So it was 5:00 Sunday morning and time to go fish! I left Roodepoort and went to pick up Quintin and his boat in Centurion seeing that my boat is in for a service. We quickly packed everything and off we went to Roodeplaat. We were a bit worried about the hyacinth, but as soon as we arrived at the dam, we saw it that it won’t bother us.
Ryan was already waiting for us at the slipway. We geared up and launched the boat. We were ready to go search for the freshwater mermaids, otherwise known as barbel to try and catch them on crankbaits or lood koppies. Ryan introduced me to fishing with lures only recently as I am actually a fly fisherman. We cruised around for a while trying to find a good spot to fish and we came across a shallow area where you could see the bottom and we knew the spot would produce good fishing. We immediately started seeing the barbel swimming around and some barbel lying dead still on the bottom. Ryan took out his “klop stok†and dropped the lood koppie right in front of the barbel’s nose. Without hesitation the barbel took the lood koppie and sadly came off after a while. Next on the “klop stok†was Quintin. It wasn’t long before he was “ON DADâ€. The barbel put up a good fight and we landed him. Now the adrenalin was really pumping and all three of us suffered from serious shaking or as we call it “barbel koorsâ€. I could not wait to get one myself. I tried to catch one on fly but unfortunately foul hooked it and it came off after a while. Seeing that the “klop stok†with the lood koppie was working, I took the rod and dropped the lood koppie right in front of a barbel that was lying dead still in about 70cm of water. When the lood koppie touched the “ snorre†of the barbel I knew this was my moment. It grabbed the lood koppie and I went “ON DADâ€. I was amazed by the speed and the strength of the barbel. It put up a great fight and we landed it. This fish wasn’t the biggest in the dam, but it was special to me as it was my first barbel on a lood koppie.
I have learnt so much from Ryan and can’t wait to learn even more from him. He is an excellent lure angler and if it wasn’t for Sealine, I would never have met him. Thanks Sealine!!!!
I can’t wait to go back and target these freshwater mermaids on lure and fly again!!!
All in all it was an excellent day!
Ryan was already waiting for us at the slipway. We geared up and launched the boat. We were ready to go search for the freshwater mermaids, otherwise known as barbel to try and catch them on crankbaits or lood koppies. Ryan introduced me to fishing with lures only recently as I am actually a fly fisherman. We cruised around for a while trying to find a good spot to fish and we came across a shallow area where you could see the bottom and we knew the spot would produce good fishing. We immediately started seeing the barbel swimming around and some barbel lying dead still on the bottom. Ryan took out his “klop stok†and dropped the lood koppie right in front of the barbel’s nose. Without hesitation the barbel took the lood koppie and sadly came off after a while. Next on the “klop stok†was Quintin. It wasn’t long before he was “ON DADâ€. The barbel put up a good fight and we landed him. Now the adrenalin was really pumping and all three of us suffered from serious shaking or as we call it “barbel koorsâ€. I could not wait to get one myself. I tried to catch one on fly but unfortunately foul hooked it and it came off after a while. Seeing that the “klop stok†with the lood koppie was working, I took the rod and dropped the lood koppie right in front of a barbel that was lying dead still in about 70cm of water. When the lood koppie touched the “ snorre†of the barbel I knew this was my moment. It grabbed the lood koppie and I went “ON DADâ€. I was amazed by the speed and the strength of the barbel. It put up a great fight and we landed it. This fish wasn’t the biggest in the dam, but it was special to me as it was my first barbel on a lood koppie.
I have learnt so much from Ryan and can’t wait to learn even more from him. He is an excellent lure angler and if it wasn’t for Sealine, I would never have met him. Thanks Sealine!!!!
I can’t wait to go back and target these freshwater mermaids on lure and fly again!!!
All in all it was an excellent day!
