I enjoy boat fishing of all kinds, including being out on freshwater. But what I most certainly do not enjoy when I'm freshwater fishing is having hippo's roaming around in my swim. Unfortunately, on many African rivers and lakes, the two go hand in glove. Hippo's are big, bad tempered, potentially very dangerous animals - responsible in fact for the deaths of more people than all of Africa's predatory big cats put together. In the rivers and lakes where hippo's live are some predatory cats of a different kind. Various species of catfish thrive in these waters. But on this particular occasion, we were looking for predatory "cats" of a different kind. They say there are no tigers in Africa. On the land that is most certainly the case. Beneath the waters surface however it can be a very different story indeed. With a speed, power, and feeding aggression capable of relegating any UK reservoir trout into a lower league, tiger fish are rated, and rightly so, as the top freshwater game fish across the length and breadth of Africa.

Back in the UK, we take lakes, rivers, and more especially the availability of drinking water completely for granted. In less fortunate parts of the world, clean fresh water is the single most valuable commodity you can have. Unfortunately these days, it doesn't always make itself available in the way it should. Weather patterns are now changing on a global scale, a fact made striking evident to me during a visit to south-east Africa to the border area of Swaziland and Natal. Many of the river systems had run completely dry while others ran as little more than a trickle down the centre of huge barren riverbeds. Drinking water by and large in that part of South Africa comes from boreholes tapping into under ground reservoirs. But people also have to eat which means agriculture and crops need water too. With this is mind, the Pongola Poort Dam was constructed in the heart of the Pongola game reserve allowing farmers to irrigate their crops while creating a haven for wildlife, including hippo's, and many species of freshwater fish.

It takes years for a dam to trap sufficient river water to flood an area to the extent that the excess can be discharged from the top of the wall along the old riverbed once again. When that level was reached at Pongola, the lake it had formed had a staggering 174 km (approx 110 miles) of shoreline. Far too much for the average bank angler armed with a rod hold-all and basket to attempt. A second and more pressing reason for giving the bank angling a miss is the presence of crocodiles around the margins, along with the frequent visits by elephants, buffalo and rhino to the waters edge to drink. Leopards are also present in good numbers. Pongola is a national game reserve where you should expect to encounter a wide cross section of animals. This said, camping is permitted in the main boat launching area. And judging by the heaps of dung around the tents, the animals don't seem to mind, unless of course the animals weren't directly responsible having given some of the campers a bit of a scare in the night.

They say the best time to fish the Pongola Dam is early morning and late evening. Having spent a full day on the lake, it isn't difficult to see why. With the sun relentlessly beating down and not even the merest wisp of a breeze, humans, animals and fish understandably simply don't want to bothered doing anything other than finding some shelter from it. But before and after the main heat of the day it is a different matter. This is why camping close to the slipway and having your chosen boat operator give you an early morning call would not be a bad idea. No such "luxury" for Dawn and myself however as ours was always going to be a one off visit just to get a taster of the place. Despite being on the road at day break, the two hour drive to the lake unfortunately meant we would miss breakfast time for the tiger fish, though we were still confident we would catch, on top of which the scenery and wildlife we knew would be stunning.

My previous experience with tiger fish had been thousands of miles to the north fishing the lake formed by the Aswan Dam in the southern Egyptian dessert. There most of the action had come from the bank using large spoons retrieved as fast as the reel handle could be cranked. You would see the lure coming in with nothing but empty water behind it. Then suddenly out of nowhere, a silver torpedo would speed in, grab it, and take to the air all in a split second. At Pongola however, things were slightly different. The main fish holding areas were still around the margins. But there the water was shallower close in, and of course there are the other inhabitants to consider. Weed would also have been a problem for lure fishing from the bank, unlike Lake Nasser where it was deep, rocky, and weed free. Lures are still used. But the favoured approach is to live bait with small tilapia. In many ways it is similar to pike fishing in the UK. Free lining, light legering and float fishing are all viable techniques. However, in the heat of the day, fishing at the bottom close to the shelter of the weed beds is a must.

Our guide was local tiger fish expert Jaco Lourenes aboard his boat Nkwazi - the Zulu word for fish eagle. As we motored out, Jaco gave us a run down on the reserve, the fishing, and the fish. Dating back to the nineteenth century, Pongola is the oldest game reserve in South Africa, sharing a border with the neighbouring country of Swaziland. The biggest rod caught tiger fish tipped the scales at 9.3 kg (over 20 pounds), and an 11 Kg monster was taken in a net. The average size however is much more modest, though Jaco expects to see fish of around 3 kg on most days. Yes, but what about the hippo's. Are they likely to pose any problem. Apparently there are about 100 resident in the lake, which considering the surface area makes the chance of violating ones territory reasonably remote, at which point Dawn spotted something which might just be one up ahead. Jaco decided we should take a look, and sure enough it was. As he reversed the boat ever nearer to get a good look, its agitation became increasingly evident until finally it charged the boat. Fortunately we had been pre-warned and were all holding on tight when Jaco opened the throttle up to escape.

Tiger fish are incredible fish to catch. Not only do they scrap well, they look spectacular too. Those teeth are really something else, as is the power that massive tail can deliver when they feel the hook between their jaws. Dawn was the first in action on a small free lined tilapia live bait. We had experienced a few dropped runs previously, which we put down to the conditions. The day became so hot and so still you felt you would eventually melt. No wonder the hippo's were grumpy, and little wonder the tigers were finicky about their feeding. But eventually runs were converted into hits and then to fish in the boat. We also had catfish (known locally as barbel), which are cleared from the hook while still in the water, because they make a stinking mess of the boat. Nothing huge. But in such a picturesque setting with giraffe, wildebeest, buffalo and the rest all coming down for a drink in full view throughout the day, that really didn't seem to matter much. A true fishing safari in every sense of the word.