Wildman Safaris, Monster tigers on Oargee Lures
Dear Wayne & George
I run wildlife and fishing safaris in Southern Africa and one of our premium tigerfishing safaris happens on the Barotse Floodplains and Lungwebungu River in Western Zambia targeting trophy tigerfish.
I first encountered the Oarsome Oargee 90mm with the 3m bib through a friend – Dan Power – and thought that the lure looked very good but was interested to see its actual performance in the fast currents and the bone hard jaws of tigerfish. I didn’t have to wait long – Dan landing an 11lb tiger spinning off the bank in front of camp on his first morning and the lure hardly looked scratched.
This was impressive considering some of our rapalas which we use, are snapped in 2 pieces after one fish! Such is the power of the tigerfish!
However, the jury was still out, as we have had “1 hit wonder lures” before. However, when a client I was guiding produced 2 Oarsome Oargee’s (which we nicknamed “Hot Tiger” and “Pornstar” – turns out they were YO and SPB respectively) that I really saw impressive results.
Starting initially with the SPB – this client received 4 takes for every 1 that his partner got fishing with a rapala floating magnum.He caught tigerfish ranging from trophy fish down to small ones as well as a trophy nembwe (olive bream) and the lure continued to swim well trolled against a quick current and survived a number of savage bites. We used it spinning and the lure dived down to the strike zone depth quickly and had good weight to it for casting. When he eventually lost the SPB, I had no hesitation changing him to the YO which Dan had used and the following day, he landed a 15lb tigerfish on the YO – his personal best.
Needless to say, when the next fish stripped him and snapped the line, everyone was very sad to see the back of the Oargee. I was extremely impressed with these lures in terms of their presentation, swimming action, durability and weight for casting. With Rapala having recently pulled the floating magnum range in Africa, I feel very confident that the Oarsome Oargee range in 90mm will be a potent replacement for Barotseland and we are also going to be trying to get our clients to use them extensively at our Upper Zambezi River tigerfishing lodge, Mutemwa.
Well done guys on an exciting lure.
James Williams
Wildman Safaris.
