aquadementia
Sealiner
Early Monday morning The Owner, Penguin Pete and I hit the road to the legendary Bloemhof dam... We had a quick Wimpy breakfast in Klerksdorp and arrived at Sandveld around 10am.
"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore. We must be over the rainbow!"
wow, NW and/or Freestate province e-jewkayshun system is working wonders in the community!
After unpacking we made our way to a section of the Vaal for some river fishing. We had heard the grass carp were around but our main target was the Smallmouth Yellow... Upon arival we spotted schools of grass carp in the shallows and on his second cast, my dad (Penguin Pete), went vas with a grassie... on a hornet nogal!
Awesome, the first fish of the trip and a new species!!
I tried the same tactic and was rewarded with a hard knock and then a bending rod ...VAS!
then I got another one that pulled the scale to 2kg
Rudolph worked hard and finally managed a bite with this lovely 3kg specimen
We all threw cranks for the yellows but they were not playing along... We did however see quite a lot of jumping mudfish and I saw some tailing in shallow water, so I got out my fly rig and tied on some variation of a hotspot. While standing on a big rock looking for muddies I had a small barbel rise in front of me.. I slapped the water hard with the fly, one, two, three times. The little barbel shot up and smashed the fly on the fourth splash down. VAS!
What a brilliant fight he gave on the 5 weight!
in the net
my first vaal barbel and first on fly
My dad took my trusty sensation carp imitation crank bait and threw at some barbel rises and went on with a little barbel of his own
I did manage to (foul) hook a muddie but it fell off quite quickly
We headed home, had a nice braai and hit the sack. The next morning we were on the dam bright(dark!) and early
We were wading the sandbanks on the Vet River side, but after a bit of fruitless calling I changed over to the fly rig to try for some of the hordes of grass and common carp that were all over the show... They were a lot more cautious than the river carp and I did manage two semi-takes but nothing that stuck... I found a freshly washed up grass carp, around 400grams in weight, and rigged him on one of my double treble hook lures and gave it a 50m lob into the dam. I set it on the boat and kept on stalking the shallows for a carp...
A couple minutes later I heard my dad calling from the other side of the island and saw him come over a little hill waving his arms...I just started running to him when I heard that sound we all love... zzZZZZZZZZZZ- zzz - ZZZZZZ... I made a U-turn and sprinted to the boat, took up the slack and kapped into a barbel! YEEHAW!!! two minutes later I landed my first Bloemhof raggie! 6.5kg
right, now back to the other side of the island! Got there to see a beast of a barbel that made mine look like a tadpole!!! My dad had waded out to knee depth water right next to some submerged branches... He made two 'calls' and had this barbel basically shoot off from between his legs and latch onto his lume pumkinseed.. VAS!!!!!! and there it was, 13.8kg's of muscle!
This was one heck of a motivation so we persisted for a while but to no avail. Rudolph came back a while later saying that he had found the fish
a short while later I had my first barbel on calling!
We were fishing a sand bank that dropped off straight into 3-4m of water, basically the path the Vet river used to take before it was dammed up. A very very hard call was the order of the day, one had to try rip the water apart with the rod tip to get their interest...
I got a total of 7 barbel the first day on the dam, from 3 to 7.8kg
inside!
My dad was actually nursing a painfully swollen hand after a fall at the river the previous day, but he pushed through it and did well with a very nice 7.7kg
Rudolph got some nice sizes between the hordes he was catching, not sure the weight though
That was it for day two, a great day on the dam! Day three my dad and I went back tot he river to give his hand a chance to relax a bit after the hard fishing the previous day.
I quickly got an average grass carp
the fly
and he was converted into a barbel bait His head went in and had an enquiry within 45 seconds! We had seen some massive barbel turning in the rapids the other time, so we were hoping for a giant.. But it was not to be, when the head came out we could see it was small barbel chewing on it... Out with strips of fillet and that quickly got my dad a small one, about 3kg... I put out a fillet on my 8ft vengeance and stradic 5000 combo and before long I was pulled flat... VAS!
After a very lekker fight in the current, Penguin Pete netted this nice 6.6kg
He decided to move a bit further down to some slower water to gooi mielies He got a cute little river carp
I got another small barbel on the bait rig, about a 4kg... Giving up on the bait, I changed over to the fly again and took a little walk. I found a cruising barbel and slapped the fly at him, he missed so I slapped it at him again and his slightly bigger brother rushed over the drop-off, pushed him out the way and grabbed the fly - VAS!!
still small but super fun!
I went back and found some carp and grass carp mixed together feeding on the margins. I found a carp about 1kg feeding heavily on a shallow mud flat. He was super tame and I was dipping my fly all over the show as he was hoovering up the bottom. He was very polite and didnt spook but swam nicely around my fly!
two metres further down I saw a long shape cruising on the border of visibility.. I slapped the fly down near the barbels head and he turned and charged the fly down... except it wasnt a barbel, it was a grass carp! He missed so I re-dipped and he literally swallowed the mustard caddis all the way down his throat... most aggressive vegetarian EVER!
p.s. he wasnt caught near where this pic was taken, this was just where our stuff was
I went back to the rocks where the muddies hand out and hooked three that fell off, and had one nearly take me into my backing! What strong fish, I am really looking forward to catching one properly
On the way back to our accommodation we spotted some beautiful Sable next to the road
There were also a bunch of yellow mongoose and ground squirrels in the area..
I dont know how they survived the ants, which must be the most aggressive creatures I've ever come across. Stand still for a second and they are on you trying to eat you alive... freaking insane!
Sunset over Bloemhof...
Day four started early and with a clear mission - klap some barbel!
We started in the same area as two days before but not the exact spot... We waded a shallow pan and on Rudolphs first three dips he was whacked by a beast! He called us over to have a look.. it was HUGE! it pulled the scales to 17.7kg, a new pb for Rudolph!!
The rest of that shallow pan produced a lot of hits for all of us, but Rudolph confirmed our suspicions when a +- 1.5kg barbel actually managed to hook itself
We moved to the deep water spot from the other day... We spread out and I went all the way to the right hand side where water came over the sandbank at about ankle depth.. I was calling with not a whole lot going, looking around I saw a crazy barbel basically walking through this ankle deep water. I sprinted to it and gently dipped my lure onto its whiskers. It took a solid snap at it but immediately spooked and made an attempt at an esacpe. It found purchase in fractionally deeper water and I dropped my rod and sprinted after it... I herded it back into shallower water and dived on it like it was a rugby ball I grabbed it in the mouth and it gave me a proper bite for my efforts! My first barbel caught noodling! 9.5kg, wouldve been a pb if caught on rod and line, oh well!
I went back a bit further down past where I got this barbel and started calling.. In the distance I saw my dad on with a fish, and while watching him my calling technique was reduced to gently lifting and dropping the rod tip... BANG! I was on! Another 6kg model. I released it and ran to see what my dad had as he was still playing the fish... I Arrived to see a SUPER fat and vris barbel posing for a photo shoot... Of all the barbel I've seen, this one had to be the most muscular! It pulled the scale to 12.2kg, a fine catch by anybody's standards!
Later on I found a seagull harassing this barely alive 4.1kg grass carp, evidence of the big tails we had seen waving at us. It had a clear barbel bite on its face, it was probably feeding and got hit and stunned.
There were a lot of carp feeding in the shallows so I took the opportunity to make an attempt at one... After all this time I had still not caught a carp on artlure, although I had hooked the odd one the always came off!
I rigged the recommended lure by Mr. Lume lures himself, Louis. It was one of his little mud brown tadpoles put on a small white jighead.. I walked on the lee-side of the island and found some carp feeding nearby.. I made one cast that the wind pushed off course. I quickly re-cast a metre past the feeding carp, wound in a bit and dropped it right in front of them... I saw one go down and gave it a couple of seconds before winding tight into the fish.. I was on!!!!!!!!!!!!! zzzzzzzzzzzzz my little sedona 1000 was screaming and the 4lb was flying off the reel as the carp bolted for deeper water as it had been feeding in about a foot depth... A couple awesome runs later I landed my first ever carp on artlure!!!!!!!!!1
FINALLY!!! I was so happy to have the monkey off my back, not to mention just happy at catching the healthy looking specimen and having experienced a lovely little fight. He wasnt big at 1.8kg, but man my trip was made!!
I kept on wading for the carp while Penguin Pete and The Owner were calling... They were quite thick but feeding heavily making massive mud clouds and I think they couldnt see the lure at that stage. I did spot a HUGE barbel cruising between them, easily as big as the one Rudolph got that morning... I made an attempt at a cast at it on the 4lb rig (LOL) but perhaps it was best that it spooked
We went around the other side of the island and I changed over to my fly outfit as I had seen a lot of carp feeding in the shallows where the waves were breaking. Reminded me of steenbras feeding in the white water in the surf They were a bit scarce now that the sun had risen higher in the sky. I had a look back and saw my dad was vas again!
Apparently he was also not paying attention and this barbel literally pulled him over when it hit, and once he stood up again the barbel jumped clear out of the water! Where's a camera when you need it!? I wish I could have been there to see it, luckily Rudolph witnessed the whole thing This one was 8.9kg
Things quietened down a bit and everybody spread out again... I got a bite on the pumkinseed and struck into it! This barbel didnt really fight too hard as the braid had wrapped around the gill area obviously making it a bit uncomfortable. Luckily no harm done, and as it turned out this was a modest pb at 8.2kg!
I got another one around 4kg before I got another really hard pull, this one fought like a champion and really had me holding on! Another pb at 8.3kg
I got another one soon after of 6.9kg
For the last hour of the day we moved to another nearby sand island but with shallower surrounding waters.
The guys called and immediately got some fish, my dad winning with the smallest barbel of the trip at around 1kg
I took my fly rig to target the tailing carp. I got one to take it but the hook didnt set. I turned around to find a 5kg barbel cruising past and he was only too happy to take my fly He took one heck of a run before my fly popped out, slightly more straight and blunt than before
So we ended off our last day on the dam with another stunning afternoon display by the sun and clouds
We got back too late for a braai so we decided to grill our meat instead... Except the grill was not working... nor did we have any pans
So we ended up frying the steak, wors and chicken in a roasting pan
And so ended our Bloemhof trip, with around 35 fish between Penguin Pete and myself. We missed a LOT of hits from smaller barbel and could easily have doubled the number of fish caught has we used lead heads instead, but we were trying for quality as opposed to quantity. Also the extremely aggressive calling style did seem to weed out the smaller ones
I think we had 35 degree + weather every day, my right thumb from my wrist to the second joint is swollen and sore from sunburn hahaha... all the SPF50 I put on didnt make much of a difference, holding that calling rod all day long is gonna get your thumb sunburnt
Thanks to The Owner and Droomvanger for organizing an awesome trip!
"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore. We must be over the rainbow!"
wow, NW and/or Freestate province e-jewkayshun system is working wonders in the community!
After unpacking we made our way to a section of the Vaal for some river fishing. We had heard the grass carp were around but our main target was the Smallmouth Yellow... Upon arival we spotted schools of grass carp in the shallows and on his second cast, my dad (Penguin Pete), went vas with a grassie... on a hornet nogal!
Awesome, the first fish of the trip and a new species!!
I tried the same tactic and was rewarded with a hard knock and then a bending rod ...VAS!
then I got another one that pulled the scale to 2kg
Rudolph worked hard and finally managed a bite with this lovely 3kg specimen
We all threw cranks for the yellows but they were not playing along... We did however see quite a lot of jumping mudfish and I saw some tailing in shallow water, so I got out my fly rig and tied on some variation of a hotspot. While standing on a big rock looking for muddies I had a small barbel rise in front of me.. I slapped the water hard with the fly, one, two, three times. The little barbel shot up and smashed the fly on the fourth splash down. VAS!
What a brilliant fight he gave on the 5 weight!
in the net
my first vaal barbel and first on fly
My dad took my trusty sensation carp imitation crank bait and threw at some barbel rises and went on with a little barbel of his own
I did manage to (foul) hook a muddie but it fell off quite quickly
We headed home, had a nice braai and hit the sack. The next morning we were on the dam bright(dark!) and early
We were wading the sandbanks on the Vet River side, but after a bit of fruitless calling I changed over to the fly rig to try for some of the hordes of grass and common carp that were all over the show... They were a lot more cautious than the river carp and I did manage two semi-takes but nothing that stuck... I found a freshly washed up grass carp, around 400grams in weight, and rigged him on one of my double treble hook lures and gave it a 50m lob into the dam. I set it on the boat and kept on stalking the shallows for a carp...
A couple minutes later I heard my dad calling from the other side of the island and saw him come over a little hill waving his arms...I just started running to him when I heard that sound we all love... zzZZZZZZZZZZ- zzz - ZZZZZZ... I made a U-turn and sprinted to the boat, took up the slack and kapped into a barbel! YEEHAW!!! two minutes later I landed my first Bloemhof raggie! 6.5kg
right, now back to the other side of the island! Got there to see a beast of a barbel that made mine look like a tadpole!!! My dad had waded out to knee depth water right next to some submerged branches... He made two 'calls' and had this barbel basically shoot off from between his legs and latch onto his lume pumkinseed.. VAS!!!!!! and there it was, 13.8kg's of muscle!
This was one heck of a motivation so we persisted for a while but to no avail. Rudolph came back a while later saying that he had found the fish
a short while later I had my first barbel on calling!
We were fishing a sand bank that dropped off straight into 3-4m of water, basically the path the Vet river used to take before it was dammed up. A very very hard call was the order of the day, one had to try rip the water apart with the rod tip to get their interest...
I got a total of 7 barbel the first day on the dam, from 3 to 7.8kg
inside!
My dad was actually nursing a painfully swollen hand after a fall at the river the previous day, but he pushed through it and did well with a very nice 7.7kg
Rudolph got some nice sizes between the hordes he was catching, not sure the weight though
That was it for day two, a great day on the dam! Day three my dad and I went back tot he river to give his hand a chance to relax a bit after the hard fishing the previous day.
I quickly got an average grass carp
the fly
and he was converted into a barbel bait
His head went in and had an enquiry within 45 seconds! We had seen some massive barbel turning in the rapids the other time, so we were hoping for a giant.. But it was not to be, when the head came out we could see it was small barbel chewing on it... Out with strips of fillet and that quickly got my dad a small one, about 3kg... I put out a fillet on my 8ft vengeance and stradic 5000 combo and before long I was pulled flat... VAS!
After a very lekker fight in the current, Penguin Pete netted this nice 6.6kg
He decided to move a bit further down to some slower water to gooi mielies
He got a cute little river carp
I got another small barbel on the bait rig, about a 4kg... Giving up on the bait, I changed over to the fly again and took a little walk. I found a cruising barbel and slapped the fly at him, he missed so I slapped it at him again and his slightly bigger brother rushed over the drop-off, pushed him out the way and grabbed the fly - VAS!!
still small but super fun!
I went back and found some carp and grass carp mixed together feeding on the margins. I found a carp about 1kg feeding heavily on a shallow mud flat. He was super tame and I was dipping my fly all over the show as he was hoovering up the bottom. He was very polite and didnt spook but swam nicely around my fly
!two metres further down I saw a long shape cruising on the border of visibility.. I slapped the fly down near the barbels head and he turned and charged the fly down... except it wasnt a barbel, it was a grass carp! He missed so I re-dipped and he literally swallowed the mustard caddis all the way down his throat... most aggressive vegetarian EVER!
p.s. he wasnt caught near where this pic was taken, this was just where our stuff was
I went back to the rocks where the muddies hand out and hooked three that fell off, and had one nearly take me into my backing! What strong fish, I am really looking forward to catching one properly
On the way back to our accommodation we spotted some beautiful Sable next to the road
There were also a bunch of yellow mongoose and ground squirrels in the area..
I dont know how they survived the ants, which must be the most aggressive creatures I've ever come across. Stand still for a second and they are on you trying to eat you alive... freaking insane!
Sunset over Bloemhof...
Day four started early and with a clear mission - klap some barbel!
We started in the same area as two days before but not the exact spot... We waded a shallow pan and on Rudolphs first three dips he was whacked by a beast! He called us over to have a look.. it was HUGE! it pulled the scales to 17.7kg, a new pb for Rudolph!!
The rest of that shallow pan produced a lot of hits for all of us, but Rudolph confirmed our suspicions when a +- 1.5kg barbel actually managed to hook itself
We moved to the deep water spot from the other day... We spread out and I went all the way to the right hand side where water came over the sandbank at about ankle depth.. I was calling with not a whole lot going, looking around I saw a crazy barbel basically walking through this ankle deep water. I sprinted to it and gently dipped my lure onto its whiskers. It took a solid snap at it but immediately spooked and made an attempt at an esacpe. It found purchase in fractionally deeper water and I dropped my rod and sprinted after it... I herded it back into shallower water and dived on it like it was a rugby ball
I grabbed it in the mouth and it gave me a proper bite for my efforts! My first barbel caught noodling! 9.5kg, wouldve been a pb if caught on rod and line, oh well!
I went back a bit further down past where I got this barbel and started calling.. In the distance I saw my dad on with a fish, and while watching him my calling technique was reduced to gently lifting and dropping the rod tip... BANG! I was on! Another 6kg model. I released it and ran to see what my dad had as he was still playing the fish... I Arrived to see a SUPER fat and vris barbel posing for a photo shoot... Of all the barbel I've seen, this one had to be the most muscular! It pulled the scale to 12.2kg, a fine catch by anybody's standards!
Later on I found a seagull harassing this barely alive 4.1kg grass carp, evidence of the big tails we had seen waving at us. It had a clear barbel bite on its face, it was probably feeding and got hit and stunned.
There were a lot of carp feeding in the shallows so I took the opportunity to make an attempt at one... After all this time I had still not caught a carp on artlure, although I had hooked the odd one the always came off!
I rigged the recommended lure by Mr. Lume lures himself, Louis. It was one of his little mud brown tadpoles put on a small white jighead.. I walked on the lee-side of the island and found some carp feeding nearby.. I made one cast that the wind pushed off course. I quickly re-cast a metre past the feeding carp, wound in a bit and dropped it right in front of them... I saw one go down and gave it a couple of seconds before winding tight into the fish.. I was on!!!!!!!!!!!!! zzzzzzzzzzzzz my little sedona 1000 was screaming and the 4lb was flying off the reel as the carp bolted for deeper water as it had been feeding in about a foot depth... A couple awesome runs later I landed my first ever carp on artlure!!!!!!!!!1
FINALLY!!! I was so happy to have the monkey off my back, not to mention just happy at catching the healthy looking specimen and having experienced a lovely little fight. He wasnt big at 1.8kg, but man my trip was made!!
I kept on wading for the carp while Penguin Pete and The Owner were calling... They were quite thick but feeding heavily making massive mud clouds and I think they couldnt see the lure at that stage. I did spot a HUGE barbel cruising between them, easily as big as the one Rudolph got that morning... I made an attempt at a cast at it on the 4lb rig (LOL) but perhaps it was best that it spooked
We went around the other side of the island and I changed over to my fly outfit as I had seen a lot of carp feeding in the shallows where the waves were breaking. Reminded me of steenbras feeding in the white water in the surf
They were a bit scarce now that the sun had risen higher in the sky. I had a look back and saw my dad was vas again! Apparently he was also not paying attention and this barbel literally pulled him over when it hit, and once he stood up again the barbel jumped clear out of the water! Where's a camera when you need it!? I wish I could have been there to see it, luckily Rudolph witnessed the whole thing
This one was 8.9kg
Things quietened down a bit and everybody spread out again... I got a bite on the pumkinseed and struck into it! This barbel didnt really fight too hard as the braid had wrapped around the gill area obviously making it a bit uncomfortable. Luckily no harm done, and as it turned out this was a modest pb at 8.2kg!
I got another one around 4kg before I got another really hard pull, this one fought like a champion and really had me holding on! Another pb at 8.3kg
I got another one soon after of 6.9kg
For the last hour of the day we moved to another nearby sand island but with shallower surrounding waters.
The guys called and immediately got some fish, my dad winning with the smallest barbel of the trip at around 1kg
I took my fly rig to target the tailing carp. I got one to take it but the hook didnt set. I turned around to find a 5kg barbel cruising past and he was only too happy to take my fly
He took one heck of a run before my fly popped out, slightly more straight and blunt than before So we ended off our last day on the dam with another stunning afternoon display by the sun and clouds
We got back too late for a braai so we decided to grill our meat instead... Except the grill was not working... nor did we have any pans
So we ended up frying the steak, wors and chicken in a roasting pan
And so ended our Bloemhof trip, with around 35 fish between Penguin Pete and myself. We missed a LOT of hits from smaller barbel and could easily have doubled the number of fish caught has we used lead heads instead, but we were trying for quality as opposed to quantity. Also the extremely aggressive calling style did seem to weed out the smaller ones
I think we had 35 degree + weather every day, my right thumb from my wrist to the second joint is swollen and sore from sunburn hahaha... all the SPF50 I put on didnt make much of a difference, holding that calling rod all day long is gonna get your thumb sunburnt
Thanks to The Owner and Droomvanger for organizing an awesome trip!
