Dam & River Venues

[louieb]

Hi All,

As was noted in an earlier thread on venues for match/float angling, the venues mentioned were in a small geographic area (JHB Norhtern Suburbs). These venues also seem to be "confined" waters, not regular dams or rivers (I hope I'm correct in making this assumption?)

I would like to know if anyone out there has fished some of our larger venues with success on float, such as Vaal river (inflow into Vaal Dam), Wilge river (Frankfort side), Vaal Dam, Vaal river below & above Barrage, Suikerbos river, Blesbok spruit, etc. as I am keen to attempt float fishing in these areas.

I am not a competitive match angler, but the appeal of fishing with minimal equipment really appeals to me (as does the prospect of fishing at close range).

Any feedback will be appreciated, thanks guys.

 

[Lunker]

Morning Louieb

Fished the Vaal River regularly when I first started out Match fishing. I would say the best float fishing one can ever do. On nearly every session myself and the Serbian who taught me caught an average of 100 fish each and the species was endless (carp, barbel, yellows, bass and so on)

As far as the others go never really tried match fishing there.

Cheers

 

 

[louieb]

Thanks for the feedback Lunker. Just a question, did you fish the river below the Barrage?

If there is a current is it best to look for a spot where there is a pool or back-current? (I would assume that this would be done?)... reason for asking, if there is a current, wouldn't this cause problems with ground-baiting? What distance did you fish at (10m, 20m, further?)

I went to the Suikerbos river with a friend this Saturday (on a private farm +-30km outside Heidelberg), but had no luck at all. I fished with a procupine quill float, split-shot on either side of the loop, with a further 3 small split-shot on the line below the float, last one +- 30cm from my hook (size 10 scud). Total length from float to hook +-1.5m.

I think a mistake I made was not to guage the exact depth of the water. I have heard that this is a good river for muddies, and I know that they hug the bottom, so you need to get your bait down to them. The river was barely flowing, and we saw no fish rising/jumping... just a few small ripples every now and then, or a small stream of bubbles (crabs?). The river where we fished was about 25-30m wide at points, but narrower in most parts. We fished traditional "carp" baits, such as plain white bread (flattened at one end), small floatie with dough backing, plain dough on hook, or small dough with maize pip. Only stuck with natural flavours. Even threw a few balls of groundbait (plain supercast) ... even then saw no fish activity.

Before giving up, I removed the float, used a single hook "Vaal Dam" trace, using 2 large split-shot as a sinker, and fished a maize pip on the hook, with groundfeed on the sinker ... had a few nibbles, but then nothing ... seemes the fish were intereted in my groundbail, not hookbait?

What could I have done differently?

 

[Lunker]

Louieb, I mainly fish the lift method as seen and explained in my other threads. It is the deadliest method of stalking carp because they dont realise they are hooked until you strike and you need to get your hook bait on the bottom if you stand any chance of hooking them.

The method of float shotting you mentioned is great for kurper and other smaller species of fish as this allows the bait to drift and it can be fished mid water, but is more a summer float rig.

With the lift method a heavier weight or large split shots can be used so it keeps the float pretty stable in the area you are targeting. You would need to test your depths to make sure your leader from hook to float is slightly longer than the depth you fishing.

I fished mainly at Oosthuisens off the high banks because the water was close on 2m deep 5m from the side so the carp, barbel, muddies and yellows would feed comfortably because of that depth.

Winter is a awesome time for targeting carp on float but I have found that the river is in a way a waste of time this is why I target all the local dams where I know that carp are feeding in specific areas and I would not need to feed alot to attract them.

The first mistake you made was definitely not getting your depth correct because you are right in saying that muddies hug the bottom and feed very similarly to carp and a carp would definitly not make any attempt to at your bait at that depth. If it was summer I recon things would be different because of cruising carp and they would feed mid water if the bait was in their path.

Second mistake You tried to many hook baits. Your first choice of the white bread was spot on and the maize. Those 2 baits have been my fish catchers from day dot. Plain is always the safe bet with hook baits. The other killer baits is all your artificial (fake) baits. They are made by Enterprise baits. The ones that work well are the large maize, flouro maize, 10mm Flouro boilies and the maggots. They have quite a nice boyancy to them and can be critically balanced just off the bottom. Bottom line CARP LOVE THEM!

There are other guys on this thread that nail the carp on just a hook bait. Check their posts on sessions they did. Awesome catches.

Winter float fishing is very slow but rewarding once you hook into something and on light tackle you cant get any better.

 

 

 

 

[louieb]

Thanks for the advice Lunker!

I'll definitely take your tips into account next time round and give it another go. I've read all the threads here on the forum, and what you say makes sense... just a question of putting it all into practice, plus being at the right place at the right time!

 

[Lunker]

Pleasure Louieb.

I am in the process of trying to find a new venue other than Footloose. The dam that I float fished regularly and caught well at unfortunately requires a permit of some sort and that would of been the perfect venue for you to hook into some nice carp.

You should join me at Footloose as my guest one sunday if you have a chance, Most of the dams have trout but the bigger ones is just carp, barbel, kurper and bass. Winter is a bit slow there because with the dams being smaller they tend to get effected by the cold much quicker but when you catch its worth the wait.

Last bit of advice for when you go again. Find a dam wall or a deep area close to the side maybe by reeds or structure and feed that area with corn pellets, 5 handfulls should do the trick and then a handful of the bait you are using as hook bait. Then take a walk and try and find another area in close proximity to your first area. If possible it must be in sight. Feed that same area the way you did on the first. Reason for this is while you are fishing the first area you can keep an eye out on the second area to see if they are feeding and you can move and drop your float there. This method turned many a blank day into a serious numbers day.

My normal email is in my profile, drop me a mail when you want to do a session.