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.