As social anglers we are groomed from a very young age to target only the biggest fish where possible, forgetting the entertainment value that comes with targeting smaller fish.

Two weeks ago we visited a lodge near Roodeplaat dam, this was not a fishing trip but we decided to pack our gear, just in case… The lodge had a small pond and to the amusement of the other guests we decided to test our fishing skills, or lack thereof (after three or four beers) at the local water hole. We broke some records…

When you find the time to fish on a “strictly-no-fishing” holiday, you might consider the possibility that you are now one of an elite group of people who are truly and utterly addicted to a sport that through no fault of your own can consume much of your time! Wives, girlfriends, family members and pets had to take a backseat as we had to feed this addiction with the hours, minutes and seconds it required from us! Although we were on two separate vacations, Willem and myself managed to catch various species ranging from rock cod, to barracuda to bream. We attached a few photos below for your enjoyment!

I recently had the opportunity to hunt on a private game farm. These opportunities do not present themselves often and I grabbed it with both hands, leaving the office earlier than usual Friday afternoon. Saturday morning we stalked some Waterbuck to no prevail and I decided to target a “Cone head” (more commonly refered to as a Rooihartbees). With a succesful mornings hunting session behind us, I decided to wait at a watering hole for some warthogs. This of course is a time consuming exercise and the activity of the barbel in the shallows soon had me searching for the fishing rod at the back of my bakkie. Unfortunately a spoon is not the best lure to use when a lot of water grass is present and it was soon back to sitting…scouting…waiting, wishing I remembered my tackle box.

Hours passed before we spotted the elusive pig, my fishing problems suddenly something of the past. That night, with a Rooihartbees, a few impalas, a warthog and waterbuck in the freezer, a camp fire going and a castle lager in hand, I thanked God once again that we can call ourselves sons of Africa.

It is with great pride and joy that we announce that South Africa became the world carp championship winners for a fourth time. Congratulations to all our anglers in Italy. Twenty three countries participated and this is a tremendous achievement!

To read more, download the2011 Result Accouncement SRSA file.

Beeld reported this morning that a man was arrested because of the illegal import and distribution of Chinese grass carp. I translated the original article for our English readers.

A man appeared in court because of the illegal import of Chinese grass carp. He sold and released some of the fish into local farm dams.

Mr. Deon Erasmus (43), a resident of Pretoria was arrested in the region of Middelburg Mpumalanga, while releasing the fish into a local dam.

Mr. Francois Roux, aquatic scientist of the Mpumalanga park and tourism agency (MPTA), stated that Chinese grass carp released in local rivers and dams can be devastating to ecosystems.

The MPTA themselves use Chinese grass carp as biological control agents to manage water grass, but they do so with strict controls in place. The Chinese grass carp used by government are sterile and can therefore not breed naturally.

Roux stated that grass carp released within local water systems can cause an ecological disaster. One fish can eat the equivalent of its body weight, some fish weighing up to 40 kg.

Roux and members of the police was informed of a man from Pretoria that imported grass carp from Israel, apparently he sold the fish for R50.00 per fish to local farmers. The MPTA sell sterile grass carp equipped with microchips at R150.00 per fish.

The police confiscated 155 grass carp and the containers they were transported with.

Erasmus was released on bail of R1000.00 and will appear in court on 23 September

You can read the original article as written by Beeld here

Our last few fishing trips didn’t work out as planned and I blanked quite a few times. So the past weekend it was back to the drawing board and I decided to focus on one particular venue. Saturday morning I met Willem at Roodeplaat dam and rigged up with the usual carp bait. Unfortunately fishing is one of those sports that can become really frustrating at times and you just have to persist with the tried and tested methods or work out where to improve your game. With the morning not producing any fish we decided to be pro active and practice our casting techniques. Lately I’ve been holding my rod above my head instead of to the right in order to improve my accuracy. This technique works great and with the improved distance reached by changing to a thinner 10lbs main line, I should one of these days hook into a few fish again.

We should also consider that we have been fishing during very cold conditions and that techniques followed in warmer seasons do not necissarily work during the colder months. For instance, the past weekend it snowed in the South of South Africa causing water tempreatures to drop considerably. With the colder conditions our ground feed didn’t bliss as it was perhaps supposed to and hook baits stayed on longer. When you are struggeling to catch any fish you should always consider all the factors and attempt to improve where you are lacking in skill, take the time , really think about what you are doing wrong and keep on trying.

The past weekend we decided to go to the hunting and fishing expo at the Pretoria show grounds and was suprised with the number of people attending, especially when you consider the amount of rain that fell Saturday morning. Gilbert Foxcroft was more than willing to share a few secrets and the team from Atoom baits also managed to capture our interest.

I must admit that the show in it’s entirety was a dissapointment, there was only a few fishing stands and no real demonstrations to talk about. Past shows captured the imagination with lure demonstrations, talks on the latest equipment and loads of competitions to pick and choose from. I was however informed that there is an upcoming expo at Gallagher Estate which might explain the small amount of exhibitors. Hopefully the next expo will be of a higher quality.

In our previous posts we mentioned that we were about to fish at a small farm dam that was unknow to us both and wrote a bit about the preparation of a basic ground bait that we used. Something that became clear this weekend is that a successful fishing session often relies on your adaptability and attention to detail in the amount of time you spent next to the water.

We arrived at the beautiful venue 9:30 am Saturday morning and prepared a small fishing spot of about 3 metres in diameter in a part of the dam that seemed reasonably deep. We also interrogated a farm workers named Frans as he walked past and quickly had some valuable information on the best fishing spots and the type of bait to used. Willem made good use of the information provided and caught a few barbel on earth worms before I landed my first fish. It seemed that our initial strategy to target carp during the day wasn’t working because of the large number of predatory fish such as barbel and bass in the dam and it became clear that we had to change our strategy if we wanted to have a successful session. We adapted our strategy and moved to one of the locations pointed out by Frans and changed our hook baits to earth worms. Our fishing tempo increased and we had to venture out onto the water on more than one occasion during the night to land fish between the reeds.

When fishing at an unknown venue it is important to remember that your planned strategy will not necessarily work. Local knowledge is invaluable and you should be able to adapt to the unforseen circumstances.

This comming weekend we will be fishing at a new venue and we decided to write a few posts on the preparation that is done when venturing into the unknown. We will start with an explanation on the groundbait that is used and then move on to topics such as hook baits, rigs, strategies and target areas. The dam we are fishing at this weekend is a small farm dam that is rearly fished and hosts a variety of fish species such as carp, barbel and bass. We will mainly be targeting carp and barbel while keeping ourselves busy with some bass fishing during the quiet periods.

Because the dam is rearly fished it is important to keep the groundbait as natural and flavour free as possible. When fishing at an unknown venue it is wise to attract fish with natural groundbait and slowly introduce flavours as you experiment and become more confident in the flavours that are working. A good groundbait to use at a new venue is a mixture of mielie pips (maize) and a ready-to-use-just-add-water groundbait such as popcorn, manufactured by MG Baits. Because we are unfamiliar with the feeding patterns and structures at the venue, it is a good idea to make sure that our groundbait consists of particles of different sizes and textures. This will ensure a groundbait with particles floating at different levels, increasing our chances of attracting more fish.

Read more about how to prepare a basic groundbait on our How to prepare a basic groundbait mixture for carp fishing page. This page will provide you with a step-by-step guide on how to prepare a basic groundbait.

At the best of times fishing becomes difficult when it’s raining. Temperatures drop and natural food is in abundance. Rain can easily affect a fishing session and it’s often necessary to change your strategy if you want to avoid the dreaded blank. So what do we do when the rain comes pouring down?

With the drop in temperature fish will often move to shallower water and it might be worth your while to move your target area and use natural baits such as earth worms. Inflows to your fishing area are worth considering since predatory fish such as barbel becomes more active in these areas when it’s raining. This is because of the natural food flowing downstream. It is important to note that fish species such as carp will become less active in the colder weather and that overfeeding should be avoided.

On a recent trip to Bon Accord dam, the rain was pouring down and fishing was hard but we managed to catch a barbel and a few small carp by changing our strategy. You can read more about the trip in our Bon Accord fishing at the start of 2011 post.