Spent last weekend sunday at struben trying for ba

[SmokingToe]

Spent last weekend sunday at struben trying for bass, this weekend saturday, the WHOLE day there... and today i was at homestead for half the day... Friends also tried for carp and barbel.

Trying my best to catch something here, getting desperate.... Is there anywhere close 2 pretoria that isnt under alot of pressure where its still viable to catch more than 2 bass a day?

We are going to the vaal this weekend, we need 2 know what we need lure wise and where 2 fish, wat to look for and what to avoid.. and any other tips or advice that will help us finally land something.

Thnx in advance.


Oh ja, how exactly do the seasons effect the fish, will the vaal still be a viable option for bass or would it be as difficult to fish as struben? What are the best seasons to be at the vaal?

 

[bassist11]

Junebug plastics work well.

 

[Koos Bass]

Dude that sucks.

I noticed from other posts that strubens is not realy the spot for fishing due to that presure thing you mentioned.

Is that Homestead in Benoni you are talking about.

 

[SmokingToe]

Yea homestead in benoni... I actually spoke 2 one of the regulars at struben and he said in winter the water is clear and u can catch up to 20 in a day....

But atm its terrible and u lucky to get a bite... Although he and some others do catch sometimes... We spent 12 hours.. yes 12 hours at struben this sat and a good 8 or so last sat with nothing so i dont think thats just the dams fault...

 

[Billaridoo]

With the past few days of cold weather, one would have to consider finesse baits and slow fishing. Also focus on afternoon sessions in stead of mornings.

 

[SmokingToe]

Wat is considered to be a finesse bait? We focused on morning afternoon and evening sessions

 

[Herman Nel]

Hi Smokin toe!

Did you use your hands... or rods and reels...? Just kidding?

What techniques and lures did you try btw?

Regards

Herman

 

[SmokingToe]

Well we kind of new 2 the thing, i read on these forums to use natural colours and fish light... We didnt do the light part so much as i was getting used to my baitcaster and the lighter lures dont help with that

I have no idea wat the things we used are called but we used worm like things, another looked like a baby bass, a craw like thing and some spinners, friends tried small rapala's. Most of the lures were of the same colour a sort of darkish green.

There was one guy with us who does bass fishing regularly, he didnt get anything either.. So im not sure wat was being done wrong

 

[Little Green Fish]

Smoking Toe

Next time you go out to STUBBORNS give this lure a try, cast it out and let it lie awhile, then give it a slight move (not more than 3cm's, yes that little) then let it be for another 30sec or so, then repeat.

Try the Northern bank, Eastern wall, against any structure, try and hook this weightless if not a small texas or carolina or mojo will help with the casting.

This is the Junebug colour and this is a grub, you could use various other styled baits, but Junebug works best in that tub of choclate milkshake.

 

[SmokingToe]

Thanks for advice LGF will pop around to shop and get some, anything else i should try?

What size hook should i connect that up 2?

We were using texas rigs... Also have a coffee grinder but the gf was using that... will try weightless with coffeegrinder next time.

 

[Little Green Fish]

I want to say a dark chatterbait, but you're going to end losing them all, that tub has some serious snagging stuff under the surface. Lost 4 already......

Use a 2/0 wide gap. and seeing that you're riggring this to a spinning reel/outfit, be sure to take out all the line slack without moving the lure until it's time to move it.

 

[Billaridoo]

Smoking toe,

I just came back from Srubens, caugh 2 fish in less than 30min. 10:30-11:00. I use an ultralight rig. 5pound Ultima line, very small carp hooks and junebug Sada curly tail, riged up with a small split shot against the sada.
200g & 800g fish hooked. Looking for my cam cable to upload pics.
I posted a topic on Strubens,

http://sealine.co.za/view_topic.php?id=30124&forum_id=32&highlight=struben+dam+explained .

This is my technique, has worked for me since I started implimenting. PB at Strubens is 1,9kg. Avarage catch 600g-1,5kg.

+/- 50 fish caught since Sept 2009

 

[SmokingToe]

Sigh... I'll try your advice when i get a chance again.. going 2 vaal this weekend but might stop by struben friday afternoon

 

[Billaridoo]

I'll post a pic of my rig. The fun part about this rig is that you often land Tilapia and even small cats.
Also, when you hook a bass, even 100g fish, the fight is awesome. Anything above 1kg keeps you BUSY!
My brother in law even caught trout on this rig! Outfished conventional flies.

 

[big one]

hi i go to strubens alot an have only blanked ones(in the winter).... the water is all ways dirty.... i catch most of my fish on reaction lures near the broken jetty

 

[Billaridoo]

Big One,

What is your PB at Strubens? Just interested. Trying to determine the health of the population at the dam. I have reports of 6 x >2kg fish caught since spring and a whole whad of >1,5kg fish during the same period.

 

[big one]

hi my pb at strubens is 1,75KG and yours?

 

[Billaridoo]

1,9kg, Oct last year against the east bank. Landed the male first, 600g, casted immediatly to 2m deeper than the previous cast and then the big female came out.
Most of my fish came out against the reeds on the South bank and by the tree stump close to the West inflow.

 

[sustan]

sup guys...im one of smoking toes "fishing buddies"....

to be honest iv never seen a bass been caught at struben, i used to go there alot as a kid to try for carp, also blanked lol but messed around most of the time. But iv only ever seen barbel and carp coming out.

You could see the bass but they were all very small, always infront of the big blue gum trees and the wall about 1m out.

@Billaridoo-we tried to find that june grub thing but couldnt :/ how long is it in inches? and what size hook are you using? also do you fish very slow, stopping for a while and carying on or do you reel in constantly slow or fast?

are you guys just using a texas rig or abit more fancy rig?

since we could not find that sagara grunb thing we got 4" june mini lizzards...

shot for all the help and info guys

 

[tauruck]

SmokingToe wrote:

Spent last weekend sunday at struben trying for bass, this weekend saturday, the WHOLE day there... and today i was at homestead for half the day... Friends also tried for carp and barbel.

Trying my best to catch something here, getting desperate.... Is there anywhere close 2 pretoria that isnt under alot of pressure where its still viable to catch more than 2 bass a day?

We are going to the vaal this weekend, we need 2 know what we need lure wise and where 2 fish, wat to look for and what to avoid.. and any other tips or advice that will help us finally land something.

Thnx in advance.


Oh ja, how exactly do the seasons effect the fish, will the vaal still be a viable option for bass or would it be as difficult to fish as struben? What are the best seasons to be at the vaal?

You guys just became "Bass Anglers" bru.

This is the norm not the exception.

It sucks but it is what it is.

I know your pain.