Feature Finding

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Stefan Engelbrecht

Sealiner
It's been a few years since I fished for big carp. I fished a few venues around the Northern Suburbs of Cape Town, caught a good number of fish in the 7 - 9kg with a handful between 10 - 13kg. Many sessions where wasted fishing blind without having done proper feature finding due to lack of available equipment ,but mostly due to lack of effort.

Decided to start fishing a new dam roughly 6km from my house. Stunning surroundings with nice carp in up to around 12kg are the confirmed reports. Very deep though and I have only fished this dam about 5 times and only twice was European style and not conventional floating crust or ball of bread approach.

I packed out everything big carp fishing related I have and discovered that a very nice marker float from Pelzer that I bought cheap cheap from Western Accessories many years ago in Cape Town is no longer in my possession. Might have cast it off at some point...

I have a small inflatable and 4m conduit pipes that I used very successfully at 3 venues. A lot faster than a marker float but unfortunately it is limited to water shallower than 4m.

So now I need to buy a new marker float.

What marker floats and marker float setups are you guys using? The only marker float that I can find online is at Henkor.co.za It's a Gardner pencil float and looks like it will do the job.

How many of you are using bait boats and/or inflatable boats with an echo sounder?

I look forward to reading your replies.
 
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Basspro

Senior Member
Gardner sells a combination of marker float - thin and thick one for weed purposes.

I have used a boat and echo sounder but these days the marker float came in handy
 
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EugeneC

Sealiner
I bought a pack of Gardner pencil floats from Henkor many years ago and it worked very well. I never used a boat, most ponds in the WC are too small to justify a boat anyway. I only used a marker float for all feature finding and my results weren't too bad, so I guess I got by ok.

I like the conduit pipe idea, that should make quick work of most dams. Why don't you just get a couple of extra long pieces for deeper water?
 
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MadCarper

Sealiner
I lost my marker float too some time ago. A pike went for it while I was measuring the depth at one of the dams near me haha!!! So now I have a Korda marker and its good. Havent used an inflatable and fishfinder in 4 years now, all marker float work, or at worst I would just use a 3oz weight to cast around. I hate fishing blind, not knowing what it is I'm fishing on or in! Its just too hit and miss.
 
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Stefan Engelbrecht

Sealiner
The conduit really is a fast way to measure depth and type of bottom if you don't have a fish finder. I actually have not given any thought to trying more lengths of conduit. It's worth trying it out...I'd much rather use a boat to map a dam than casting a marker float. I'm sure a connector with maybe holes drills in and cable ties through to make it removeable should work. Might be a big awkard and floppy working with 8m of conduit but it's a cheap venture...

I actually got the inflatables for Doordekraal (Bell Park) dam. Me and my friends lost too many big carp there due to snags. Lost interest in big carp fishing though due to the effort involved, small fish, dams being banned for fishing and quantity of particle feed needed. Back with a different approach and valuable experience gained from competitive rock and surf fishing...
 
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EugeneC

Sealiner
Bellwater Park is one of my absolute favorite dams for BFC, I agree a boat will help when they try to run you into the broken bridge or one of the other huge snags there. I doubt the features have changed much there, you will find the carp where you always found them..

I can relate to the points about carp fishing you mentioned, but I also believe it's possible to scale down dramatically and still be successful. I think big carp fishing in the western cape is a little unique in some ways and a bit of out-the-box thinking goes a long way.

Tight lines, I hope you get a monster.
 
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Stefan Engelbrecht

Sealiner
I've actually never found the bridge there or any underwater snags! Just watergrass and one lonely treestump...great drop-offs, reed lined margins and flats though...

I got my marker float today from Henkor and I'm going to figure out a bracket attachment for the conduit marker for deep water.
 
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Stefan Engelbrecht

Sealiner
So I tried the conduit prodding stick again on Sunday night. Geez! Now I remember why I didn't want to use the flippen thing!!!

It takes ages, your boat is constantly moving and you're missing meters of dam floor at a time. It worked well for 2 flattish dams but this dam has such great contours and steep, sudden drop off's that I confused the hell out of myself prodding here and then there.

Did some thinking and decided to commit and buy a entry level fish finder. Actually just want to use it as an electronic depth measurer and structure locator. Looking for a Condor Portable fish finder and quite excited to get back on the dam with it...
 
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JohannM

Senior Member
I am all for old school methods but I like to fish efficiently so a boat and fish finder is the best option for me.
 
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HennieB

Sealiner
JohannM wrote:
I am all for old school methods but I like to fish efficiently so a boat and fish finder is the best option for me.
Click to expand...
Ditto

We are always pressed for time and a boat with a ff is a lot more accurate than plumbing around with a lead for instance.
 
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