BRUCE AND HIS VUNDU CATFISH
BRUCE AND HIS VUNDU CATFISH
by Fred M. Allen
During their Christmas break, our daughter, Valerie, a student at University of North Texas, Denton, TX, and our son, Bruce, a student at Hardin-Simmons University, Abilene, Texas, came to Zambia to be with us where we served as missionaries. It was so nice having them with us that holiday season. We saved our vacation time to be able to do many exciting things with them that year.
We spent a night in huts on Fothergill Island and saw many wild game. It was a wonderful outing. Among the many things Bruce wanted to do while in Zambia was to try to catch a big vundu catfish in Lake Kariba which is on the Zambezi River which separates Zambia and Zimbabwe.
For some years we had seen the vundu catfish below the Lake Kariba Dam as they would come up for air. On one occasion we saw one large one turned crossways in the mouth of a huge crocodile. It must have weighed 100 pounds or more. We stayed in the Most High Hotel in the town of Kariba on the Zimbabwe side of the river.. We found a professional driver who agreed to take us out in his boat.
We fished all day using cut pieces of fish meat for bait. We caught several smaller ones including a 19-pounder. Several times we got good bites but our lines broke when we tried to bring them in. Once Bruce got a big one which broke his line and rod when the fish went under our boat.
Finally, Bruce got another bite and hooked him. The driver asked me to untie the boat so the fish would become tired pulling the boat around. I did so nervously as the driver started coaching Bruce: “Hold the pole straight up, keep reeling him in slowly; keep the line tight so he won't run with it and break it.” Closer and closer Bruce was reeling him in, realizing this was a very big one. Finally, he reeled him close to the boat and we saw how big he was! I was busy taking pictures.
At first the driver grabbed the fish by the gill with one hand, but he could not bring him in. He lay down in the boat facing the fish, grabbed him by the gills with both hands and with a big effort, landed him in the boat almost on top of himself. Was Bruce happy? In fact, we all were!
We made it back to the dock just before dark. I took a picture of Bruce on the dock as he held the vundu catfish by the gills in front of him; but I could not see Bruce. I asked him to look around the fish. He did, I snapped him, and I made one of the best pictures of my life. We brought the vundu to the hotel and put it in the cooler for the night.
The next day we weighed the fish and it weighed 64 pounds. However, I could tell it had lost several pounds since we caught it, so I estimated that it had weighed about 80 pounds when we landed it. (Or was it 100)? The driver who helped us agreed that it weighed at least 80 pounds.
We took the vundu to the taxidermist who cut off 38 filets which we froze and enjoyed for weeks to come. The head of the fish was preserved and mounted. We brought it to Bruce when we came home for Valerie's graduation from UNT Bruce kept his trophy in his dorm room at H-SU, and he enjoyed showing it to his buddies there. What a memorable experience!
Bruce is still the champion fisherman in our family! For sure, this is my favorite fishing story for on that exciting day we were making memories never to be forgotten.