Hi Gapie,
The area around Robertson and Bonnievale used to be one of the better smallmouth bass venues that you could find.
I must sadly inform you that the barble have anialated the smallmouth bass in this area. In 3 short years we literally saw an 80% decline in the number of smallmouth bass in the area.
If you want to hunt trophy smallmouth then Bonnievale still has some optiions. Of interest though is that there are far more largemouth bass than ever before on the Breede. If you fish the under the Bridge near the cheese factory in Bonnievale you will catch tons of respectable largemouth bass.
The largies lie under the thick mats of water grass in the slower runs. If you are fly fishing then i would advise you to fish weedless dahlberg divers, if you are using baitcast or spinning tackle then fish horny toads. These lures are best fished by retrieving them at a steady pace over the weeds and then momentarily resting them in the open holes. Just sit back and watch the explosion.
The smallies are best targeted at the base of rapids. I fish sluggos and zara spooks to great effect. On fly wooly buggers and clouser minnows have delivered.
You can contact Fracoius Claasen at Outdoor World in Bonnivale, he is probably the best artlure fisherman in the country and an approachable, helpful person.
Hope this will help
The area around Robertson and Bonnievale used to be one of the better smallmouth bass venues that you could find.
I must sadly inform you that the barble have anialated the smallmouth bass in this area. In 3 short years we literally saw an 80% decline in the number of smallmouth bass in the area.
If you want to hunt trophy smallmouth then Bonnievale still has some optiions. Of interest though is that there are far more largemouth bass than ever before on the Breede. If you fish the under the Bridge near the cheese factory in Bonnievale you will catch tons of respectable largemouth bass.
The largies lie under the thick mats of water grass in the slower runs. If you are fly fishing then i would advise you to fish weedless dahlberg divers, if you are using baitcast or spinning tackle then fish horny toads. These lures are best fished by retrieving them at a steady pace over the weeds and then momentarily resting them in the open holes. Just sit back and watch the explosion.
The smallies are best targeted at the base of rapids. I fish sluggos and zara spooks to great effect. On fly wooly buggers and clouser minnows have delivered.
You can contact Fracoius Claasen at Outdoor World in Bonnivale, he is probably the best artlure fisherman in the country and an approachable, helpful person.
Hope this will help
after that.