It is unfortunate that more and more fresh water venues in and around South Africa are polluted every day! A worried Marius Matthee distributed a letter to our angling club this week and I thought I’d share his observations at Arabie dam. Below I’ve translated the letter for our english readers, the original letter as it was written in Afrikaans is posted below the photo.

Pollution big headache in fishing paradise

2011/08/12 07:45:00 AM
My husband and I are fresh water anglers.

We recently visited Arabie dam, 30km from Marble Hall and are very concerned. We went out on boat and noticed that the water had a red colour. There was an awful smell and dead snails everywhere. We mainly targeted carp and was surprised to catch two carp with inflated bellies (see photo). Upon further investigation we realised that all intestines had a white colour and that almost no bleeding occurred.

I would like to know if any preventative measures are taken or if the same thing is going to happen as at Loskop dam.

Where Arabie is an angling paradise at the moment, it could quickly turn into an angling nightmare. I’m almost sure the fish will die in this dam.

Besoedeling groot kopseer in dié paradys

2011/08/12 07:45:00 AM
My man en ek is varswaterhengelaars.

Ons was onlangs by Arabie-dam so 30 km van Marble Hall af en is nou baie bekommerde hengelaars. Ons was met ‘n boot op die water en het gemerk dat die hele dam se water ‘n rooi kleur het.

Die water het ook gestink en oral langs die oewer het daar hope dooie slakke gelê. In die water was ook oral slakke. Die water was party oggende vriesend koud.

Ons het karps gehengel en groot was ons verbasing toe ons twee karps uittrek wat boepens magies gehad het (sien foto). Ons het die karps se pense oopgesny om te kyk of hulle absesse het.

Ek weet nou nie veel van visse se binnegoed nie, maar ek dink die twee wit sakkies in die vis moet sy longe wees. Wel die was vol water en daar was ook amper niks bloederigheid in die vis se binnegoed nie. Dit was alles wit.

Ek sal graag wou weet of daar iets gedoen word om die besoedeling in daardie dam te verhoed en of dieselfde gaan gebeur wat in Loskop-dam gebeur het.

Waar dit nou ‘n hengelparadys is gaan dit beslis ‘n hengelnagmerrie word. Ek is baie seker dat die vis ook gaan vrek in daardie dam.

During the first weekend of May 2010 we had the opportunity to fish the dam of Kolobe Bush Retreat on invite by Nico Hulst.

Kolobe Bush Retreat

Kolobe is situated in Modimolle (previously known as Nylstroom), on the Rietspruit river. The resort is excellent for bass fishing and signs of a healthy echo system is evident.

We set up camp on the Friday evening. It was just a day or two after full moon and the weather was pleasant. The sky was clear and there was almost no wind. After we had a cup of instant soup we were ready for a short “power nap” before we were to catch the big ones.

At half past 4 I woke up. Andre must have heard me shift the mattress in my tent and no later I heard him say : “OK lets start building those rigs”. It was only after we had the water boiling for a cup of coffee that we realized how early it actually was. Non the less we started building a few rigs for the big carp. Apart from bass the dam also holds some carp, including ghost carp and dwarf carp as well as barbel.

Preparing our rigs

Before dawn our lines were in. Since we fished for the bigger carp and had bait to match (tigernuts and boilies) there was no need to change our lines throughout day so we spent the rest of our day doing some bass fishing.

Bass fishing from the bank

I caught a few bass in my life, as you might have see on previous posts, but probably mostly by luck, rather than knowledge or technique.

We tried many different kinds of spinner and top water baits which only produced some knocks. It was only later the afternoon after meeting a friend of Nico and professional bass angler, Andrew, that we started pulling them out. Andrew himself caught the first one.

Andrew with the first catch for the day

By following Andrew’s advise I managed to pull out 4 hand sized bass. Andrew had a few more catches, including a larger bass as well as a crab who found the bait interesting or perhaps enticing.

Following Andrew's advice I caught a few of these

Baby largemouth bass

This is not a fish?

Andre got his camera into the water but it miraculously survived and we are able to have a post with pictures. Andre’s wife, Michelle joined us. They made a lekker potjie so we had food for the rest of the weekend.

Potjiekos

All and all this was a great weekend. Unfortunately we were unable to catch any carp but we learned a lot about bass fishing. We found Kolobe to be a great destination not just because of its fishing possibilities but also because of the tranquility of the bushveld. Each camping site has enough space so the atmosphere is different than what you’d have at some of the larger dams.

Keep an eye on our site as we will soon be giving you the chance to win a break away to Kolobe Bush Retreat. Information on how you could become one of our lucky winners will follow in our next few posts.

Last week I got myself a new bass rod which I tried out over the weekend.

Because of the fact that we camped as a group my time for fishing was relatively limited, but I did manage to fish a few hours during the Saturday morning and afternoon.

When I got to the dam on the Saturday morning I was pleasantly surprised by the neat grass banks surrounding the waters. Although the dam was not very big it wasn’t exactly small either. Fishing is allowed on the one side only, but if you are practised you’ll be able to cast almost anywhere in the dam.

Early morning at Weesgerus Dam

I’ve course I tried fishing for bass but I also had my two other rods set up just for in case…

It took me almost 2 hours of sweat and hard work to reel in my first fish, a very small Bass which I caught on artificial lure in the form of a Rapala.

First small bass

And then came the rain… Once again I was caught in a storm next to the waters, sitting under a small grass cover, waiting for the wind to blow the clouds over so that I could cast in again. After about an hour I had another bite on the Rapala. This time it was a Kurper who made sure for some excitement.

Kurper on a Rapala

Unfortunately we had to leave early the Sunday morning so my fishing trip ended with only two fishes for the weekend, but luckily I could prove that even though the one I caught was very small, there are definitely Bass in the dam at the Weesgerus Holiday resort.