Free State Dams

Womens SA Championships at Bloemhof dam

The past weekend me and Andre took the long road to Bloemhof dam where the SA’s for the ladies are currently in progress.

I wouldn’t exactly describe fishing as a spectator sport and indeed no spectators are allowed near the competitors during the competition but we had a quick visit to the Bloemhof dam a few days before the competition started.

A few days before the competition are used for practising and testing different baits. Younger people who never had the chance to learn about fishing are also introduced to the sport during this time. The National Lottery sets apart some money for developing the different South African sports and angling is no exception. I am not sure how this works and who gets chosen for development but this blog is about fishing and not politics.

We fished the Bloemhof dam on Sunday morning and in the two hours we had before we had to hit the road back home again we caught a total of 8 fish, which mainly consisted of muddies and small grass carps. The muddies definitely likes the sweet stuff, but this is no secret for those who fished for muddies before. Upon changing to stronger flavours we started catching grass carps. Bloemhof dam is a beautiful large dam just outside Bloemhof. It has plenty of fish and although the road from Gauteng is a long one and they currently have three stop-and-go’s just before Bloemhof, it is definitely worth visiting!




Man drown during fishing trip to the Vaaldam

Andre Joubert drowned Sunday afternoon near Villiers while swimming in the Vaaldam. Around 11:00 Andre posted the following status update on Facebook: “Sitting next to the vaal catching sum AWSUM sized fish!!!!!!!!!!!!! couldn’t be betta!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”. An hour later he drowned.

We post this article to once again stress the importance of safety at our fishing venues. Please be careful. Soos die bekende afrikaanse spreekwoord lui: “Liewers bang Jan as dooie Jan”.

To read the original article as it was written by Beeld, click here