength qualities, breaks easily when caught around rod tips or when big tiger fish are struck too hard on the initial run. Knots in braided line are also very difficult to untangle, and precious fishing time is wasted.

Braid is also very visible in clear water, so a very long clear or fluorocarbon leader is essential for tiger fishing. Leave the dental floss at home.

Remove all the treble hooks from all your spoons, spinners and Rapalas and replace them with hard, sharp, thin gauge single hooks. Tiger fish have a soft membrane in their mouth which treble hooks tear out of easily. When fishing with trebles you need to fish with a very light drag and never apply force.

When a tiger fish is hooked, its initial run is so fast and powerful that the drag created by the bow of your line in the water is enough to pull open split rings, break weak swivels and snap light line. Even if your tiger fishing tackle survives the Tiger fish's first run, often the line get wrapped around weeds, common at Jozini, once again placing strain on all your terminal tackle.

Replace all your split rings and swivels with high strength hardened steel. When buying spinners and other lures for tiger fishing, ensure that the lures and their individual components are built for strength.

When fishing for Tiger fish, steel trace is absolutely essential! Tiger fish bite through the thickest of leader line and even thin steel cable.

One can use either monofilament steel wire or nylon coated steel cable with a breaking strain of 25-50 kg. Steel wire tends to kink and break, but it is less visible than cable. Many people say that tiger fish are not leader shy, but try putting out a bait or lure directly onto braid and your strike rate plummets.

I prefer monofilament wire on smaller rigs and thick cable for rigs to catch big Tiger fish in Jozini.

Ensure that your traces are at least 50cm long because Tiger fish often attack the lure from the front, pulling the line through their teeth. If you are using a short leader, the Tiger fish bites it off above the swivel.

Tiger fish eat spoons readily, and this is one of the best ways to catch them. Shiny silver and copper spoons can be fished easily around and over weed beds or in deeper water. Many people will tell you that in Jozini, tiger fishing is unproductive with artificial lures. I have found the opposite!

My preferred spoons are Tobies, Effzetts and S-bend spoons. Spinners of any variety work well for Tiger fish in Jozini, especially if they have red in the colour pattern. Ensure that you replace the little red tails on your spoons. I use a small piece of red ribbon on the hook shank if I run out of red tails. The tiger fish also don't mind if you cut a red tail out of a plastic Coke bottle top, which work better than the commercially sold tails because the plastic is thick and survives many strikes by the Tiger fish's sharp teeth.

Jozini Tigerfishing

Tigerfishing Charters at the Jozini Dam

082 2575 612

Jozini Dam, KZN ZA

map
WDD✔

Jozini Tiger Fishing

Tiger fishing Tackle

Below is a basic list of tiger fishing tackle will will need at Jozini Dam.