By Brayden Payne

I know I have already covered saltwater fishing but that wasn’t what I went to Senegal for, the reason I went was for freshwater fishing. I first talked to Mr Alter about Senegal on the India trip, surprisingly enough and when I heard the word tiger fish I was hooked.

Ever since I was a little kid I used to watch this show called River Monsters hosted by Jeremy Wade. He went around the world catching river monsters not literally but really big fish and when I watched the episode of him catching a tiger fish I always wanted that to be me. The tiger fish stood out because of how big its teeth were, how hard it fought, and how much of a challenge it was to catch.

Ever since we first were at hakuna lodge I was asking Mr Alter when I could catch a tiger fish. He said when we went to Kakuta’s village, so as that time came I was stoked. So you can guess when we took the long drive from hakuna lodge and to the village fishing was on my mind non stop when we arrived it was night. Even driving through the desert, I was thinking about fish.

The first day I didn’t get a chance the second day we had a chance but I didn’t bring my rod I really regret that. Alex caught 3 African pike that day, which are sort of mini tiger fish. The third day we went to Niokolo-Koba a national and I got my second chance and I brought my rod but ended up using Alex fitzhugh’s rod to catch my first fish which was a nice tilapia and the fourth day was our last day I got two chances that day. The first chance I caught a nice catfish and the second chance I had about three cast two snags and a lost lure. Fishing in the park was like being in a movie scene. There were nice views of bushes and stones by the moving green and blue water. There was clear moving water and darker deep water. The banks of the river go way up. There were monkeys and baboons in the trees. The trail was packed down with animal prints. They use the river too. It felt like I was in a tv show. Kept thinking I might see a lion.

I was also super close to hippos on the first and last sessions and the sound was crazy they were super loud and it felt like they were right in front of me when they were like 50 yards away. I had only seem hippos in a zoo but in the wild they had aura. They were intimidating.

So in the end I was not able to catch the fish I always dreamed about catching. The only people to do that were Alex Fitzhugh and Blake Berry. Congrats to them but I really wish that was me and all of the fish that we caught went to the park rangers as food. Watching everyone else catch fish really made me smile. It was exciting just being there. That reminded me why we fish in the first place. The surprise.

This will not be the last blog post you hear from me in Senegal because I will be coming back next year to catch that tiger fish and if I don’t catch it next year you’ll hear from me again in my senior year