Well for a wile there were talks about this comp and the first one was cancelled due to lack of interest from the Bass anglers. So finally this one came to live and the first comp was to be held at the Vaal dam the weekend that passed.
Now I was originally registered with somebody else and plans changed a week before the comp. So had to rearrange everything and unfortunately I could not pre fish the venue but did do my homework on paper a month before the comp with info I got from a couple of people. I just want to thank you guys. And you all know who you are. So I knew this was going to be a very hard task going in to this comp blind.
My new non boater partner (Billaridoo) and decided we would stay at the dam the Friday night so that we could get maximum rest and not take on the long road from JHB to the Vaal dam the morning of the comp.
Witch all started with excitement ended up in a nightmare as we were told there is a service station at Vaal Marine where we could full the boat. To our surprise it was closed when we got there so we had to drive all the way back to deneysville with was 38Km away just to full the boat. In the mean time it started raining real bad so the drive there was bad as we could only drive 40km/h. So eventually we got back to the place we were staying and unpacked and had something to eat. The owner of the place came and asked where we were launching from. Now when we arranged the accommodation we were told we will be right there so we could launch from there. To our surprise we were 10km away from the launch so I decided to tow the boat to where we were starting from and launch there.
The next morning we got up at 4:00 had a shower and raced to the gate and managed 3[suP]rd[/suP] to launch. Got the boat in the water and drove to where the captains meeting were to be held. I managed to pull boat number 18.
Now there was No wind blowing and the water was flat but while we were having our meeting the North westerly came up now that is the wind that makes that dam like the ocean. The start was ruff but I had a plan and that was to run the 17km across the dam to Deneysville. But those plans changed very fast when we got out the river in to the main dam. I decided to run to my B spot areas which got very rough and decided to pull in to the first isolated bay away from the wind. But still in the main dam.
So water temp dropped from 22 degrees to 18.2 degrees with all the rain. Both my plans went flying off the boat as we entered the main dam. Now I am sitting with No spots, No plan what to do. I sat down had a quick smoke and decided to take my info I had and try it on the section we were now. I targeted the bank that got first sun. We hammered that area with only one bite that took me in to the timber and broke me off.
I moved across the bay and started fishing next to a slipway. At 11:00 I got my first fish fishing a strike king rage tail on shaky head on 10LB line. I decided to hammer that place for the rest of the day as the guys were battling to get fish. I managed to pull 4 fish in a section of about 20meters. Fishing the same rage tail and a 4†strike king fineness worm on drop shot with 8LB.
Driving back to the weigh in I was thinking that my bag was going to be small and that I would not make it. There were some top guys there. Everything started running in my mind again. Should I have taken a chance and ran across the dam to where I knew there were big fish. Well the results were given and I managed 9[suP]th[/suP] place with my 4 fish bag. With a couple of guys blanking and a couple only weighing in 1 fish. Witch I think was not a bad finish for all the problems I had before hand and never fishing those waters. So will be putting in a lot of time for the next one on the Vaal river.
Results:
1. Andre Pretorious
2. Nick Bergmann
3. Dean Puntis
4. Michael Cloete
5. Marlin Mienie
6. Roger Germmel
7. Justy Varkevisser
8. Calvin Jenzen
9. Johan van Coppenhagen
10. Jose Carlos Silva
11. Johan van Veelen
12. Kevin Jenzen
13. Shondon Hawman
14. Paul Pypers
15. John Harrison
16. Leon Krynauw
17. Schalk Van Brede
18. Duncan Campbell
19. Carlos Goncalves
20. Justin Karan
21. Nikki Van Veelen
22. Tyron Mortimer
Now I was originally registered with somebody else and plans changed a week before the comp. So had to rearrange everything and unfortunately I could not pre fish the venue but did do my homework on paper a month before the comp with info I got from a couple of people. I just want to thank you guys. And you all know who you are. So I knew this was going to be a very hard task going in to this comp blind.
My new non boater partner (Billaridoo) and decided we would stay at the dam the Friday night so that we could get maximum rest and not take on the long road from JHB to the Vaal dam the morning of the comp.
Witch all started with excitement ended up in a nightmare as we were told there is a service station at Vaal Marine where we could full the boat. To our surprise it was closed when we got there so we had to drive all the way back to deneysville with was 38Km away just to full the boat. In the mean time it started raining real bad so the drive there was bad as we could only drive 40km/h. So eventually we got back to the place we were staying and unpacked and had something to eat. The owner of the place came and asked where we were launching from. Now when we arranged the accommodation we were told we will be right there so we could launch from there. To our surprise we were 10km away from the launch so I decided to tow the boat to where we were starting from and launch there.
The next morning we got up at 4:00 had a shower and raced to the gate and managed 3[suP]rd[/suP] to launch. Got the boat in the water and drove to where the captains meeting were to be held. I managed to pull boat number 18.
Now there was No wind blowing and the water was flat but while we were having our meeting the North westerly came up now that is the wind that makes that dam like the ocean. The start was ruff but I had a plan and that was to run the 17km across the dam to Deneysville. But those plans changed very fast when we got out the river in to the main dam. I decided to run to my B spot areas which got very rough and decided to pull in to the first isolated bay away from the wind. But still in the main dam.
So water temp dropped from 22 degrees to 18.2 degrees with all the rain. Both my plans went flying off the boat as we entered the main dam. Now I am sitting with No spots, No plan what to do. I sat down had a quick smoke and decided to take my info I had and try it on the section we were now. I targeted the bank that got first sun. We hammered that area with only one bite that took me in to the timber and broke me off.
I moved across the bay and started fishing next to a slipway. At 11:00 I got my first fish fishing a strike king rage tail on shaky head on 10LB line. I decided to hammer that place for the rest of the day as the guys were battling to get fish. I managed to pull 4 fish in a section of about 20meters. Fishing the same rage tail and a 4†strike king fineness worm on drop shot with 8LB.
Driving back to the weigh in I was thinking that my bag was going to be small and that I would not make it. There were some top guys there. Everything started running in my mind again. Should I have taken a chance and ran across the dam to where I knew there were big fish. Well the results were given and I managed 9[suP]th[/suP] place with my 4 fish bag. With a couple of guys blanking and a couple only weighing in 1 fish. Witch I think was not a bad finish for all the problems I had before hand and never fishing those waters. So will be putting in a lot of time for the next one on the Vaal river.
Results:
1. Andre Pretorious
2. Nick Bergmann
3. Dean Puntis
4. Michael Cloete
5. Marlin Mienie
6. Roger Germmel
7. Justy Varkevisser
8. Calvin Jenzen
9. Johan van Coppenhagen
10. Jose Carlos Silva
11. Johan van Veelen
12. Kevin Jenzen
13. Shondon Hawman
14. Paul Pypers
15. John Harrison
16. Leon Krynauw
17. Schalk Van Brede
18. Duncan Campbell
19. Carlos Goncalves
20. Justin Karan
21. Nikki Van Veelen
22. Tyron Mortimer