And so they embarked on their adventure… the Zimbabwean, the German, and the South African. This adventure took place once again at Bronkhorstspruit dam. Myself and a couple of fellow fishermen, Gregor Rohrig and Russell Manchip decided to spend this past Saturday night (3^rd March) on the bank of Bronkies in the hopes of hooking into some decent bass and missing the thunderstorms which had been forecasted for the entire weekend.

After a not so short visit to the tackle shop and a quick bite to eat for breakfast we made tracks for the dam, a one and a half hour drive from Boksburg on the open road. It did not take us long to arrive at our favourite spot, set up base camp, tackle up, and get our baits into the warm shallows! Only after a few hours of casting and retrieving our Baby Brushogs over and over again did the bites begin! Although they were very few, and very far between both Gregor and Russell got one bite each that stuck! With both of them pulling out a one kilo beauty I was left behind missing almost every strike I got, and letting two off the hook, so to speak, on account of thick weeds and one over zealous attempted hook set.

As night fell we settled in around a warm charcoal fire to chat about the days fishing and annihilate a case of ice cold beer, shortly after gorging ourselves on Gregor’s braai grilled chicken, chop, and boerie cuisine. With flashes of lightning all around us, only threatening to come closer, and the full moon brightening our surroundings with beautiful moon rays, the likes of which we had never seen, we decided to throw another line into the water, this time with molded bread at the end, while we sat covered in our sleeping bags talking about absolutely everything and nothing of importance at the same time. Our peaceful, quiet surroundings were broken only by the sounds of faint music and voices, which traveled across the still water from a party taking place on the opposite side of the dam. Upon deciding to turn in for the night at about half past eleven Russell began to reel in his rod only to find a firm tugging at the end of his line! To be honest I never believed him until he tore his pants off in excitement and headed for the water. True as nuts he emerged from the water with his first ever carp (app. 500g)! This was not his last as the next day the ‘Carp King’ managed to land another slightly larger carp in the same manner with only bread on his hook.

The next day we were not as fortunate as the previous, as far as bass fishing was concerned, and so we ended the weekend early, shortly after guzzling down our lunch. As a final word I’d like to end off with a an important message from Confuscious, brought to light by the newly appointed ‘Carp King’ Russell Manchip, that we could all take away from our weekend adventure… “Man who gets hit in balls with rod, not necessarily homosexual”.

Original image: South African Department of Water Affairs and Forestry at www.dwaf.gov.za/…/dams/bronkhorstspruit.htm

When it comes to bank bass angling it is often difficult to locate productive waters. We, however, have found what is now one of our favourite and most productive bank angling locations, Bronkhorstspruit dam in Gauteng. The very location that ‘The Bass Bugger’ caught his first bass, seen in our post titled ‘5 simple rules’. The banks of this dam are lined with thick grass mats and although they seem menacing to the carp anglers, who frequent the dam, they also serve as great habitat and cover for bass waiting to ambush their prey.

We have had great success on this body of water simply dragging a weightless Baby Brush Hog (black) over the top of the grass mats, sometimes allowing them to sit for a moment, at which point the fish generally take it straight off the surface. Otherwise we simply drag them over, leading them into gaps in the grass mats or over the edge of the mats completely, allowing them to glide gently through the water. We were also successful with other soft plastic baits such as the Zoom 6″ Ultra-Vibe Speed Worm using the same technique. In the picture below we have Andrea with her first and biggest bass ever caught (1.5kgs) on her first bass expedition ever .

What is interesting to us is that we fished the same spot at this location on three different days within two weeks and noticed a substantial pattern in the amount and size of fish that we caught. The days were the 3^rd of February 2007, the 6^th and the 11^th. The weather patterns for these days respectfully were: warm, partly cloudy, little to no wind; cool, partly cloudy with strong wind; and cooler, partly cloudy, with stronger wind. What we noticed was that the fish hooked were fewer but larger with the later dates, with us having 22 small bass (app. 500-800gs) on our lines on the 3^rd and only three on our lines on the 11^th, two of which were 1.5 and 1.8kgs (seen below). Is this pattern random or can it be attributed to changing weather conditions or moon phases perhaps, which can be viewed here. We do not know and hope that someone who does know better can give us some feedback.