Botswana's Bodacious Behemoths

The nembwe is a great gamefish on the fly

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Tigerfish, African pike, and nembwe are best targeted with a fast-action 9' 8-weight fly rod, such as a John Christlieb Trophy XT, St. Croix Legend Ultra, Sage RPL+, or Fly Logic FLO+. These fish will get into your backing if you let them, making a good reel essential. I recommend a Ross Canyon 3 for its excellent disc drag and capacity.

Flies should imitate baitfish. Go with 1/0 to 3/0 Deceivers with dark backs and light sides, and chartreuse-and-white and yellow 2/0 Clousers. Poppers are also productive. A good place to get your flies is The Fly Shop at www.theflyshop.com. Floating lines for the pike and sink-tips and full-sink lines for the tigerfish when they are suspended. Cortland's new 444SL Change-A-Tip line is one of the very best. A 10-foot 3X to 1X tapered leader with 12 inches of wire tippet is good. The nembwe don't require wire, however.

Work channel confluences for the tigers and along deep edges lined with papyrus. The pike and nembwe prefer quiet backwaters near weeds. They all eat the same flies.

For conventional tackle, a 6' to 6" fast-action spinning rod is fine. Make sure your reel's drag is reliable and fill the spool with 8- to 10-pound test. Floating and diving Rapalas, Rat-L-Traps and Zara Spooks are good, but most productive are in-line spinner baits made by Mepps.

Bring your own tackle and don't forget those wire leaders and tippets.