The Owner and me went on a lekker early day outing to the close-by Roodeplaat Dam to see if we would have some "luck" with the fish, seeing that the water seemed to be much cleaner than a while before (This winter its going to be awesome I believe with the prospects of the Algae hopefully reducing even more to make it much more fish-able)
So the early morning start took us to a spot the Owner believed we would pick up on some bass... we went into a very beautiful sloep, in the Edendale leg side (The side to Leeufontein Estates/Kameelfontein road). We worked the sloep, but needless to say, no bass that liked the look of a deadly deadringer seemingly engulfed in an algae attack. Even so the Owner tried a twitch bait which would on any other given day produce bass. All we could manage to catch was a breathtaking morning view on the dam, still spectacular without any fish...
We decided to lift the trollie and go just around to another sloep which was more than three-quarters up into the edendale leg. This sloep me, my brother and swarrie fished the weekend before and I knew we would encounter a LOT of fish here. Especially the sought after bass that were so elusive in the previous sloep. It was not long before we saw them, every here and there we found small groups or even singled out bass hanging between algae. We tried again but these bass were more skittish than a cat being chased by a dog. The Owner encouraged me to keep trying for them to see if they would be intrigued by our presentations, even trying some curly’s on them but they spooked as if we were spear fishing them. We quickly draw the conclusion that these bass were not to be and changed tactics.
Over to a dipping rod and the trustworthy calling rod we went. At first we only saw the dust explosions on the bottom from carp and barbel escaping from our searching eyes and the looming trollie, but after a while we began picking up on were they were laying still, sometimes still trawling over them without noticing their black bodies agains the sandy and patchy algae bottom, yes they were very good camouflaged. The Owner handled the dipping rod and me the calling rod. As we started to pick up on more and more barbel after me having a few hiccups in dipping ON the barbels head, NEXT to it, over it and under it, I suddenly managed to dip a barbel right on its whiskers…BAMMM ON, Wham Offf….nooo!! First one missed for the day at around 9:45am, but we were enticed by the good fortune of the barbels aggressive strike if the loodkop was presented carefully on its whiskers. This was just as dipping for carp, except that you should make the loodkop fall right on its whiskers (hence sight fishing very NB for this method)…once the loodkop missed the whiskers and went below the barbels level of feeding/cruising and you pick it up again, it spooked quite easily. So it was crucial to dip perfectly in the strike zone as not to spook the barbel once you missed the whiskers on the first dip.
We cruised up towards the “open water†of the edendale leg on the right hand side/western side of the edendale inlet. We were now in the marked zone for the rowers, but at least the water was quiet, with the odd rower coming by and they were far away from where we were fishing. Here the barbel were a LOT, the temperature was also picking up nicely, with an expected 22 degrees C maximum. The barbels had a like for the water heating up and were even closer to the surface, making for a much easier dip seeing that the loodkop wasn't slowed down by the resistance of the water to get into the strike zone as quick as possible. Not only were the barbel spread widely here, BUT the Carp we saw here blew our minds…!!! Many at +- 8kg’s. The Owner was already thinking of an upgrade on his PB, but yet, these Carp were just as skittish as the bass we've encountered and only made for dreams as we dipped and tried getting anything in the strike zone, but they flew at the sight of a curly or whatever we tried at them…every now and then we saw one of these lekker carp luring around making us Algae Green of Viskoors!
The owner had long ago now dropped the dipping rod and we both were on the calling rods with the backbone to muscle these barbel between 2-8kg out. The Owner was soon ON when he dipped a barbel on the snorre and off it went running to deeper waters, The Owner soon had it in the boat and at around 3-4kg’s it was a lekker fight!
I on the other hand tried and tried, I missed about four to five barbel here as they grabbed at the loodkop, sometimes missing it, sometimes me not getting a good hook-up. I was slowly starting to lose my confidence, but tried and tried again whilst trying to calm down after every miss. The Owner encouraged me a lot, and I also changed to a different loodkop, because we were not sure if the other one gave me problems…
We traveled further up into the leg whilst seeing barbel almost everywhere. They were also turning on the surface, but they were quick and we did not try casting at them. As we now approached the bridge at leeufontein estates the barbel there were just as amazing. They were lying there in a group of 15+ barbel waiting for any food dropping from the swallow nests, but as it is almost winter we saw no sign of the swallows in the area. The barbel still hung around this area and The Owner soon dipped one on the snorre…ON!!! A decent fight this time with the barbel averaging at +- 6kgs.
We were now in the leeufontein estate side with the muddy water being much more likely to produce Carp on bubbles. The Owner soon saw bubbles and dipped on them with a 7ft MH rod. It wasn’t long before The Owner on the slow rising of the rod tip felt the heavy headshake of the Carp on the end of the line, but just as quick as it was on, it was off again…NOOOO!!! We tried and tried again on some more bubbles, but no luck at all… We soon moved back to the calling rod were I hoped to pick up my first barbel for the day. It was around 12:00pm now and no feesh for a me yet…The owner noticed the black shadows of barbel cruising in the murky waters and gave me the chance to dip on it. I used his rod as I had little faith in mine after all the on-and-offs I had. I dipped carefully, in the strike zone and grrrrr the braid runs through the tipped of the rod as the barbel ferociously runs off with the loodkop. It gave me a proper fight and I had to fight quite hard at it. Soon it was in the boat and me a happy chappy!!! This one we weighed and it was around 6.2kgs. Baaaie lekker, I couldn’t believe its strength!
Overall we caught 9 barbel for the day, Verry Happy Chaps but with our heads hanging a little bit on all the missed opportunities on barbel we had. We managed to see some Blue Kurpers too, very decent size fish! All the fish were very cautious though. We had to move quick,when we dipped and accurately too, guess it’s why we missed some. In the end a brilliant day on the waters, with much to come back to! I look forward to the next trippie for some good action! We still have to pick up on the two BEEEEG barble we missed…((r(e(ling
So the early morning start took us to a spot the Owner believed we would pick up on some bass... we went into a very beautiful sloep, in the Edendale leg side (The side to Leeufontein Estates/Kameelfontein road). We worked the sloep, but needless to say, no bass that liked the look of a deadly deadringer seemingly engulfed in an algae attack. Even so the Owner tried a twitch bait which would on any other given day produce bass. All we could manage to catch was a breathtaking morning view on the dam, still spectacular without any fish...
We decided to lift the trollie and go just around to another sloep which was more than three-quarters up into the edendale leg. This sloep me, my brother and swarrie fished the weekend before and I knew we would encounter a LOT of fish here. Especially the sought after bass that were so elusive in the previous sloep. It was not long before we saw them, every here and there we found small groups or even singled out bass hanging between algae. We tried again but these bass were more skittish than a cat being chased by a dog. The Owner encouraged me to keep trying for them to see if they would be intrigued by our presentations, even trying some curly’s on them but they spooked as if we were spear fishing them. We quickly draw the conclusion that these bass were not to be and changed tactics.
Over to a dipping rod and the trustworthy calling rod we went. At first we only saw the dust explosions on the bottom from carp and barbel escaping from our searching eyes and the looming trollie, but after a while we began picking up on were they were laying still, sometimes still trawling over them without noticing their black bodies agains the sandy and patchy algae bottom, yes they were very good camouflaged. The Owner handled the dipping rod and me the calling rod. As we started to pick up on more and more barbel after me having a few hiccups in dipping ON the barbels head, NEXT to it, over it and under it, I suddenly managed to dip a barbel right on its whiskers…BAMMM ON, Wham Offf….nooo!! First one missed for the day at around 9:45am, but we were enticed by the good fortune of the barbels aggressive strike if the loodkop was presented carefully on its whiskers. This was just as dipping for carp, except that you should make the loodkop fall right on its whiskers (hence sight fishing very NB for this method)…once the loodkop missed the whiskers and went below the barbels level of feeding/cruising and you pick it up again, it spooked quite easily. So it was crucial to dip perfectly in the strike zone as not to spook the barbel once you missed the whiskers on the first dip.
We cruised up towards the “open water†of the edendale leg on the right hand side/western side of the edendale inlet. We were now in the marked zone for the rowers, but at least the water was quiet, with the odd rower coming by and they were far away from where we were fishing. Here the barbel were a LOT, the temperature was also picking up nicely, with an expected 22 degrees C maximum. The barbels had a like for the water heating up and were even closer to the surface, making for a much easier dip seeing that the loodkop wasn't slowed down by the resistance of the water to get into the strike zone as quick as possible. Not only were the barbel spread widely here, BUT the Carp we saw here blew our minds…!!! Many at +- 8kg’s. The Owner was already thinking of an upgrade on his PB, but yet, these Carp were just as skittish as the bass we've encountered and only made for dreams as we dipped and tried getting anything in the strike zone, but they flew at the sight of a curly or whatever we tried at them…every now and then we saw one of these lekker carp luring around making us Algae Green of Viskoors!
The owner had long ago now dropped the dipping rod and we both were on the calling rods with the backbone to muscle these barbel between 2-8kg out. The Owner was soon ON when he dipped a barbel on the snorre and off it went running to deeper waters, The Owner soon had it in the boat and at around 3-4kg’s it was a lekker fight!
I on the other hand tried and tried, I missed about four to five barbel here as they grabbed at the loodkop, sometimes missing it, sometimes me not getting a good hook-up. I was slowly starting to lose my confidence, but tried and tried again whilst trying to calm down after every miss. The Owner encouraged me a lot, and I also changed to a different loodkop, because we were not sure if the other one gave me problems…
We traveled further up into the leg whilst seeing barbel almost everywhere. They were also turning on the surface, but they were quick and we did not try casting at them. As we now approached the bridge at leeufontein estates the barbel there were just as amazing. They were lying there in a group of 15+ barbel waiting for any food dropping from the swallow nests, but as it is almost winter we saw no sign of the swallows in the area. The barbel still hung around this area and The Owner soon dipped one on the snorre…ON!!! A decent fight this time with the barbel averaging at +- 6kgs.
We were now in the leeufontein estate side with the muddy water being much more likely to produce Carp on bubbles. The Owner soon saw bubbles and dipped on them with a 7ft MH rod. It wasn’t long before The Owner on the slow rising of the rod tip felt the heavy headshake of the Carp on the end of the line, but just as quick as it was on, it was off again…NOOOO!!! We tried and tried again on some more bubbles, but no luck at all… We soon moved back to the calling rod were I hoped to pick up my first barbel for the day. It was around 12:00pm now and no feesh for a me yet…The owner noticed the black shadows of barbel cruising in the murky waters and gave me the chance to dip on it. I used his rod as I had little faith in mine after all the on-and-offs I had. I dipped carefully, in the strike zone and grrrrr the braid runs through the tipped of the rod as the barbel ferociously runs off with the loodkop. It gave me a proper fight and I had to fight quite hard at it. Soon it was in the boat and me a happy chappy!!! This one we weighed and it was around 6.2kgs. Baaaie lekker, I couldn’t believe its strength!
Overall we caught 9 barbel for the day, Verry Happy Chaps but with our heads hanging a little bit on all the missed opportunities on barbel we had. We managed to see some Blue Kurpers too, very decent size fish! All the fish were very cautious though. We had to move quick,when we dipped and accurately too, guess it’s why we missed some. In the end a brilliant day on the waters, with much to come back to! I look forward to the next trippie for some good action! We still have to pick up on the two BEEEEG barble we missed…((r(e(ling
