The following methods are used to tempt the racy tigers of Sidinda:

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Sidinda species and the gear:

The fish: Tigerfish, Barbel, Bream, Vundu catfish (huge), electric catfish, Sqeaker, Nkupe & Chessa

Rods

Standard bait castings rods or spinning rods for tigers (eg. Shimano Nexave) are ideal for conventional fishing with 9 weights being the Zambezi standard weight for fly, (the avg tiger is 5lbs so a small weight can be attempted). Fly line needs to be matched to the rod with an intermediate line working very well (Sci-Anglers have some good options as does Airflo with the tropic express to handle boat deck temperature and resulting line memory. Boats @ Sidinda Lodge are good for both fly, conventional and trolling.

Flies and Lures

Tiger can be caught by a variety of methods such as fly fishing, trolling, spinning, drifting and bottom fishing and one can also use live bait (or a combination). The small sardine (kapenta) was introduced into Lake Kariba some 10 years ago, on a commercialised basis to provide protein for the population and account for more than half of the tigerfish's diet. An interesting trick is to throw handfuls of them from purchased packets to induce feeding frenzies. Best fishing times coincide with the hot season starting in September through to December

Having fished the Zambezi River extensively at all times of the year, we found the tigers at Sidinda to be extremely hard fighting fish. Fish caught in the 2-3kg bracket fought as hard as the 5kg plus tigers we are used to catching in winter on the upper Zambezi River. This is probably due to the tigers being more lethargic in winter as I have caught hard fighting tigers up on the Barotse during October/November.