aquadementia
Sealiner
Went to a farm between Belfast and Dullstroom last Thursday and Friday with my girlfriend
more of a romantic getaway than a fishing trip, but there were a couple dams... unfortunately they werent looked after, i.e. loaded with weed, bass and not stocked with trout in a long time. The trout were very few and far between in the fishable ponds, and I managed a few throws at some but they were not interested in anything I had to offer.
We did find some abandoned trout hatchery ponds that had some small fish in them...
At first I thought it may be small trout or carp that came in with overflow from a larger dam.
So I got out my micro fishing rig, size 30 hook and a small piece of powerbait and started dipping at them
They were all quite small, although I did have one monster something flash through and repeatedly eat my sinker and ignore my hook bait. I still dont know what it was, but it was relatively very long and thin, and over 10cm long.
I eventually hooked one of the small ones, but it fell off as it came out the water...
So I was defeated on the first day, and we went inside to braai marshmallows on the fire
The next day we went back, and I was determined to get whatever it was!
It took me two and a half hours to finally land one, and I was very happy to see that it was a new species! What species, I didnt know, but a new one for me none the less
As it turns out, its a Chubbyhead barb or Dikkop Giellemientjie
I found a concentration of them from the inflow of one pond to another, all facing upstream and enjoying the ride on the current. And then I caught another!
Melanie also had a go and did in two minutes what took me two and a half hours
Skip to Sunday and I was back home and on my way to fish Vaalkop with The Owner.
We had heard that there was an abundance of surface feeding carp, as there had been the same time last year. So we decided to take our fly rigs with and concentrate on using them to gently present DDD's and the like to the finicky carp...
well that didnt happen, the carp were nowhere to be found feeding on the surface. Fortunately, Vaalkop's barbel were still there
I decided to stick with fly but to rather change to the heaver 6/7 weight i scratched up from the back of the garage. It had some random reel and some random sinking line on. I tied on an eight foot 40lb mono leader and the biggest fly I had. We found a barbel within minutes, and Rudolph gave me the opportunity to 'dip' it.
The dip technique involves literally dipping your lure onto a 'sleeping' barbels whiskers. Not its head, not its cheek, its whiskers, right in front of it. Accuracy and stealth are paramount. Fortunately, my fly gently drifted down PRECISELY in the centre of the barbels mouth, and just when I thought it wasnt going to react, it engulfed the fly. I lifted the rod and the barbel bolted for the deep. VAS PAPPA!
man, how I regret not taking gloves with... fly line burns fingers.. nevermind the backing, holy moly! being such oooold line, it came out curly and wrapped up into clumps. Thankfully Rudolph managed to get them out before they jammed in the guides.. anyway here's some pics
this guy was a real slugger, and he absolutely refused to show himself... I knew my knots were good and on seing some bubbles, I really started pulling to the limits of the tackle
initially, this just upset him more, and after three or four more powerful runs, mr barbel made his boat side premier
'glug glug glug'
on netting, we realized he was bigger than he looked when I hooked him. That, or he ate the barbel I hooked
On the scale, he went to 10.3kg... a new personal best barbel on any tackle, my first over the 10kg mark and on fly to boot!
he measured 116cm
Further down the bank I managed to hook a smallish carp on by casting a black soft plastic tadpole at it. It dived straight into and dragged my line through some weeds. The hooked pulled a minutes later, no doubt due to the strain placed on the line earlier in the fight.
Rudolph also managed his first two barbel on fly!
His first one came straight after I landed mine, I gave him the rd and it was a repeat performance
6.52kg and 92cm long. A fine first barbel on fly!
I persisted with carp, but to no avail. The Owner hooked and landed a 4.4kg barbel, but not after it very nearly stripped the reel of all its line and backing. It was a real screamer, taking that amount of line in one mad dash into the middle of the dam. After that, it basically came in upside down. Still a great fight and awesome display of speed and power.
Thats pretty much it, other than us seeing hordes of big blue kurper, a lot of them even jumping clear of the water... next summer Vaalkop is gonna be a kurper mecca. Oh yes and we also saw a sick makriel swimming along the edge of some rocks. It looked like it had a wound or infection on its side.
Thanks again to Droomvanger and The Owner for facilitating the trip, it was a great day out on the water!
more of a romantic getaway than a fishing trip, but there were a couple dams... unfortunately they werent looked after, i.e. loaded with weed, bass and not stocked with trout in a long time. The trout were very few and far between in the fishable ponds, and I managed a few throws at some but they were not interested in anything I had to offer.
We did find some abandoned trout hatchery ponds that had some small fish in them...
At first I thought it may be small trout or carp that came in with overflow from a larger dam.
So I got out my micro fishing rig, size 30 hook and a small piece of powerbait and started dipping at them
They were all quite small, although I did have one monster something flash through and repeatedly eat my sinker and ignore my hook bait. I still dont know what it was, but it was relatively very long and thin, and over 10cm long.
I eventually hooked one of the small ones, but it fell off as it came out the water...
So I was defeated on the first day, and we went inside to braai marshmallows on the fire
The next day we went back, and I was determined to get whatever it was!
It took me two and a half hours to finally land one, and I was very happy to see that it was a new species! What species, I didnt know, but a new one for me none the less
As it turns out, its a Chubbyhead barb or Dikkop Giellemientjie
I found a concentration of them from the inflow of one pond to another, all facing upstream and enjoying the ride on the current. And then I caught another!
Melanie also had a go and did in two minutes what took me two and a half hours
Skip to Sunday and I was back home and on my way to fish Vaalkop with The Owner.
We had heard that there was an abundance of surface feeding carp, as there had been the same time last year. So we decided to take our fly rigs with and concentrate on using them to gently present DDD's and the like to the finicky carp...
well that didnt happen, the carp were nowhere to be found feeding on the surface. Fortunately, Vaalkop's barbel were still there
I decided to stick with fly but to rather change to the heaver 6/7 weight i scratched up from the back of the garage. It had some random reel and some random sinking line on. I tied on an eight foot 40lb mono leader and the biggest fly I had. We found a barbel within minutes, and Rudolph gave me the opportunity to 'dip' it.
The dip technique involves literally dipping your lure onto a 'sleeping' barbels whiskers. Not its head, not its cheek, its whiskers, right in front of it. Accuracy and stealth are paramount. Fortunately, my fly gently drifted down PRECISELY in the centre of the barbels mouth, and just when I thought it wasnt going to react, it engulfed the fly. I lifted the rod and the barbel bolted for the deep. VAS PAPPA!
man, how I regret not taking gloves with... fly line burns fingers.. nevermind the backing, holy moly! being such oooold line, it came out curly and wrapped up into clumps. Thankfully Rudolph managed to get them out before they jammed in the guides.. anyway here's some pics
this guy was a real slugger, and he absolutely refused to show himself... I knew my knots were good and on seing some bubbles, I really started pulling to the limits of the tackle
initially, this just upset him more, and after three or four more powerful runs, mr barbel made his boat side premier
'glug glug glug'
on netting, we realized he was bigger than he looked when I hooked him. That, or he ate the barbel I hooked
On the scale, he went to 10.3kg... a new personal best barbel on any tackle, my first over the 10kg mark and on fly to boot!
he measured 116cm
Further down the bank I managed to hook a smallish carp on by casting a black soft plastic tadpole at it. It dived straight into and dragged my line through some weeds. The hooked pulled a minutes later, no doubt due to the strain placed on the line earlier in the fight.
Rudolph also managed his first two barbel on fly!
His first one came straight after I landed mine, I gave him the rd and it was a repeat performance
6.52kg and 92cm long. A fine first barbel on fly!
I persisted with carp, but to no avail. The Owner hooked and landed a 4.4kg barbel, but not after it very nearly stripped the reel of all its line and backing. It was a real screamer, taking that amount of line in one mad dash into the middle of the dam. After that, it basically came in upside down. Still a great fight and awesome display of speed and power.
Thats pretty much it, other than us seeing hordes of big blue kurper, a lot of them even jumping clear of the water... next summer Vaalkop is gonna be a kurper mecca. Oh yes and we also saw a sick makriel swimming along the edge of some rocks. It looked like it had a wound or infection on its side.
Thanks again to Droomvanger and The Owner for facilitating the trip, it was a great day out on the water!
