Large public water - specimen

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schelton

Senior Member
Trying to get some more topic's of interest going.

Would you guys target large public waters for specimen, like Bronkies, Bloemhof and the likes.

Or would you rather go for private smaller waters? (I know some private waters are not that small - but I'm sure you get the idea)

Surely these large waters have been around for a long time and there must be some monsters in there, netting is a problem. But don't limit your comments to my examples.

Thanks guys.

:wfish
 
E

Edge

Member
schelton

Nothing wrong with public waters, there are monster carp for example Harties. The venues you mention also hold big fish but to fish through the millions of smaller fish is the problem. The other problem with these large public waters is volume of bank and water traffic, and don’t get me started on the dam duikers…….
 
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schelton

Senior Member
Edge, yes - lets not start the dam duiker thing again - still trying to recover from the last one.... Whahahahaha.

Ok, I get it now. Too many small ones to feed and other traffic.

Lets have some more opinions and lessons for us dumb guys - LOL!!!
 
M

MadCarper

Sealiner
I fish large public waters most of the time, and am starting a new 12-month campaign on a huge dam at the end of this month. Big waters normally hold many big carp. However, you have to do your homework first. Like Edge said, some of those dams hold millions of smaller carp, making it impossible to get to the bigger carp. Bloemhof, well, just look at the amounts of carp coming out at the SA's and the world champs from there, all small carp... Vaaldam very much the same scenario, allthough with alot of effort you can get a few bigger carp out of the Vaal. So I heard... ;)
Bronkies, well the fish kill awhile back has done the dam good, and a little while back a young guy caught a few 20pounders there on tigernuts, so that is good.

Anyway, point is, do your homework, see what sizes of fish get caught at the dam you intend to fish... if you need 30lb+ fish, why go to Vaal dam?
 
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SdB

Sealiner
Large scale pre-baiting campaign. To such a level that you will only be able to afford to do it once a year. The problem as everybody states is the smaller fish and the lack of competition for food.

This is a very expensive exercise and time consuming. I can only affod to do it once a year.
 
S

schelton

Senior Member
You guys have raised some good points here, the mist is starting to disappear now.
Any other comments: then the mist might disappear totally.

Thanks guys. This was playing nice...... LMAO!!!
 
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MadCarper

Sealiner
schelton, what are you planning to do, lol!

SdB, I agree, large-scale prebaiting is probably one of the only ways to get good results from such situations as mentioned, e.g. Vaal dam etc.
However, I have a theory that bigger carp would stay away from the pressured areas that gets fished constantly and if you shift your focus to the areas that dont have pressure, you might not always need large-scale baiting... I'm not saying more, lol!
 
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blankster

New member
Been pondering on a theory....

People adapt their baits to minimize catfish activity.  What if you do the opposite, and make the bait, or swim to be more precise, more attractive to catfish, either by upping BNV/HNV levels or by including catfish bait, like boiled aggs, with your feeding campagn. The theory being that if one can establish predators in the area, maybe the smaller carp will stay away and only the bigger less intimidated BFC can basically feed in that area. Sorta like "Where angels fear to tread" scenario. You can still use/prebait the carp specific baits along the stuff for cats, so that on the day you might have less catfish activity coz they're more attracted to the bait targeted for them.

Anyways, just a theory....

What do you think?
 
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MadCarper

Sealiner
very interesting. I guess someone will have to test it... any volunteers? lol.
It could work, but what if the barbel dominate the spot? the big carp might not get in... dunno, just thinking aloud here...

I know one can prebait "through" the barbel with boilies for example, but you need ALOT of boilies over at least 2 weeks... and I cant afford it, lol.
 
E

Edge

Member
blankster

Interesting theory to get the barbel in to chase away the smaller fish, but aren’t you just replacing one nuisance fish with another? Barbell is excellent in detecting feed and would probably find you hook bait before the carp get to it?


MC prebait "through" barbel with boilies in a large public dam..... eisch Does anybody no if Mr Oppenheimer will sponsor us
 
E

Edge

Member
blankster wrote:
 or by including catfish bait, like boiled aggs, with your feeding campagn.
Click to expand...
Imagine dumping a couple dozen boiled eggs into a dam and start catching the balbel......................... they fart like crazy as it is. Imagine what it would be like after eating a couple boiled eggs.   heehehehehehehe blankser just a joke hey 

 
 
S

schelton

Senior Member
The smell might get the smaller fish off your spot!! Whahahaha.
Blankster, good thinking there - at least you think out the box.
 
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Basspro

Senior Member
We've targeted big waters for BIG CARP --------- I've gone with huge boilies to target big barbel as well and its worked -
 
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MadCarper

Sealiner
Ag siff Egde! they smell bad enough without any boiled eggs, hahaha!

The story I heard from a guy is that they prebaited a spot on a Jhb dam for 2 weeks with something like 400kg boilies every week... the barbel comes in, eat themselves DIK and then stay away because they have difficulty digesting boilies... so by week 2 the barbel have cleared off and the carp can have a feast. Now I have to say, it sounds like it might work, but I dont have the money to try it, lol!!! So I'll stick to more affordable ways....

How about making a barbel feeding spot away from your carp fishing spot, so that you pull the cats away giving the carp a chance?
 
B

blankster

New member
Edge wrote:
Interesting theory to get the barbel in to chase away the smaller fish, but aren’t you just replacing one nuisance fish with another? Barbell is excellent in detecting feed and would probably find you hook bait before the carp get to it?
Click to expand...
Therein lies the rub. Does anybody how catfish behave w.r.t territory and domination of feeding spots? Do the bigger ones dominate an area? Catfish have better and more effecient digestive systems so they don't need to constantly feed like carp do and can effectively get by from 1 good meal a month. So, I'd rather feed a few fat cats that eat and hang around ( hopefully ) than a million smaller fish like carp and smaller cats.
 
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MadCarper

Sealiner
But you do get a similar effect with carp as well when you prebait fairly heavily... but instead its the bigger carp that eventually dominate the spot... at my local dam there are plenty small barbel, so I'd have to feed them off first, lol!
 
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blankster

New member
Basspro wrote:
We've targeted big waters for BIG CARP --------- I've gone with huge boilies to target big barbel as well and its worked -
Click to expand...
That reminds me of a different angle on the theory. Is there somekind of existing relationship between big carp and big catfish? Should one perhaps try and target for big carp where big cats are lurking or have been caught?
 
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MadCarper

Sealiner
only relation is that big bait often leads to big carp and at the same time big barbel bait leads to big barbel. (I've had a barbel pick up a 2kg carp setup on a barbel trace once, not pretty, lol!)
 
S

schelton

Senior Member
I like having one rod for barbel when fishing a longer session, any help on the best way to do this? Or are you going to tell me to $&%# off and ask in the barbel section??? Whahahahah
Any help on bait and rig - (should I say this?) small carp head as bait?? - If so how would you go about this?
 
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