Sport fishing in Tanzania inland is increasingly becoming one of the most popular leisure activities among tourists. Even though fishing in Tanzania national parks and game reserves is prohibited, the country's many freshwater lakes and rivers, which occupy more than 6 percent of Tanzania's total area, offer plenty of sport fishing opportunities.
Tanzania rivers and their tributaries host plenty of fish especially during and immediately after the rainy seasons. It is therefore most advisable that you take your sports fishing safari after the short rains in November and December, or after the long rains in April and May. The best fishing spots in Tanzania include Mwanza, Musoma, Rufiji River, and Lake Tanganyika.
For the sports fishing safari enthusiast looking for the best fishing experience in Tanzania, there are a number of Tanzania tour and safari companies that organize fishing safaris. At the Lake Victoria ports of Mwanza and Musoma, you can also find friendly boatmen who will easily let you go with them on their daily fishing trips. Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake and hosts diverse tropical freshwater fish species that are often exported to aquariums the world over.
Mwanza, the southern port of Lake Victoria, is a very popular fishing safari destination in Tanzania. The port is home to huge Nile Perch and Tilapia and it one of the best places to get started. The port city is also the cultural centre of Sukuma, the largest ethnic group in Tanzania.
Musoma, another popular fishing safari destination, is on the Eastern shores of Lake Victoria, near the border with Kenya. You can catch plenty of Nile perch (Sangara or Chengu in the local dialect) in Musoma. In this port town, you will also find lots of boats that take visitors across Lake Victoria-the world's largest tropical lake and second largest freshwater lake by surface area. Lake Victoria has a 3440 km shoreline and hosts over 3000 islands, many of them inhabited.
Lake Tanganyika is another popular fishing safari destination in Tanzania. Stretching across four countries - Burundi, DRC, Zambia, and Tanzania - lake Tanganyika is the world's second largest freshwater lake by volume after lake Baikal in Siberia. The lake is home to over 350 fish species , including the Goliath Tiger Fish and the Nile Perch. Lake Tanganyika has over 2000 plant and animal species, of which 600 are not found anywhere else in the world.
The largest river in Tanzania, Rufiji River, provides opportunity for both salty water and freshwater fishing. The 21 lakes in the Rufiji floodplain area, plus the hundreds of ponds and creeks are the grounds for freshwater fishing. During the annual floods, these lakes and creeks fill up and yield good fish catches. Saltwater fishing takes place at the sandbanks off the Rufiji Delta near the coast, where good conditions exist for prawn fishing.
Fly fishing in Tanzania's rivers and streams is also becoming a favorite activity for visitors to Tanzania.