Corumana Dam Mozambique

[Herman Jooste]

The response will be intersting.

Maybe there is more than 1 operator "doing" ( pun intended ) Corumana ?

[Shamwari]

The response will be intersting.

Maybe there is more than 1 operator "doing" ( pun intended ) Corumana ?

what did he use, a Wooly Bugger or Wooly Worm?

[FishWhisperer]

The response will be intersting.

Maybe there is more than 1 operator "doing" ( pun intended ) Corumana ?

The response from the operater (also,from the other site):

"1. I firmly stand by my statement that the biggest fish have been caught
in the winter months 4.5 - 8.2kg's. The smaller shoaling tigers 2-4kg's
are readily caught in the summer months. The fact that Corumana has
experienced it's coldest winter in many years as confirmed by the Ara Sul
(Water Affairs) officials to me in a meeting that I had with them just two
days ago, was sure to have a negative affect on the fishing and of course
something that I could not have predicted in advance.
2. I don't know why the client mentioned the 10cm tigers, because that's
exactly what we were targeting at the time for live bait with tiny
spinners!
3. As far as the guide is concerned (myself), I do know the dam and river
very well and have fished them extensively, but when fishing conditions
are as bad as they were, we improvised by trying live bait, drift bait,
bream fillets etc. Nothing seemed to work as the fish were just not
feeding, period! Had fishing conditions been better and the client had
caught alot of fish, he would probably have felt differently.
4. As far as the accommodation is concerned, on the website it does state
"rustic" and "prefab style" not 5 star accommodation, which sounds as
though this is what the client was expecting.
5. As far as the bed is concerned, I would like to again apologise to the
client as I did apologise to him, when he was there. What happened was
Sasol gas pipeline contract workers have rented all the accommodation
available in the village and in my absence Ara Sul (Water Affairs) removed
one of the beds out of our Casa to accommodate the big Sasol group. I
kicked up a huge fuss with the Camp Management as I had not been informed
of this by them, and had I known this was going to happen, I would have
taken an extra bed with me when I left SA. I am leaving SA again next
week and am taking two extra beds with me, to avoid this kind of
situation. Once again I apologise.
6. The dining room chairs and all the furniture in the casa are the
property of Ara Sul (Water Affairs), and not supplied by me. Thanks for
mentioning this. I will be taking down suitable chairs with me, next week.
7. Regarding the hamburgers. We have found that it is not a good idea to
give the clients a completed hamburger, as not all eat cheese, or onion
etc. Therefore it was decided to put out all the ingredients and let them
assemble their own hamburgers. We furthermore have excellent food like,
potjiekos, espetadas, steaks, chops etc etc.
However, I will scrap hamburgers from the menu, to prevent further
unhappiness, although this client has been the first to complain, other
clients have loved our famous Corumana burgers, except for the fact that
it was suggested before that we do not make up the hamburgers, but leave
the clients to make them up. It just goes to show that one cannot keep
everyone happy and I am sure this is the case with all who have lodges or
hotels.
8. On the website it states that we give the first tank of fuel, which is
what I had when the client arrived! Therefore our obligation was
fulfilled. However, when the boat required additional fuel, the filling
station had no fuel available, I did manage to obtain some fuel from a
another source, not far from the camp, which seemed to be diluted but risked our boat motor in putting this fuel in to accommodate the clients. I am not sure if the fuel shortage had to do with the strikes in SA, as there was also no fuel. We have however, in the past brought more fuel with us, but have encountered serious problems at the border with excess fuel, therefore we can give one tank of fuel as
again mentioned on our website.
9. The toilet seat is broken and has been taped up. I have complained to
Ara Sul (Water Affairs) on numerous occassions about this, but nothing
has been done. I will just replace the damn thing myself.
10. Having no other accommodation available due to Sasol, we had no choice
but to share the casa with the clients, this however is not the norm. I
apologise for this, but I didn't know about the lack of accommodation.
11. I can understand and accept some of the points raised. What I take
exception to is the use of the word "Con". I resent that remark and find
it unnecessary. To also use my son (who is 19 and not 6) as an excuse not
to have confronted me and then to come back to SA and put such a horrible
message on the web, to me is unacceptable.

We have taken note of all his complaints whether valid or not, and will
take extra care to up our level of service were applicable, this is the
first complaint we have had!

Corumana remains an excellent tiger fishing destination that is close to SA. I
have spent a week on the Zambezi and not caught a single fish. Shit
happens!

In my opinion fisherman that complain about having to assemble his own hamburger and dining room chairs, should not go fishing in Mozambique and rather take up knitting!"

[gazzarowan]

haha...what a great response...

the guy who put up his complaint has hopefully either responded to this or apologised.

agreed on the hamburger story though, as i would prefer making my own...

and as stated about the fishing Sh1t happens...ah well...such is life

[FishWhisperer]

haha...what a great response...

the guy who put up his complaint has hopefully either responded to this or apologised.

Not as yet. He's well within his right to air his complaints - he11 thats what forums are for - great response though, one can only learn an improve.

agreed on the hamburger story though, as i would prefer making my own...

and as stated about the fishing Sh1t happens...ah well...such is life

Too true, I love the idea of putting my own burgers together - I like that whole rustic vibe. Its a FISHING trip... in MOZAMBIQUE! You cant expect silver service. As for the fishing, well thats just the way it goes some times.

[Corumana]

I am aware of this operator and can not comment on his behalf. We had a trip organized with some local Fisherman and being new to the industry our problems and faults were pointed out immediately. Criticism is good because it just betters the service and expectations from clients. Going back to the winter season and Tigers. I guess we all know two types of fish do not byte or take bait during the cold months, bass and Tiger. When the willows starts forming buds fishing time starts again. We all know that December is the best time to catch big tigers, females are the bigger ones and this is their breeding time. They gain extra weight. Unfortunately you will have to face 40 degrees + temperatures to catch one. Live bait? If you use the right fish in the summer months it works, I never tried it myself but people fishing with me did. I kept to my fly rod. Wooly buggers did the job for me, caught a couple of nice tigers, bream and a fair size catfish.

[Shamwari]

hmmm...if you fish slowly and with finesse, you actually catch a lot of big bass in winter....just be persistant...

[Booger Rose]

hmmm...if you fish slowly and with finesse, you actually catch a lot of big bass in winter....just be persistant...

My take on Bass as well. I caught one of my biggest bass in a dam near Newcastle while it was snowing.

[Corumana]

Next winter I will try again with some finesse and more "geduld" ... Tiger Fish season is here, I will do some scouting soon to see what the fish is up to in Mozambique. They were very quiet for 4-5 months. The dam level was extremely high and is down to normal now.

[Corumana]

Just a quick reply- Bream fillet is not a very good idea in Corumana. You've got better chance of catching a mermaid than a Tiger. There is a specific little silver fish we use, it is potent for fillet.