Bass Fishing in Cape Town

[David Maclennan]

I see this is an old thread, but hopefully this helps someone as i also struggle to find good spots. if you're willing to take a bit of a drive Eikenhoff dam is great spot for largemouth. Nothing massive, you may get something up to 2.5kg dawn or evening, but mostly under a kilo in the day. You're pretty much guaranteed to catch a lot though, so good fun even if they're not big boys. Go for soft plastics, especially smallish flukes. Park by the Elgin Grabouw Country Club and mission around.

 

[Marthin]

Morning where is this?

 

[David Maclennan]

Just outside Grabouw. Around 45 min to an hour's drive from central Cape town, so not a quick mission, but there aren't a lot of places close to town that offer good bass fishing that I've found.

 

[David Maclennan]

The few spots closer in that I've been to seem to have been fished so much that the bass are very cautious of any lures.

 

[DJP]

There are a lot of dams in Elgin / Grabouw area. Eikenhof bass are small, have always been, stunted growth for some reason.
If you want to find some good bass waters in that area look at the accommodation or wine farms in the area, book a weekend away or do a wine tasting, be nice and ask if you can fish the local waters. Most of them have little (and some not so little) bass ponds/dams. Some of those dams hold fish in excess of 3-4kg, just have to find them.

 

[David Maclennan]

Yeah the Eikenhof guys are not big at all, a friend claims that it's cause of limited food supply meaning they just cannibalize reach other, but another theory from some study that I looked at very briefly (don't ask me for specifics, I didn't pay much attention) is that the ph balance there isn't ideal so they stay stunted. Apparently they tagged some of the Eikenhof guys and moved them over to other dams with better water conditions, and they doubled in size very quickly.

 

[David Maclennan]

There are a lot of dams in Elgin / Grabouw area. Eikenhof bass are small, have always been, stunted growth for some reason.
If you want to find some good bass waters in that area look at the accommodation or wine farms in the area, book a weekend away or do a wine tasting, be nice and ask if you can fish the local waters. Most of them have little (and some not so little) bass ponds/dams. Some of those dams hold fish in excess of 3-4kg, just have to find them.

Also, agree that there are loads of great dams out there, getting access can be tough. I have found some farmers are very nice and more than happy for you to catch and release on their property, but most aren't keen on letting folks in.

 

[Marco2023]

Hi guys,I’m new to the area of Somerset West,I read on the Elgin/Grabow country club website that fishing is not allowed on this dam.Can anyone confirm?Are there any other dams in the vicinity apart from Theewaterskloof?
Thank you