| Ethiopia Travel & Tour Information
Fishing
With
rivers and lakes full of a wide variety of fishes, some with
extraordinary sizes,
Ethiopia
provides perhaps a unique and unmatchable sport fishing condition
than any other African destination.
A
typical day’s fishing may also include the bonus of seeing giant
crocodiles, families of hippo, pink clouds of flamingos, exotic
tropical fruits ripening on the trees near the water.
Ethiopia
has more than 200 species of freshwater fish including
Nile
perch, wide varieties of catfish, tigerfish, and brown and rainbow
trout.
The
largest of
Ethiopia
’s lakes,
Lake
lana
, is one place to start a fishing safari. The lake shore by Tana
Hotel, enables you to fish in comfort for the barbus, catfish and
tilapia. Boats are available permitting the exploration of more
remote fishing grounds. Barbus fishing in the upper reaches of the
Blue Nile
can be superb. In the clear water conditions, barbus and catfish
of enormous size and variety can be seen in the fast runs above
the
Blue Nile
Falls
(Tis Isaf).
Tilapia
and barbus are also the main species of fish in the beautiful Rift
Valley lakes of Ziway and Langano. Further south in the Rift,
Chamo and Abaya lakes, near the town of
Arba Minch
, also offer good fishing grounds. The
Baro
River
, in the west of
Ethiopia
with access gained at the town of
Gambella
, is noted for the giant size of its
Nile
perch — and the great density of crocodile population as well.
The
ubiquitous tilapia is found in most of the country’s lakes and
rivers. You can also find shoal fishes; the largest on record was
just over five kilos (12 pounds).
There
are several species of catfish in
Ethiopia
, although the most common is Bagrus docmac, known to weigh around
18 kilos (40 pounds) or more. Another interesting fish you may
come across is the revolting-looking electric catfish,
Malopferurus. Although it grows not more than one metre (three
feet) in Length, it has the unfortunate habit of delivering an
electric shock to anyone handling it. An average-sized fish can
send 100 volts. If you don’t relish the idea of catching such a
specimen, you can limit your fishing to daylight hours, as the
species is mainly nocturnal.
Of
the many species of barbel found in the country, two are of great
interest to the angler. The rhino-nosed barbus, Barbus mariae, is
the largest of the family, having weights more than eighteen kilos
(40 pounds). Barhus tane,zsis is more heavily built, somewhat
humpbacked and there is a pronounced spine on the leading ray of
the large dorsal fin. Maximum recorded weight is around fourteen
kilos (30 pounds).
The
tigerfish, a voracious predator with a remarkable set of teeth
quite capable of biting a chunk from an angler’s haul averages
about one-and-a-half kilos (three. pounds) in weight, although
much larger specimens have been found. The highest recorded weight
is 16 kilos (35 pounds).
Nile
perch are likely to be the prime objective of many anglers, with
their potentially vast size and excellent fighting capabilities.
They are usually found in deeper water close to weeds and reeds.
Although fast, strong and seemingly tireless, the
Nile
perch rarely runs more than forty-five metres (150 feet) before ii
can be turned and prefers to fight in open water rather than seek
out obstruction.
By
far the biggest sport fishing attraction in
Ethiopia
is the superb trout fishing waters found in the beautiful
Bale
Mountains
in the south-west of the country.
For
the keen trout angler, there are three quite spectacular rivers
that flow out of 3,800-metre-high (12,464M-foot-high) Sanetti
plateau, the highest massif within the
Bale
Mountain
range, which stretches over 140 kiloimetres (87 miles) on the
eastern side the Rift Valley south of Addis
The
rivers are easy to fish, flowing through upland hillsides covered
in heather interspersed by tumbling cataracts with plenty of good
water for fishing.
The
largest of the three rivers is the Shiya, bordered by open
grassland. The river is distinctive because of its huge holding
pools along the thirty kilometers (19 miles) of fishable water.
The fish are mainly rainbow — all indigenously bred since the
rivers were stocked by Kenyan sport fisherman in the late ‘60s
— and are powerful fighters. One- and two-kilo (two-to
four-pound) rainbow are common, and others up to three kilos
(seven pounds) in size have been caught.
The
Shiya’s vast deep pools are interspersed with tumbling,
rock-filled rapids and the banks are generously covered with weed,
grass, and water weed — ideal hiding spots for trout as food
abounds.
Angling
techniques that may be used include fly-fishing. thread line
spinning, bait fishing with float and Léger, free lining, and
even trolling.
Fishing
is best just before and after the rains, from December to March
and September to October.
As a leading Ethiopia travel agency, Fest Ethiopia provides all the facilities needed for a superb fishing experience in Ethiopia and would like to know how we can assist more. Fishing travel
programs can always be combined with other packages for superb
travel experience in
Ethiopia
and
East Africa
.
Fishing
destinations -
Tana
Lake,
Lake
Ziway
,
Lake
Langano,
Lake
Chamo
, Abaya lakes and
Bale
Mountains
|
