A bit of history

The first ever Kariba International Tiger Fishing Tournament was held in 1962, with just 33 teams entering. Teams that participated were mainly from Zimbabwe and South Africa. The tournament was obviously a success as it continued to grow with each new year. The tournament had almost doubled by the year 1991 with 333 teams entered to fish, some 300 teams more than the first tournament.

The year 2000 saw KITFT recording the biggest catch weight in the tournaments 49 years of history. The total weight was 9,945.18 kgs and the total number of fish caught was 4,788. Meaning the average weight of each fish was 2.07 kg.

The biggest fish to come from KITFT history was caught in 2009 by Martinhus Van Rensburg, weighing in at 12,735 kg. Just prior to this on the same day Sandra Pienaar caught a 10,550 kg.

The lady anglers have seemed to be force to be reckoned with over the KITFT history. As mentioned above, Sandra Pienaar with a fish over 10 kg as well as Mandy Ferreira landing a magnificent 10,210 kg in the 2002 tournament.

The current record Tiger Fish was caught by, yet another lady, Jenni Daynes weighing in at 16,1 kg (35lb 7oz) which was caught outside of the tournament on the 9th  December 2001.

KITFT was recognized by IGFA as one of the greatest Game Fish tournaments in the World.