Will & Dre

To say the least, our fishing trips the past weekend didn’t go according to plan. My leave for Friday was approved, the tigernuts and boilies prepared and Rietvlei and Ifafi was just around the corner! In my mind I was preparing myself for a 15 kilo carp, ‘n lekker braai, helping Willem with a few 15 kilos of his own and an early morning drive to Ifafi. So what went wrong?? I left Johannesburg friday morning and arrived at Rietvlei dam at approximately 12 pm, I greeted the man at the gate and communicated my intentions to stay for the night. He in turn gave me an irretated look and rudely explained that I have to phone in advance to book an overnight stay. Calmly explaining that I never had to book in advance before, he gave me another irretated look, wrote down my details, mumbling, mumbling that people can’t just arrive expecting a fishing spot without booking. Driving through the gates not really phased by his obvious foul mood I thought to myself that booking in advance wouldn’t help in any case, there is no stand number in sight anywhere and as far as I know they do not reserve requested spots for anglers. So what do you book or reserve??? I actually think you book nothing, you phone just to say you have booked and if you have booked and there is no more fishing spots available, tough luck!

All this way talking to myself and having a look around I notice a rather surprising new addition to the dam , it’s “fenced” in (if you can call it fenced in!!!!). Thoughts are racing throug my mind, WHEN, HOW , WHY?? After 5 minutes of struggeling with this thought, I can’t come up with any plausible reason or use and decide to throw in the towel. So if anyone knows why this “fence” was errected, please drop me a comment or an email because the suspence is killing me!!

New fence around Rietvlei dam

With this little addition to Rietvlei dam working it’s magic on my frown lines I drive towards the other side of the dam wondering if the spot I’m looking for would still be available. Altough this is a friday afternoon, there is already a few people next to dam and I’m starting to worry! I had a discussion with Willem earlier the week and we both decided that the spot right across the famous island at Reitvlei dam would be perfect! This spot is famous for delivering 10 to 22 kg carps and excitement almost got the better of me as I arrived and realized that availability was 100%!

The island at Reitvlei dam

Appart from the snag experienced at the gate, everything seemed to go according to plan. All that was left to do is to warn Willem about the new make-a-reservation policy, prepare my rods and land that 15 kilo! Willem is just as surprised to hear about this new policy and phone just to be informed that he will not be allowed because a reservation have to be made at least a WEEK in advance! Being software developers and all, our negotiating skills is top notch and Willem skillfully negotiate his way into the reserve by stating that I am already inside. With this little problem out of the way, ignoring the bunch of “dam duikers” to my left and my judgement clouded by excitement I setup everyting needed for those carps I’m targeting, not once thinking of the bottom and structures of our fishing spot.

My setup for those big Rietvlei dam carps

Notice the knotless landing net in the image above, always remember to keep fish safety in mind when fishing, especially for those big carps.

Everything was still going according to plan, three hair rigs loaded with tigernuts, mielies/maize and boilies was prepared and placed at approximately 40, 60 and 70m respectively. Keep in mind that a big misconception is that the big carps in Rietvlei dam can only be found 100 to 150m in, this is not true as the majority of carps between 9 and 20 kg are caught at a distance of 40 to 60m.

So with a few appetizers in the water, I realised that I never had a “look” at what the bottom of the dam felt like. I quickly prepared one of my rods with a 65 gram lead weight and had a go! I was overcome with horror when I got stuck, not once, not twice but three times. Loads and loads of grass and silt came out and this when I only has a 65 gram lead weight attached at the end of my line!!!! Preparing myself for the worst I started reeling in my other lines, stuck, stuck and stuck! This was not a good sign at all, Rietvlei dam is notorious for it’s blanks and with this much grass and silt in the water our chances to catch anything was declining even more! So I quickly packed up everything, it was only 14:30 and there was still time to find a decent spot! Driving around I finally found what looked like clear water, but was quickly informed by one of the people camping to the right that they were holding the spot for someone else. This was enough! My blood reached a point that was probably close to the heat of a small star but I kept my cool and informed them that I just wanted to take a few photo’s.

While taking a few more photo’s I realising the people that informed me so “politely” that they are keeping the spot for their friends didn’t even have a single rod in the water and was half way throught a case of beer. And the thought again crossed my mind – what is the use of booking a week in advance if the people that is already at the dam is clearly doing what they want in any case! I phoned Willem and told him not to waste his time, I would simply take some photo’s to update our readers and be on my way back to Johannesburg! So a drove around and here is what you can expect…

Grass…

Grass at Rietvlei dam

Silt…

Silt at Reitvlei dam

and a combination of grass and silt…

Conditions at Reitvlei dam

I used to love fishing at Rievlei dam but with the combination of rude people, ever increasing “Dam duikers” (People thats only there to get drunk and play loud music) and bad fishing conditions, I can’t see myself wasting time at this already difficult venue any time soon! All I can say is that I am extremely dissapointed in Rietvlei dam and their management.