Another Day at the Local

Here are just a few pics from another trip we did to our local dam. Again we were taking a lot of fish on spinnerbait (chartreuse white) as well as on fluke. We noticed at one stage the larger fish holding close to an underwater rock pile. They were taking so tentatively that initialy it took about 4 casts for me to realise that the tention I kept feeling on the line wasn’t just my lure getting hooked up on underwater structure. A solid reminder for me to strike whenever in doubt. How many fish have you lost on presumption?

Another local fish

Kyle's spinnerbait fish

Taken on fluke

Another good fish

Easter Angling

Stanley wedge bloodspot spinner

It’s almost winter, which means the mad rush to catch our last few bags of fish, before the cold moves in, has begun. A good friend of mine Kyle and I hit one of our local dams, during the Easter weekend, to target some largemouth bass. What a surprise we got. Offloading our float tubes from the cars this early Saturday morning, we couldn’t help but complain about the cold weather and how bad the fishing was probably going to be. We were wrong.

Taken on a chartreuse and white spinnerbait

We ended up having a great day on the water with most of our fish taken on, believe it or not, the spinnerbait. I was quite surprised that under such chilly conditions (conditions which usually demand finesse fishing) that the spinnerbait was our most successful strategy. The spinnerbait that worked for me was a white bloodspot Stanley wedge with a gold Colorado leaf and a large silver willow leaf trailing behind. And I picked up a lot on that.

Small fish taken on fluke

Kyle had similar fortune on a spinnerbait boasting a white chartreuse skirt, I can’t remember the blade configuration though. I don’t usually have such luck on spinnerbait but Kyle showed me a thing or 2 about slow rolling a spinner in and around thick grassy cover. If I could share one thing of importance that I took away from this trip, it would be: Don’t to be afraid to fish your spinnerbaits through thicker structure types like submerged grass and weed. Fish it through with confidence and if it starts to feel a little heavy, simply give it one or 2 short sharp jerks to tear any accumulated grass free. Most of the time this works fairly well, and bass like nothing more than to destroy an intruder that comes tearing over its head through thick grassy cover.

Biggest of the day

I also took a few on a watermelon seed super fluke fished slowly with a small split shot pressed to the nose. I fished this relatively deep in pockets between thick underwater mats of grass. All in the all the fishing was pretty good and I cant help but be hopeful that there might just be one or two more weekends of bass angling left in the season.

Piping hot Magma (Banax)

We added yet another reel to our already sizeable arsenal of fishing tackle, the Banax Magma. I tested the reel out while on my V-boat a couple of weekends ago and I was impressed. Simply put this reel is enjoyable to fish. Banax is not a well-known brand by any means but I am starting to think that it is one of the most underrated ones.

The magma boasts a high speed 7:1 gear ration so is suited to jigging and worming in situations where you want to return a “dead cast” back to the rod tip as quickly as possible. I wouldn’t necessarily use it for cranking or spinner baits. There are those out there that will argue this point, but to me the ratio is too fast for these applications. The reel also comes with the now standard anti-reverse backlash systems and a twin breaking system.

The reel also has a nice solid build. No, it is not made of aluminium or any of the other strong metals used in your high end reels, these days, but it still feels strong and compact. It also shows off the odd metal trimming such as the gear lever and spool control mechanism.

Simply put, this reel casts like a dream and retrieves line at a phenomenal pace. We love it and at five hundred to seven hundred rand I’m going back for more!

Club Waters

Rapids

My two highly experienced fishing buddies: Keith Falconer of Explorer Fly Fishing and Chris le Roux, took me out to visit club water on the Vaal just outside of Parys this past Sunday. We went in search of a few smallmouth yellowfish and I really feel for the guys as I don’t think that I stop with the questions from the moment that we get onto the highway until long after the last fly is thrown for the day. “Do these flies look ok?” “Are they the right colour?” “Should I tie them with a glass bead or tungsten?” “Is the water flow correct in this spot?” I am aware of how unrelenting I am with these questions, but I blame them for being so damn accommodating.

Lovely little yellow

Unfortunately for us after the recent rains the river level had risen about 30 centimeters overnight and on top of that the water was reasonably chilly! The consistent chill that I felt the entire day was in stark contrast to the swelteringly hot productive yellow fishing days that I am used to. I managed one sizeable mudfish (losing 2 nippy yellows) and Keith netted 2 beautiful small mouths for the day. We didn’t do too well but after a few phone calls to other avid Vaal anglers, we found that everyone had a shocker at the hands of unsuitable weather conditions and fluctuating flow rates.

A fish is a fish!

Well, I say that we had a shocker but then again no day on the water is a shocker to me. It is always a pleasure to be out on the river, especially with the right people sharing their knowledge and experiences. Every slow day is a great learning experience and I learnt more about fly selection and line mending techniques in one day than I have in the last 10 trips that I have done alone! Thanks Keith, looking forward to the next one!

 

Our Little Mteri

My unmeasured personal best

The Bass Bugger and I hit our favourite little farm dam again this past weekend on float tubes. We haven’t fished it for about two years and quite frankly I don’t think anyone else has either. Let me tell you, the fishing was out of this world. I think we will dub it our “little Lake Mteri”. I hooked into what was definteley the largest and strongest bass that I have come across to date. Sitting so low to the water in my float tube the fish literally had the top half of my rod sub-surface it was so strong.

Self portraits just dont work!

The standard issue super fluke was the lure of the day, and we found the fish lying just off the edge of lily beds. Most of our quality takes were taken about 2 to 3 meters off the lily beds towards deeper water. Interestingly all of the fish that we hooked made for this deeper water when hooked and not for the thick lily pad structure, which I would have expected. I guess the lesson learnt here is to fish areas where structure coincides with deep water, which obviously serves as an easy escape route for the larger, wiser fish.

Plenty of these

I think a lot of the time we tend to beat the bank more than we should with bass. Sure you may catch far more fish this way, BUT if you are chasing quality rather than quantity then maybe targeting deeper offshore structure would be preferable for what remains of our bassing season.

Close on 2 kilos