Bloemfom - Die Hoek 24-27 September 2015

Went to Die Hoek to try and find some monster barbel(catfish). Unfortunately the biggest one we got for the weekend was 10kg. Carp were very scarce.  I went to the Reserve on the Saturday and was able to land 9 carkp in about 3 hours. All took on Duiwelsdrek on the bomb and onion floaties on the hooks.

Here are a few pics of the weekend.

Wilgedraai, Vaaldam, 8-9 January 2015

My friend Ettienne, his godson Jean and me left Pretoria around 05:30am on the Thursday morning, arriving at Wilgedraai around 08:30am. Started fishing around 09:00am. We sat on the left side on stand 1 and 2 in the 'sloep'. Gave Jean first option to choose a spot. Then Ettienne and me also chose our spots and started fishing.

Nice clean bank.

Did not take long for the fish to bite. Got my first few carp on Juana flavoured floaties. First few fish had nice size, but as the sun got higher, the fish became small. Between the three of us we caught small grasscarp, carp and Jean caught a small muddy. Flavours that got fish was pinksweets, chocolate, onion, duiwelsdrek and perdeby.

Nice Mirror Carp caught by Ettienne.

Late in the afternoon we put out two rods for targeting catfish. Both rods were rigged with grascarp heads. We started pitching the tent and were getting things ready for the braai. My barbel rod got a bite and I started fightinh the fish. After about 5min I landed a barbel of 3.4kg.

Safely released

Got the barbel rod ready again and this time rigged the whole body that was left over from the grascarp. Casted the line back in and left it for the next catfish to bite.In the meantime we were finishing up with the tent etc. At around 20:00 things was quiet. Jean was sleeping and Ettienne said he was thinking of going to bed when I noticed the barbel rod had another bite. This time I gave Ettienne a chance and he grabbed the rod and started fighting the fish. This time around though, the fish was definately not 3kg, but much bigger as Ettienne realised when the fish was standing it's ground quite firmly. As the reel is loaded with 30lbs line it should not be a problem to land the fish. It is just a matter of time. About 5minutes into the fight and 10m down the bank I suddenly see the rod pitch down to the water as the fish turns around. We just hear this loud snap and then we realize the line broke! We both a dumb struck as we check the rod and line for any reason for the failure. I check the reel and realize at some stage Ettienne accidentilly tightened the spool a bit too much so there was no fighting drag to allow the fish to take line again. I don't want to speculate about the size of the fish, but it must have been huge to break 30lbs mainline. Needless to say, after this Ettienne wasn't tired anymore and we were getting catching till past midnight. During the evening we got carp up to 3.2kg.

Next day we started early and it wasn't long before we all got some nice fish for the morning.

Jean caught a few nice carp:

All in all we had a great sleep-over at Wilgedraai. We must have caught 40-50 fish in one day. One of the best Vaaldam trips I ever had! Thanks Ettienne and Jean!

Meerhof 20-22 March 2014

On Thursday 20 March after work, I meet up with Gideon and Tiaan at Meerhof. Got lines in and started relaxing next to the dam. Gideon was telling us of some of the nice size fish, including an 8kg carp, that came out along the bank. We did not catch lots of fish and the tempo was very slow. Lines were left in for an average of 2 hours, but the catches were well worth the wait!

Here are a few pics of what we caught...

Gideon and his 8.5kg carp caught on 20/3/2014

Tiaan and the first fish he ever caught on a hair-rig and boilies he made himself. Pulled the scale to 4kg. 

Caught this one on 21/3/2014 with onion floatie. Weight in at 7.5kg and a new PB for me!

Another beautiful fish caught on 21/3/2014.

Got my second PB on one day later that evening. Weight just over 8kg. Very happy chappy!!

Close-up of my new PB. Thankls for taking the foto Gideon!

Jackie Leonard, Vaaldam, 9/2/2014

This past Sunday I went to Jackie Leonard at the Vaaldam with one of my friends who was invited by the Gauteng C provincial team to a practice day. The reason they wanted more anglers to attend was to put some pressure on the water and to simulate a real competition day.

This was the perfect opportunity to sort out my tackle for the coming year as it has been awhile since I fished with my club. Needless to say, but it took my a while to get back into things as I had some early difficulties with the tip eye on one rod being damaged and cutting of my line. Had to change rods and spools but decided to soldier on as this was what can be expected on some very bad comp days.

Got a few fish early in the morning, but the bite tempo was not on parr with the guys next to me. Eventually got my rhythm back(sort of) and was able to cast to about 105m. Every time I hit the sweet spot I would get fish.

Most fish got caught with plain mieliebomb with plain Almond and Plain Garlic on the bomb. Fished mostly plain floats of which the bottom float was dipped in plain garlic.

At the end of the fishing day, I ended with 10 fish that was weighable. I was very happy with results and can't wait for my first club-comp in March. Hope to have my rod fixed so I can start concentrating on getting even better distance in the next few months.

Here are a few photos of the fish. All where released immediately after capture.