[align=left]Bivane Dam 22-24January 2013
After much anticipated and planned leave I finally got off to go to Bivane again. Since the dam is pretty much at full capacity and after a horrendous week of rain I was amped to get onto the water.
Booked 2 nights in the 2 sleeper Chalets which is really affordable mid week @ R300 a night and loaded the car and off I went with my old man.
Always I get amazed how stunning that place is.
We arrived early morning as I don't live too far from the dam as it is 50 odd kms from Vryheid with decently managed dirt roads. I eagerly assembled my pontoon and off I went. Never realized how far you actually need to paddle to reach the spots. I spent about 15mins of constant kicking to only cover about 400-500m of water.
After I eventually reached my destination I didn't even get a bite but the scenery made it all worth while.
Later at about 4pm the afternoon I got my 2nd breath again and decided to go hunt for some pigs.
(this is actually a tame wild hog the manager found in the road)
Before launching myself on the toon I decided to cast a few casts on the shallower launch area and after my 10th cast I hit into a monster of a fish. I had 20lb flouro on with a black & red spinnerbait and I first thought I got stuck in some rocks, but no this rockfish swam towards me and dove off at the drop off and broke my 20lb on the rocks...Frustrated after 100s of casts and finally hooking into a huge fish and breaking me off, I threw down my rod and cracked the tip. I tested the line(stupidly through bending the rod) and snapped the tip off..there went my quantum rod. grrrrrrr
Now being more motivated after a huge bite I hopped on my toon and made my way towards the opposite koppie where I know the submerged island is.
I kicked for about 15mins after getting my first strike on a little paddle tail swimbait(pumpkin seed red flake). I let it drop and felt the trademark twitch on the line. Set the hook and landed about a 500-700g bass.
As I made my way around the tip of the koppie where I know the submerged island is, I tied on a spinnerbait again and cast towards the reeds and got an overrun on my new baitcaster,as I needed a second rod setup I added an shimano calisto which didn't cost an arm and a leg but noisy as hell(20lb line which previously broke off) and as I was fixing it and starting to reel it in, WHAM! I started swearing as I thought I hooked into another Horrendous monstrous buthelezi bass. This thing took line off a reel that was almost set at full drag bending my little replacement rod into the water and made runs from one side to the other for about 10mins and got the fright off my life and I paddled myself into deeper water to make sure this beast doesn't dive into the submerged trees.
Eventually it ran off to the side and it turned close to the surface and I saw the famous silver flash of a bass but this thing was huge! I never experienced a fight like this! I pulled it in and landed this MAKULU!
Being shaken up and literally shaking from adrenaline I knew I had to let some one take a picture of me with the fish as I was scared I would loose it by attempting a self shot with this beast. I decided to paddle back after I strung a piece of rope carefully through the mouth and immediately got on the phone and called my dad to come have a look when I reached the half way mark where cell reception is.
Finally I doubled my PB.
Not sure how accurate this scale is, but the oomie next to us was kind enough to borrow his scale, The right hand side is the KGs and the left the grams. I estimated it to be about 4.7kgs but it felt like a 5kg fish.
I let my old man have a few photies with the beast before safely releasing her.
Its been the toughest fishing I had in a long time. Only caught 2 fish in 3 days of fishing. Its really frustrating being on the water so much and hardly getting a bite, but also very rewarding after you catch a monster of a bass.
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After much anticipated and planned leave I finally got off to go to Bivane again. Since the dam is pretty much at full capacity and after a horrendous week of rain I was amped to get onto the water.
Booked 2 nights in the 2 sleeper Chalets which is really affordable mid week @ R300 a night and loaded the car and off I went with my old man.
Always I get amazed how stunning that place is.
We arrived early morning as I don't live too far from the dam as it is 50 odd kms from Vryheid with decently managed dirt roads. I eagerly assembled my pontoon and off I went. Never realized how far you actually need to paddle to reach the spots. I spent about 15mins of constant kicking to only cover about 400-500m of water.
After I eventually reached my destination I didn't even get a bite but the scenery made it all worth while.
Later at about 4pm the afternoon I got my 2nd breath again and decided to go hunt for some pigs.
(this is actually a tame wild hog the manager found in the road)
Before launching myself on the toon I decided to cast a few casts on the shallower launch area and after my 10th cast I hit into a monster of a fish. I had 20lb flouro on with a black & red spinnerbait and I first thought I got stuck in some rocks, but no this rockfish swam towards me and dove off at the drop off and broke my 20lb on the rocks...Frustrated after 100s of casts and finally hooking into a huge fish and breaking me off, I threw down my rod and cracked the tip. I tested the line(stupidly through bending the rod) and snapped the tip off..there went my quantum rod. grrrrrrr
Now being more motivated after a huge bite I hopped on my toon and made my way towards the opposite koppie where I know the submerged island is.
I kicked for about 15mins after getting my first strike on a little paddle tail swimbait(pumpkin seed red flake). I let it drop and felt the trademark twitch on the line. Set the hook and landed about a 500-700g bass.
As I made my way around the tip of the koppie where I know the submerged island is, I tied on a spinnerbait again and cast towards the reeds and got an overrun on my new baitcaster,as I needed a second rod setup I added an shimano calisto which didn't cost an arm and a leg but noisy as hell(20lb line which previously broke off) and as I was fixing it and starting to reel it in, WHAM! I started swearing as I thought I hooked into another Horrendous monstrous buthelezi bass. This thing took line off a reel that was almost set at full drag bending my little replacement rod into the water and made runs from one side to the other for about 10mins and got the fright off my life and I paddled myself into deeper water to make sure this beast doesn't dive into the submerged trees.
Eventually it ran off to the side and it turned close to the surface and I saw the famous silver flash of a bass but this thing was huge! I never experienced a fight like this! I pulled it in and landed this MAKULU!
Being shaken up and literally shaking from adrenaline I knew I had to let some one take a picture of me with the fish as I was scared I would loose it by attempting a self shot with this beast. I decided to paddle back after I strung a piece of rope carefully through the mouth and immediately got on the phone and called my dad to come have a look when I reached the half way mark where cell reception is.
Finally I doubled my PB.
Not sure how accurate this scale is, but the oomie next to us was kind enough to borrow his scale, The right hand side is the KGs and the left the grams. I estimated it to be about 4.7kgs but it felt like a 5kg fish.
I let my old man have a few photies with the beast before safely releasing her.
Its been the toughest fishing I had in a long time. Only caught 2 fish in 3 days of fishing. Its really frustrating being on the water so much and hardly getting a bite, but also very rewarding after you catch a monster of a bass.
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