A Spring Thirty at a New Water

With Spring having arrived after a rather mild winter I was itching to get down to a lake on the East of Johannesburg with a mate of mine for a long overdue session. It was my first time at this water but with some good advice and some bait from my mate Sarel the rest was really up to me. Sarel has had a rather good run of late at this water banking three mid thirties in his last three sessions with a few doubles and twenties in between. Not an easy water by any means but again showing his class and knowledge which one would come to expect having fished it almost every weekend for the past two years.

Although being his guest I insist that he fish the swim he has been baiting up and doing so well in. I had actually seen a small patch of lily pads away from his swim to the right which looked right for a fish or two and this was my real reason for wanting to not fish his swim. I arrived at around 5.00am on Saturday morning and within the first half hour of being there I counted at least six fish swirl and turn a metre off the left side of the lily pads. My mind was set and I said to Sarel this is where the first fish will come from. (Don’t you love it when a plan comes together) With most of the fish being caught from open water, anywhere from 60 metres out to the far margin at 250 metres plus I knew I had a good chance of having fish from close in.

The lake looked pretty featureless at first with a gradual slope to 4ft at around 20 metres out when suddenly it drops down to 7ft and then continues with a gradual slope down to 21ft at about 60 metres out. Luckily I had a canoe handy as it revealed that after 7 or so metres from the bank there is water grass about a foot under the surface of the water. The water grass continues until around 3 metres in front of the lily pads and then becomes clear silt on the bottom. The right rod was fished on the left edge of the lilies about a metre off the edge, while the middle and left rods fished in open water at around 70 metres out. Baits were double 14mm Extreme Maple boilies fished straight out the packet as a snowman on a combi rig consisting of 20cm of 50lb fluorocarbon joined by an albright knot to a 5cm length of 25lb Merlin tied knotless knot style to a size 4 Nash Twister. This rig was fished over half a handful of 14mm Extreme Maple boilies and chops.

The lily pad rod was the first rod to see action on Saturday night after a twitchy take at 9.20pm. The fish kited immediately left into some lilies and snagged up before coming off to a hook pull a few moments later. The lily pad rod was off again at 12.15am on Sunday morning just as I netted Sarel's upper double common. After an initial solid run taking at least ten metres of braid the fish came in without much trouble. As the fish slid over the cord and into the depths of the 42 inch net Trevor and Sarel teased and said it was a small’un. Quite ironically Trevor struggled to carry the fish to the unhooking mat. When I opened the net I immediately knew it was a good fish and possibly thirty. The fish went 30lb 1oz on the Reubens and marked my first thirty for the year.

An hour and a half later after redoing the rod it was off again with another screaming take. This fish fought exactly like the first fish, taking some twenty odd metres of braid off the spool in a couple of seconds then coming in fairly easily without any hassle. This fish weighed in at 24lb 1oz.

Thanks again to my mates Sarel & Trevor for a great weekend and a special Thanks to Sarel for the amazing pictures.

Winter Field Testing Success

With not a lot of time spent on the bank this year, my mate Ben and I decided to take advantage of a long weekend and put in a 48 hour session at a difficult open access municipal water. We started baiting up two days before the session, putting out a kilo of boilie on each swim with the throw stick on the first day and then the day before the session another 2kg on each swim.

Ben was fishing at around 90 metres out in 21 foot of water in the deepest part of the lake. The lake is pretty featureless with the majority of the bottom being deep silt. The lake drops down slowly from 1 foot in the close margins to 21 foot in the middle. Ben fished safety clip drop off leads with 15cm hooklinks and bottom baits whilst I fished drop off inline lead arrangments.

After no less than 3 hours of having his lines in, Ben was off the mark with this lovely 21lb 13oz common.

After recasting that rod, it was off an hour later with yet another stunner 21lb 13oz common.

Ben was in the action again shortly after 11pm with this 25lb 2oz common that needed alot of help. The fish had two large sores behind the anal fin that were cut almost to the bone. All we could do was apply some Medicarp and hope for the best. This fish gave the best account of itself out of all the fish banked for the session going on 3 powerful long runs spooling no less than 20 metres of braid on each run.

Morning arrived with no action on any of my two rods fished in 19 foot of water. My left rod fished at range in 21 foot of water however had the stow bobbin clipped off. Strange that the buzzer hadnt sounded at all. I tightened up the slack and reset the bobbin without any hassle. 10 am the left rod gives off a few bleeps, then the middle rod and then the right rod... Puzzled and standing around like Tom looking for Jerry I decide to bring up the slack on the left rod. The bobbin starts to drop but no bleeps from the buzzer. Again I tighten up the slack and the same thing. I pick up the left rod and begin reeling in. The line coming in very slack and feeling as though I had been cut off. Then out of no where, the line comes from my rightside and I feel a heavy weight and then the line starts peeling off the reel. SURPRISE and I'm on with a carp. The fish was on the surface less than 5 metres out infront of the close margin bull rushes. A short fight ensued and without any fuss we netted this scale perfect double figure common at 14lb 2oz.

 

 

We saw no other action for the rest of the day as the cold front arrived on time like the weather man predicted. One more surprise was yet to unfold before us in the form of a healthy 29lb 4oz common again taken at range by Ben in the early hours.

 

A great ending to a superb session for my mate Ben, and proof that prebaiting a good bait can get results in the toughest of conditionS...



 

A Lovely May Day Carp

The weather didnt look good with yet another cold front predicted to arrive late on Saturday afternoon. All the rods bang on the money on each of the three chosen spots by 5pm on Friday afternoon. My wake up call came at 8am on Saturday morning with this cracking common, one of the original strain that are in this lake. Very strong and hard fighting are these old carp, known for their big yellow tails, distinctive lateral line and 'faint scale pattern'. This one was fooled with 3 grains of artificial buoyant corn in yellow, black and yellow fished on a standard shot on the hair rig , size 6 Carp Company hook with 4 hands of particle mix scattered over the hookbait. The particle mix consisted of maize, tigernuts, wheat, sorgum, crushed maize, hempseed, maples and peanuts.



18lb 8oz



Cold Front Madness = Result

This past weekend I fished at my local water in severe weather conditions to put it mildly. The cold front arrived late on Thursday evening as predicted with a cold South Westerly bringing icy rain along with it. Friday was not pleasant as the ambient temperatures took a 4 degree dip from 20 ' C the day before to 16 ' C coupled with an icy wind as well. I only got the two rods out at 11.00pm after getting soaked by driving rain on both occasions.

3 hours later my left rod ripped off in the pouring rain and in an instant I was attached to rod and carp. Soaking wet in a Tshirt and boxer shorts I stood and fought the monster in the relentless rain. The fish was not happy at all and went on a series of long, hard runs stripping the braid off my Emblems with ease. After what felt like an age I heard a loud gasp and then another. I realised the fish was done and definitely ready for the net. I slipped the net under it without any hassle. Even when I turned my headlamp on it sat motionless in the bottom of the net. Because the fish was so calm I took the opportunity to unhook it in the net. We weighed the fish and quickly sacked it up ready for photographs in the morning.

An artificial pop up Tigernut was fished between two halves of a Solar Banana 10mm pop up on a standard shot on the hair rig, with a size 6 Carp Company hook.
4 hands of maize and crushed maize mix were thrown directly over the hookbaiT.



27lb 1oz

Hard Work Pays Off After a Four Month BLANK

After a tough summer of blanking, the hard work and dedication finally paid off in the form of a magnificent common taken from a small lake close to home.

The fish was tricked using a standard shot on the hair rig with a size 6 Carp Company hook. The hookbait of choice was a Mainline Pineapple Juice pop up cut into two halves, fished back to back and tipped off with a white artificial corn. Fished over two handfuls of maize and tigernut mix.

The hookbait was placed underneath a dead fallen tree that hangs on the surface of the lake close in the margins and in 3 feat of water on a clear clay area.

The fish fought very hard and after a brief 10 minute scrap was ready for the net.



27lb 6oz