best bait for grassies at the vaal dam
- Thread starter coldfront
- Start date
hi i dont normally post on the conventional side ,but i havebeen on sealine for a long time and mostly post on the specimen forum .busy teaching the boy to fish but he cant start doing specimen until hes learnt all whats neccessary. i have bought him all the stuff,rods box stand boxes,keep net etc etc.but hes never caught a grassie in the vaal only carp and muddies.
so help would be appreciated.
so help would be appreciated.
Hi Coldfront
We recently had a club competition at Heartsease Vaal dam, great venue with some really decent grass carp coming out, on average 2.5kg with the biggest being around the 5kg mark.
what worked for myself was plain swd and FX with a touch of devilsfork on the bomb. caught two alright size carp on this as well. in general, from what i have heard, most grass carp are caught on plain floaties. try experiment a bit with one rod just plain floaties and the other plain swd and see what happens.
i have also caught a few decent size grass carp with yellow floats and stuttafords marshmallow floats from supercast
We recently had a club competition at Heartsease Vaal dam, great venue with some really decent grass carp coming out, on average 2.5kg with the biggest being around the 5kg mark.
what worked for myself was plain swd and FX with a touch of devilsfork on the bomb. caught two alright size carp on this as well. in general, from what i have heard, most grass carp are caught on plain floaties. try experiment a bit with one rod just plain floaties and the other plain swd and see what happens.
i have also caught a few decent size grass carp with yellow floats and stuttafords marshmallow floats from supercast
steelpulse007
Sealiner
They usually come out on the normal bait I use to target carp, but I've read that they like especially banana. I've noticed that when they're on the bite, there's usually lots of them, pestering my lines, & then some days they're few & far between. Neesless to say, if I could avoid catching them, I would.
aquadementia
Sealiner
I thought they are strong fighters steelpulse007? if so why wouldnt you want to catch one?
steelpulse007
Sealiner
I find that the fight is not much different from a carp, maybe even not as strong as a carp, but I stand to be corrected. At the Vaaldam where I do most of my fishing, they tend to be be smaller rather than bigger (in my exp), so for the effort that goes in to baiting up & casting, I would prefer catching a carp, which, by the odds I've calculated, would be bigger than the grassies. (In a random sample of say 30 grasscarp, & 30 common carp, I suspect the carp would outsize the grassies, but that's based on my exp once again) Besides that, compared to a carp, I think the elongated body makes it a less...well pretty looking fish...but that's just me...
aquadementia
Sealiner
ok cool fair enough
I can imagine a lot of small ones being an irritation
I can imagine a lot of small ones being an irritation
hi Steelpulse
i had exactly the same view of the the crass carp compared to the carp, but after the weekend that passed my view has changed. the winner of our club comp had 16 fish at 41kgs in hes bag, really huge grass carp came out compared to the carp.
i ended with 7 fish, 5 grass carp and 2 carp at 15.6 kgs and the grassies out weighed the carp like you couldnt believe, and really strong fighting fish. some members had lost a few due to the grass carp turning as they were about to be landed. was definitely a great experience landing some decent size grass carp
i had exactly the same view of the the crass carp compared to the carp, but after the weekend that passed my view has changed. the winner of our club comp had 16 fish at 41kgs in hes bag, really huge grass carp came out compared to the carp.
i ended with 7 fish, 5 grass carp and 2 carp at 15.6 kgs and the grassies out weighed the carp like you couldnt believe, and really strong fighting fish. some members had lost a few due to the grass carp turning as they were about to be landed. was definitely a great experience landing some decent size grass carp
Fishnewbie
Senior Member
Just don't mistake yellows for grassies. Took the girl fishing at Rosslee, she only casts 15 or so metres, pulled 12 yellows in 20 minutes. We caught a lot of grassies as well, I favorite FX on the Bol and Flouro Banjo on the bait, seems to do the trick.
Guys... as you will note that grasies are on the increase as you can think other fish suffer.. i would normally take grassies out. if we dont then we will only catch gras carp in the next 5 years...
they consume so much more than other fish on a daily basis.
as for their fight.. on 3 of the fish i caught on the 15th of August i did not even know they were on.. only when i reelled in they started swimming.
They fight a little bit on the take .. and then relax.. when you have a 2 kilo and up you will see that at the end when you try and land them they will run for it.. i have seen many come off like this catching the fishermen off guard...
i DONT LIKE GRASSIES... they stink .. i have to wash my net with detergent ... so .. there..
happy camper..
oh as for the bait..
floaties.. and light hooklinks..
if that does not work .. bat and snorkle does ..
they consume so much more than other fish on a daily basis.
as for their fight.. on 3 of the fish i caught on the 15th of August i did not even know they were on.. only when i reelled in they started swimming.
They fight a little bit on the take .. and then relax.. when you have a 2 kilo and up you will see that at the end when you try and land them they will run for it.. i have seen many come off like this catching the fishermen off guard...
i DONT LIKE GRASSIES... they stink .. i have to wash my net with detergent ... so .. there..
happy camper..
oh as for the bait..
floaties.. and light hooklinks..
if that does not work .. bat and snorkle does ..
steelpulse007
Sealiner
MartD28 wrote:
That would've been a first for me, I would still prefer carp to grasscarp though. I find them to be a nuisance, & they're aggressive feeders too like Gertus pointed out, so they're a little less picky than carp, which is probably why they're such a bother. I suppose for competitions they're okay in that respect since you're looking to increase your bag weight, I don't fish comps so my objective is somewhat different when I go fishing.
