JustPlainSHARK
Sealiner
The venue for the third leg of the SAPS Commissioners cup was held at the dam wall of the Vaaldam (on the dam side, not the river side dudes) before you cross over the bridge to Cheetah country.
It was overcast and a chilly wind (fairly gusty!) was blowing and I packed a thin jacket, so I froze my but off. Pegs were drawn and Westrand drew peg 4. Only four SAPS teams contest this event-Westrand, Vaalrand, Gauteng East (they hate to say East Rand) and Head Office SAPS.
Anyway, this venue was a total new venue for me and had no idea what to expect. The communication from those who know the venue was also non-existent. Me and my pegmate, Vernon, were placed in zone C, and because of trees in the water, had an open peg to our right.
I started off by trying to make a feeding spot at 60m, but with the wind blowing at 45 degrees from the left, this proved difficult. This was also my first outing with my new rods and I struggled to get to the 60 mark (lines clipped) with the M1's, so I fished much closer at about 40m. I however came into the fish quickly at this distance and pulled away from the others in our zone. I had 8 fish in the net by 9:30 but Vernon sukkeld for no apparent reason (and he only ended with 7fish for the day). The 8 fish were caught with Devilsfork on the bol and a swd on the hooks. The wind then died down and i could cast the M1 to the 60m mark with ease (lines clipped in remember), but with the wind settling, the fish went off the bite, or so I thought, and managed a few bites in between and landed the odd one in between. In the meantime, the Vaalrand peg were hauling in the fish like I&J. At about 13:30 I decided out of frustration, to target barbel a bit shallower (did not realise the brilliance of the shorter distance then) and caught 3 barbel and a carpy on the Karibas. This was on FX and Hasbeen (MR MUTI makes a mix called Ogies) on the bol and Ebony on the Kariba. At 15:00 lines were up and we moved to the weigh in. I had a measly bag of 14 fish, with Vaalrand having bags of 29 and 24, Head Office/Pretoria one of 20 fish and one of Gauteng East a bag of 18 fish. I ended 5th out of 8 - awfull :-(.
RUN UP TO LESSONS LEARNED:
I have been out of freshwater angling for almost 3 years and decided to get back into things at the start of the year. This was my 3rd comp for the year and I was amased at how oblivious I have become to the obvious (you can also classify it as "common sense", but we all know that if it was "common", there should have been an uncommon sense as well
). I watched at the distance that Vaalrand were casting and thought they were fishing the same distance as I am. But perception over water is very tricky! In fact, I was casting further than them and thus over the fish. My other mistake was that when the wind died down, I could throw the M1 to 60m (to the clip) and therefor I moved away from where I was getting the fish. I also saw a guy wade into the water to get his trace unstuck and the water was deep at only 20m out. And I mean DEEP - chest deep (where are all the ladies!?!).
LESSONS LEARNED:
1. Stock up on common sense (dont just look, you have to SEE).
2. Practice, especialy if you have been out of the scene for so long (see my post on a practice at Cilliers two days after this event where all the above came to light).
3. Clip in on the distance that you get the fish. Although the reel is already clipped in on 60m, the line can be clipped in over the 60m one.
4. Concentrate on what you are doing, bait wise and other.
It was overcast and a chilly wind (fairly gusty!) was blowing and I packed a thin jacket, so I froze my but off. Pegs were drawn and Westrand drew peg 4. Only four SAPS teams contest this event-Westrand, Vaalrand, Gauteng East (they hate to say East Rand) and Head Office SAPS.
Anyway, this venue was a total new venue for me and had no idea what to expect. The communication from those who know the venue was also non-existent. Me and my pegmate, Vernon, were placed in zone C, and because of trees in the water, had an open peg to our right.
I started off by trying to make a feeding spot at 60m, but with the wind blowing at 45 degrees from the left, this proved difficult. This was also my first outing with my new rods and I struggled to get to the 60 mark (lines clipped) with the M1's, so I fished much closer at about 40m. I however came into the fish quickly at this distance and pulled away from the others in our zone. I had 8 fish in the net by 9:30 but Vernon sukkeld for no apparent reason (and he only ended with 7fish for the day). The 8 fish were caught with Devilsfork on the bol and a swd on the hooks. The wind then died down and i could cast the M1 to the 60m mark with ease (lines clipped in remember), but with the wind settling, the fish went off the bite, or so I thought, and managed a few bites in between and landed the odd one in between. In the meantime, the Vaalrand peg were hauling in the fish like I&J. At about 13:30 I decided out of frustration, to target barbel a bit shallower (did not realise the brilliance of the shorter distance then) and caught 3 barbel and a carpy on the Karibas. This was on FX and Hasbeen (MR MUTI makes a mix called Ogies) on the bol and Ebony on the Kariba. At 15:00 lines were up and we moved to the weigh in. I had a measly bag of 14 fish, with Vaalrand having bags of 29 and 24, Head Office/Pretoria one of 20 fish and one of Gauteng East a bag of 18 fish. I ended 5th out of 8 - awfull :-(.
RUN UP TO LESSONS LEARNED:
I have been out of freshwater angling for almost 3 years and decided to get back into things at the start of the year. This was my 3rd comp for the year and I was amased at how oblivious I have become to the obvious (you can also classify it as "common sense", but we all know that if it was "common", there should have been an uncommon sense as well
). I watched at the distance that Vaalrand were casting and thought they were fishing the same distance as I am. But perception over water is very tricky! In fact, I was casting further than them and thus over the fish. My other mistake was that when the wind died down, I could throw the M1 to 60m (to the clip) and therefor I moved away from where I was getting the fish. I also saw a guy wade into the water to get his trace unstuck and the water was deep at only 20m out. And I mean DEEP - chest deep (where are all the ladies!?!).LESSONS LEARNED:
1. Stock up on common sense (dont just look, you have to SEE).
2. Practice, especialy if you have been out of the scene for so long (see my post on a practice at Cilliers two days after this event where all the above came to light).
3. Clip in on the distance that you get the fish. Although the reel is already clipped in on 60m, the line can be clipped in over the 60m one.
4. Concentrate on what you are doing, bait wise and other.
