EASY big carping waters?

[Wikkelspies]

Good evening

I was searching the forum, and came across this thread http://www.sealine.co.za/view_topic.php?id=2571&forum_id=33&highlight=SPECIMEN+DAMS, where Jacques (on about the 10th reply) mentions the top 5 BIG carping dams in SA, but also says that they are the most difficult big carp waters in SA, okay so then a few sentences later he says "get to know specimen fishing first, try an EASY DAM and keep to it till you KNOW how- THEN book long sessions at any of the dams above  " ... So here goes my question, seeing that I just recently started consentrating on specimen carping, WHERE within a 200km radius from Pretoria would you guys say will I find an easy dam to improve on my specimen skills, one I can go to just about every weekend, so Rushmere is out, its gonna cost me a fortune to go there every weekend

Please, once again any input would be apreciated

 

 

[Spod]

Wikkelspies
You know, I dont believe there are easy carp dams when targeting bfc, smaller yes, and this is what Jacques was on about, I like to refer to these smaller catch dams as confidence dams.(I'll probably get blown out of the water for saying that he he he) Im not sure of the PTA area, MadCarper would know of them there. But in the JHB area, Donaldson lower lake is a sure bet.(Western area) theres 15kg in there, and a lot of specimen anglers have cut their teeth there. Remember,Fish only come with loads of work and time spent at dams, eg. plumbing for features then mapping, water reading (an art in itself) and feeding programmes just the start. The greater the effort, the greater the chances/reward.
Lesiure lake at Glen Austen, is also what I label a confidence dam but its a syndicate dam. Ha ha ha I was a guest there for my first ever specimen session and we landed something like 30 fish that week end, 4k to 7k nice way to start, actually the time of my life. lol! I learned invaluable stuff there.But yes, you need to find a dam of this calliber and target it for a while, (I spent about 15 sessions at Donaldsons, in all seasons)and so doing gain confidence in your equipment and handling carp bigger than average PG style catches and polishing your style of specimen angling before attempting the wild larger waters.
We all think we can handle the beeeg one, but believe me its not that simple. They react totally different they skitterish (feed, bait, play/fight wise) and if you dont have any back ground, you loose.

 

[Wikkelspies]

Hey spod, that's 100%, both lesiure and Donaldson are within my range, never been to any of them though, one more thing, I see you guys talk about BFC, it stands for BIG F#&KING CARP???

Anyway thanks alot spod, enjoy your day

 

[MadCarper]

Lol! I thought BFC stood for big fat carp, hahaha...

Wikkelspies, you can either fish Emerentia dam or Florida Lake (need R140/yr membership before u can fish there) would be a good bet in Jhb... or you can fish at any of the bigger dams further out.

There isnt really something like a "specimen carp" dam. I would rather say that some dams have a better amount of specimen/big sized carp in them. And the main thing is the style of fishing. Specimen carp fishing, in my opinion, will work at any dam, and 99% of the time it will give you the bigger specimens. (But not necessarily the quantity that you get with conventional carp fishing (floaties etc))
For example, Bronkhorstspruit dam normally gets frequented by conventional anglers and plenty of smaller carp gets caught there... Yet, recently I saw a young guy using specimen carp fishing methods and baits, and he caught 3 carp over 10kg...i think one was almost 13kg. So is it a conventional or specimen carp fishing dam? Same really goes for Harties, Roodeplaat and Vaal dam. So you can go to any of these dams, and gain confidence and experience by fishing the specimen carping style.
I fished Ifafi at Harties some time back, 4-6 cooked maize strung onto a hair rig, and caught many fish between 4 and 10kg... So there are a number of dams around Gauteng you can go to.
Donaldson dam is also a good spot... its abit tough at times, but you'll get some fish there...

 

[Spod]

BFC lol!
Emerentia is good, ave 7kg but you need to contend with rowers practicing up and down all day over your lines, flying and back leads required. I wouldnt overnight there a bit dodgy. and no real camp area.

Florida is also good, ave 8kg, with larger seen 14kg there, but a bit on the dangerous side if you overnight. see florida thread.

For these reasons I mentioned Donaldson. Reasonably safe even though there is a mother squater camp on the opposite bank, where you gonna have loud noise all weekend day and night, if you are at pegs 10 - 23.