Hi
So this weekend I went to Bloemhof for the first time. I left JHB on Friday morning, meeting some friends there. It was my first time there, so I was really keen. The drive was pretty cool, with the exception of some terrifying road works just outside Bloemhof. I dont think its going to finished anytime soon either.
My friends had set up camp at Sanveld, about 150mts to the left of the bridge. When I arrived, the sun was out but just my luck, the wind was pumping haha. Not to be discouraged, my mate did catch a good sized 11kg barbel that morning and a few carps on the small side, the day before. I set up my rods and got them out around 9am. 2 papgooi (bait fx floaties, with devils fork) and 2 barbel (carp fillet [left over carcuss from my mate's barbel bait the night before haha]). The morning session was dead but I think this was due to the wind?
At around 2pm, bang on with my first carp. Nothing to write home about but hey, any start made my day. Had a couple more carps for the rest of the day all around the 2kg mark. Thanks to Engima's post, I managed to successfully prepare a 2kg carp head on some 9/0 eagle claws and cast it out with my surf tackle. This was left out for the night, along with my carp fillet on the other rod. The wind settled but I retired to my tent early that evening. Was buggered with the early drive from JHB.
The following morning around 5am, my barbel rod, with the carp fillet, took off. After jumping out of my tent and slipping once, I eventually got to my rod only to wind in and NOTHING
I have a feeling it could have been an otter because I did see one chilling in the shallows after this, more or less where I had cast. Not to damper spirits, a beautiful morning greeted us, with minimal wind around. The rod with the head was untouched.
After a lekker breakfast, we continued with papgooi but the morning session proved to be quiet. The guys next to us, also were struggling but did hook a barbel of about 5kgs that morning. After lunch, with our last night ahead of us, we decided to mix up our strategy a bit. We carried on with papgooi but this time we varied our dips trying out almond and some other varieties. We also took out a few specimen rods about 200m in. I put a Nash monster crab pop on one rod and some tigernuts on the other specimen. We also changed our strategy with the barbel baits. We decided to take them out deep around 200mts.
Fishing picked up around 3pm, with a few better carps around 2.5kgs coming out. But it was around dinner time, that the fun started. My friends specimen rod with gaint kaboem meilies went crazy. On the other side of the line, was a beautiful 3kg carp. Man these Bloemhof carps do give a good rev hey! After this fish we were constantly kept busy with the papgooi rods. A 5mins later, I hear my grandwave reel with assasin rod make a few clicks, fellowed by a nice barbel run. A run over to my rod and reeled tight. Barbel ON! It gave a good account of itself but the fight was a bit lerthagic. Craig's advise on thick lines and leaders served well and made it so easy to reel the fish in. We got the fish in and it was a 9kg babel. Not big by Bloemhof standards but hey, my first one for the season. Was chuffed.
About 10mins later on my papgooi rod, I hooked a beautiful healthy carp of about 4kgs. On light tackle, it was lekker reeling him in. My specimen rod went next and caught a 3kg carp on the pop up. We were busy with the smaller fish till about mid-night then called it a night. A about 4am my other sppecimen rod with tigers went off and managed to bag a small 2kg carp.
Next morning, we were greeted with a howling wind and we decided to pack it up and head back home.
This was my first trip to Bloemhof and definately not my last. The fish were on the smaller side but hey, it was lekker catching them, along with the memories.
Bijen
So this weekend I went to Bloemhof for the first time. I left JHB on Friday morning, meeting some friends there. It was my first time there, so I was really keen. The drive was pretty cool, with the exception of some terrifying road works just outside Bloemhof. I dont think its going to finished anytime soon either.
My friends had set up camp at Sanveld, about 150mts to the left of the bridge. When I arrived, the sun was out but just my luck, the wind was pumping haha. Not to be discouraged, my mate did catch a good sized 11kg barbel that morning and a few carps on the small side, the day before. I set up my rods and got them out around 9am. 2 papgooi (bait fx floaties, with devils fork) and 2 barbel (carp fillet [left over carcuss from my mate's barbel bait the night before haha]). The morning session was dead but I think this was due to the wind?
At around 2pm, bang on with my first carp. Nothing to write home about but hey, any start made my day. Had a couple more carps for the rest of the day all around the 2kg mark. Thanks to Engima's post, I managed to successfully prepare a 2kg carp head on some 9/0 eagle claws and cast it out with my surf tackle. This was left out for the night, along with my carp fillet on the other rod. The wind settled but I retired to my tent early that evening. Was buggered with the early drive from JHB.
The following morning around 5am, my barbel rod, with the carp fillet, took off. After jumping out of my tent and slipping once, I eventually got to my rod only to wind in and NOTHING
I have a feeling it could have been an otter because I did see one chilling in the shallows after this, more or less where I had cast. Not to damper spirits, a beautiful morning greeted us, with minimal wind around. The rod with the head was untouched.After a lekker breakfast, we continued with papgooi but the morning session proved to be quiet. The guys next to us, also were struggling but did hook a barbel of about 5kgs that morning. After lunch, with our last night ahead of us, we decided to mix up our strategy a bit. We carried on with papgooi but this time we varied our dips trying out almond and some other varieties. We also took out a few specimen rods about 200m in. I put a Nash monster crab pop on one rod and some tigernuts on the other specimen. We also changed our strategy with the barbel baits. We decided to take them out deep around 200mts.
Fishing picked up around 3pm, with a few better carps around 2.5kgs coming out. But it was around dinner time, that the fun started. My friends specimen rod with gaint kaboem meilies went crazy. On the other side of the line, was a beautiful 3kg carp. Man these Bloemhof carps do give a good rev hey! After this fish we were constantly kept busy with the papgooi rods. A 5mins later, I hear my grandwave reel with assasin rod make a few clicks, fellowed by a nice barbel run. A run over to my rod and reeled tight. Barbel ON! It gave a good account of itself but the fight was a bit lerthagic. Craig's advise on thick lines and leaders served well and made it so easy to reel the fish in. We got the fish in and it was a 9kg babel. Not big by Bloemhof standards but hey, my first one for the season. Was chuffed.
About 10mins later on my papgooi rod, I hooked a beautiful healthy carp of about 4kgs. On light tackle, it was lekker reeling him in. My specimen rod went next and caught a 3kg carp on the pop up. We were busy with the smaller fish till about mid-night then called it a night. A about 4am my other sppecimen rod with tigers went off and managed to bag a small 2kg carp.
Next morning, we were greeted with a howling wind and we decided to pack it up and head back home.
This was my first trip to Bloemhof and definately not my last. The fish were on the smaller side but hey, it was lekker catching them, along with the memories.
Bijen
