Nile Perch Fish – African fishing safaris in Uganda – Fishing for Nile Perch on Lake Victoria & Murchison Falls National Park
Nile perch fish – The Nile perch also known as the African snook or the Victoria perch, is a species of fresh water fish in the family of latidae of the order perciformes, It is widespread throughout much of the African fresh waters as there is a lot of small rivers that come out of the lakes and pour in to other lakes, being native to Congo basin, Nile, Senegal, Niger and Lake Chad, Volta, Lake Turkana and other river basins. It also occurs in the waters of Lake Maryrut in Egypt and Lake Nasser.
In Lake Victoria the Nile perch was introduced by the British in 1950’s to boost the fishing industry in Uganda but sooner had they known that that was a predator that was going to drastically start feeding on the indigenous fish species and this led to the decline of the indigenous fish species in Lake Victoria.
The Nile perch is a big economic asset for the communities and the country as a lot of the Nile perch fillet is exported to Europe and other continents of the world.
Breeding circle of the Nile perch.
A fully grown Nile perch can lay up to fourteen million eggs (14,000,000) and this has helped in the amount of fish that can hatch during the breeding season and in areas with controlled fishing the Nile perch population can be pretty healthy.
Average weight of the Nile perch.
On ordinary traditional fishing net a Nile perch f weighing 200 kg (500 pounds) was recorded but on sport fishing a record of 114 kgs (252 pound) Nile perch was recorded on the Victoria Nile in Murchison falls National Park on live bait below the rapids at the Gorge.
Feeding habit of the Nile Perch.
Nile perch are largely predators who feed on smaller fish as their pray and other algae and rotten plant matter found under the fresh water, that’s the main reason they are easily caught on artificial Lures.
For fishing safaris in Uganda Africa please contact Great adventure safaris fishing guides through email for more information.
