Dr halibut hoffman
Moderator
And fish where the fish are.. 
I grew up carping, bassing, flyfishing etc..north of the vaal. Bought fishing magazines from overseas in the early 90's by the kilo from the kilo store.. Tried boilies, hair rigs..every flavour and essence you could, all the tricks on all the freshwater fish I could get to but did not get too many fish to show for it.But what I have figured..A bass won't leave a bright yellow popper, plastic worm or plastic bass coloured fish alone, trout in this country want a fly that looks like a pellet of fish food or a little crackbait, barbel want a handful of red earthworms alive on a big hook, a bloody piece of fish or some chicken livers.. Carp.. It all changed for me when I moved the the cape with waters, infested with large carp (now sewerage, feel for you guys!). My mate showed me that all carp want is sweetcorn from a can..chum them up, van der merve hook direct to line, no other terminal tackle, fill the hook with as much corn as you can and flick it as far as you could throw the chum out, leave drag completely loose and let the fish hook itself and run off. Some of my biggest carp were caught a meter from the side. I'm still and always learning but ja. Come to think of it my biggest edible (counting fish was caught on a setup that was not dissimilar, just the hook a lot larger and the bait after chumming lots of the same was a chunk of sardine no bigger than my thumb..
Keep it simple in SA, seems to be what I've been taught. My neighbor catches his resident bass on white bread dough balls..so ja the fish seem to like it simple in these parts..
I grew up carping, bassing, flyfishing etc..north of the vaal. Bought fishing magazines from overseas in the early 90's by the kilo from the kilo store.. Tried boilies, hair rigs..every flavour and essence you could, all the tricks on all the freshwater fish I could get to but did not get too many fish to show for it.But what I have figured..A bass won't leave a bright yellow popper, plastic worm or plastic bass coloured fish alone, trout in this country want a fly that looks like a pellet of fish food or a little crackbait, barbel want a handful of red earthworms alive on a big hook, a bloody piece of fish or some chicken livers.. Carp.. It all changed for me when I moved the the cape with waters, infested with large carp (now sewerage, feel for you guys!). My mate showed me that all carp want is sweetcorn from a can..chum them up, van der merve hook direct to line, no other terminal tackle, fill the hook with as much corn as you can and flick it as far as you could throw the chum out, leave drag completely loose and let the fish hook itself and run off. Some of my biggest carp were caught a meter from the side. I'm still and always learning but ja. Come to think of it my biggest edible (counting
fish was caught on a setup that was not dissimilar, just the hook a lot larger and the bait after chumming lots of the same was a chunk of sardine no bigger than my thumb..Keep it simple in SA, seems to be what I've been taught. My neighbor catches his resident bass on white bread dough balls..so ja the fish seem to like it simple in these parts..