A Smallmouth bass festival of note, enjoy the pics……

We’ve been dying to get back to the Smallmouth Capital of South Africa Clanwilliam since our last successful visit there in November. The opportunity arose when the venue for the final Leg of the BFSA Kickboat Trail was announced and being one of the sponsors we thought we should show our face at least once in the season.

So we arrived there on Saturday with our wives and were greeted by a very different looking Clan. Only being about 15% full the Rondegat Bay that we enjoy fishing was completely gone. It however afforded us the opportunity to take note of rock piles and rocky drop-offs for when we return in October….Oh and the island makes a nice 4×4 trail too!

Rondegat Full

Rondegat Empty

Saturday:
A cold front was making its way through with a very breezy NW blowing strongly. We manned up and hit Colletta Cove for 2 hours or so in the late afternoon. Fishing was really tough in these conditions and only managed two dinkysorous ‘ (very small fish).

Coldfront dinkysorous

Sunday:
Up early for the start of the BFSA Kickboat competition. We all met at Colletta Cove while it was still dark and we were on the water by 6:45. I was one of the last to hit the water and really had no plan of action. I paddled around in circles like a duck with one foot trying to decide where to go and eventually decided to head across from the launch. The banks were featureless but I knew that Clan is full of underwater rock piles, you just have to find them. ( A good way to find rock piles if you don’t have any electronics it to use a mojo rig. You can feel everything on the bottom with this rig.) Anyway, as I got there I saw in the distance Hayden landing his first fish from the shallows. 2 hours later I gave up on the shallows and moved a short distance away from the bank and managed my first fish, a dinkysorous in about 10ft of water.

I tried a bit deeper and at 10am I made up my mind to go back over to the other bank as my mates had picked up some fish there, just as I started moving I got hit really hard. Put the lure back and got hit again, this time a very feisty 1.5kg smallie found itself in my livewell. Next cast fish on again, a fish of about 1kg. I finally had bag. This was all happening in 25ft of water. It’s not often you find yourself fishing this deep and it was new territory for me, especially on a float tube. Anyway,I knew I had found a good spot and spent the rest of the comp in this area. My mates joined me and we caught a good number of fish from this spot and I managed to replace my smaller fish with another 1.5kg and 1.6kg fish respectively (Bigget fish of the comp). Giving me a final 3 fish bag of 4.42kgs all smallies, enough to win it! Whoop Whoop!

My two biggest fish	Robs two biggest fish
The Biggest fish of the comp 1.6kgs	Note the cool rod holder, available soon!
Some of Robs awesome smallies
Gerhard’s fish good for 2nd place. Well Done!
Haydens fish – 3rd Place. Well Done	My winning bag of Smallies
All the competitors

The Top 6 Finishers were as follows:

1.   Ryan (Me) – 4.420kg’s – Whoop Whoop!
2.   Gerhard – 3.896kg’s
3.   Hayden – 3.600kg’s
4.   Rob Holst– 3.562kg’s
5.   Malcolm – 3.400kg’s
6.   Andrew – 2.274kg’s

It is worth noting that 3 of the top 4 were fishing off Froggy V-Crafts… Just saying.

That evening we bank-bashed a bit and I got another good fish of around 1.5kgs on a CBC rigged watermelon Fluke.

1.5KG odd to end the day!

We looking forward to returning to clan when it is full again.

Please remember they taste better when they are released.

This weekend (15 April) sees the Final Leg of the BFSA Kick Boat trail, taking place at the Kingdom of Smallmouth bass,  Clanwilliam.

Autumn has hit us here in the Cape so we expecting some exciting fishing  with the fish sensing the change and actively feeding on baitfish, fattening up for the cold winter months.

It’s a very relaxed comp and even though it’s likely that a bag full of Largemouth bass will win it, all I wanna catch are those smallies.

Where on the dam the comp will be held has not yet been decided. With clan only being at 17% full   access to the water is tricky. It will possibly be in Coletta Cove.

Come and join in the fun. For more info checkout these links:

• BFSA Kick Boat Trail rules
• BFSA Kickboat Trail Clan Leg Discussion

Some fish that have come out of Clan in the recent months:

See you there.

Whenever  it’s raining outside, or my wife won’t let me go fishing (very very rare), or the night before a fishing trip, I grab some biltong, lay on the couch and watch my favourite Bass fishing DVD: Bigmouth Forever (by Glen Lau). It was filmed ages ago, probably late 80′s, I’m not entirely sure but is arguably the best bass fishing DVD you will ever see. It is the second film, the first being entitled “Bigmouth”. I haven’t seen this one but apparently just as awesome even though it was filmed in the 70′s.

The venue (Silver Springs, Florida) this film was shot at is simply bass fishing paradise. The water in this river is a constant 22 degrees all year round and after being filtered through limestone rock enters the river via underground springs. For this reason the water is Gin clear and teaming with monster bass.

Anyway I have put together a few clips of my favourite scenes from the DVD, enjoy.

Scene One – The opening Act
You’d be forgiven if you think this has been edited in studio but the scene is legit. Notice how the bass completely ignore the spinner bait, but as soon as a worm hits the water it gets hammered. Gives me goose bumps and a wicked urge to go fishing.

Scene Two – Spit it out
This scene is a real eye opener. Watch how the bass inhale and eject lures in an instant. Often the angler is unaware this has even occurred.

Scene Three – School is out
There are two different types of bass, one that likes to hangout on their own, sticking close to structure and the other a little more gregarious that hang out in large schools cruising around looking for food. Wouldn’t mind coming across a school of smallmouth bass at Clanwilliam Dam on my float tube that’s for sure.

If you wanna get yourself a copy I’m sure your local tackle shop should have it, you may have to phone around or buy it online: http://www.glenlau.com/products.htm

Apparently there is an anniversary addition now available. Going to get myself a copy asap:

The Bass Challenge offers a platform for bass anglers in the Gauteng area who fish from float tubes, kick boats, pontoon boats, kayaks, inflatables and small bass boats to compete socially in a stress free environment. For more information and to join in the fun please visit http://www.basschallenge.co.za/

Brent Webber owner of Blue Water Gear and regular competitor in the Bass Challenge sent us this article and pictures of his experience at Leg 2 of the event held at Klerkskraal dam in Gauteng this past weekend.

Thanks for the article Brent!

After my previous dismal attempt at Leg1 of the Bass Challenge @ Boskop on the 28th January 2012, where I caught a single Largie of 0,44kg, I was in need of a strategy change. I am by nature a Power fisherman and very reluctant to change my style during a comp, even if it is not working. So my strategy for leg 2 of the Bass Challenge @ Klerkskraal dam was simple; fish my way for at least an hour, and if nothing came of it force myself to stop and re-think my strategy. Of course the day I finally have my head straight the power fishing was on and my discipline never got called into action. I’ll  have it ready to rumble for Leg 3 @ Nigel dam on the 17th March 2012.

Friday night packing and getting the BWG (Blue Water Gear) sponsored prizes ready took majority of the night, thankfully the BWG Sponsored youth Jordan Winslow was around to help get things sorted. A mere 3 hours of sleep and being the die hard fisherman that I am, when the alarm went off I was up like a rocket.

We hooked up the Tug10 and made our way to Klerkskraal dam. We reached the dam at 6:20am and it was a hive of activity with guys registering and getting their boats and float tubes ready. It was nice to catch up with mates and customers over a cup of coffee and some hot cross buns.

6:50am and the comp was underway. I am one of those guys that enjoys time with his family, and when I get the opportunity to spend some valuable time with my lady of my life I grab it with both hands. Luckily for me my wife Lucinda Webber fishes the Bass Challenge with me and we fish from a Tug10.

7:20am  Luci landed her first bass ever. Weighing in at a feisty 0,480kg she was uber excited and very proud of herself. I must say, seeing the excitement in someone’s face when catching their first bass is something to behold. Into the live-well it went. By now I knew that she was hooked on this bass fishing idea.

Before leaving our first spot, Luci had two fish and I had one. Not that the one that I had was anything to write home about, I don’t even think it broke the 0,100kg mark. But hey, a fish in the well is a fish in the well.

We proceeded around to the dam wall and spent a good hour around this area, but not even a single tap. I knew that by now with the heat, the fish were deeper and under cover. So we moved to my favourite spot on Klerkskraal which is covered with lekker grass. We spent the majority of our day here.

We fished suspending cranks and texas rigged BWG prototype Craw-Baits. Between the two of us we picked up 10 additional fish. I upgraded a few of my smaller dinks thankfully.

Unfortunately one of Luci’s dinks had turned by the time we got to the weigh-in. However she weighed in a healthy 0,950kg of fish and earned herself 73 points in the Bass Challenge for the day. I weighed in a bag of 2,02kg’s and earned myself 91 points for the day.

Everyone got into some fish. Very few lunkers showed up, however Nico Mathee (BWG Pro-Staffer) landed himself a nice 2,2kg piggy using BWG Maji Kamba Braided. 10 minutes before this he had lost a monster using Fluoro Carbon. With Maji Kamba he has the confidence to drag piggy’s out of the thickest of thick.

Some of the float tubers taking part in the KBBC series:

Well done to Juan Cambrinck for taking 1st place in the SBBC series and Magnus Beukman for taking 1st place in the KBBC series

BWG  Sponsored prizes for both series, SBBC and KBBC 1st, 2nd and 3rd place, and Nabana Lodge in Hazyview also sponsored weekend getaway vouchers.

Be on the lookout for Leg3’s report back which will be taking place on the 17th March 2012 at Nigel Dam.

Current BWG Team:

From Left to right: Nico Mathee (Pro-Staffer), Tristan Wood (Pro-Staffer), Jordan Winslow (BWG Youth Bass Fishing Initiative), Brent Webber (BWG Owner) & Lucinda Webber (Owner)

Garreth returns to Clanwilliam dam and continues his great form with some great fish caught off of his float tube…

Thanks for the great article Garreth!

After last weekends great success and the fact that I was told my next offshore trip had been postponed I thought what better opportunity to get back to Clan! I got my mate Eric to join me.

After arriving and setting up camp we headed out onto the water. Not even 5 minutes later Eric was into a nice Largie, being his first time on a float tube and Clan, he was stoked and so was I! Not long after he was into another fish, this time a nice 1.2kg smallie. We fished for a while longer and decided to call it a day at around 8pm.

1.2kg largie

The next morning we were up at 4am and made our way to the far bank at Rondegat. We hit the topwater and I landed 2 keeper smallies within 10mins of being there.What a jol! My 1st ever bass on topwater. It got quiet for a while and we landed 1 or 2 more in the next few hours.

Eric got snapped off by a monster and I got another nice largie of 1.2kgs. We then moved over to the opposite bank where for some reason I felt like there might be a monster in the depths…………..I cast my 12″ curly tail grub and on hitting the water it was smashed by a nice 1.4kg largie.

1.4kg largie

Not even 5 mins later Eric was into a very nice fish but the hook was thrown, I left my grub on the bottom and it was slowly picked up…1…2…3 and STRIKE! I was on! I have never had to hold onto my rod so tight, my knuckles were white lol. We could not weigh this guy as he was going absolutely mental but I am sure he was over 2kgs.This was the end of day 2 and we retired back to our camp.

2kg+ Largie

Day 3 started the same as the day before and Eric was into the biggest smallie of the trip, 1.36kg on topwater.What a great start to the day. He continued to land nice fish.

We carried on fishing hard and were rewarded with a few more fish each. At about lunchtime we headed back to camp and packed up and went home. We were knackered. It was a great weekend away and we cannot wait to do it again!

So this is why you guys go fishing!
by Rob Holst

Most guy anglers know that it’s all but impossible to explain to their other halves what it is exactly that draws them to fishing. What makes them wake up at ridonculous hours of the morning to be the first one at the dam? They see the pictures and hear the stories but they still don’t quite grasp it.

Right, so this is how you explain it to them, in my personal experience.

Off I went to my closest tackle store. Stocked up on the usual plastics and tackle box fillers and to the disbelief of the shop assistant, a bright pink 6ft rod and reel combo.

“I’m going to teach her to fish,” I say to myself, and then she’ll understand.

Next step, organise another floatation vessel. Compliments of Ryan  @ floattubes.co.za I was hooked up with an older  model Froggy pontoon boat. Perfect! Then off to buy flippers. The biggest problem…the lack of colour coordination between the rod, her boat and the flippers.  A slight niggle but we managed to work through that pretty easy.

Right everything packed and off we went to Doordekraal for an afternoon lesson. A perfect hot afternoon with a slight breeze. After getting onto the water and some basic kick boat navigation training, it was time for casting 101. This is where we hit our first wobbly. Flicking a bait up against the bulrushes seems pretty simple  when you’ve been doing it for 15 odd years but to the beginner of any gender it’s not an obvious thing. Remembering this gal had never been on the water nor held a fishing rod in her life.

She was battling. I was trying to remain calm while kicking for both of us into the breeze while at the same time spooling new line onto her combo reel which for some reason, would dump a twisted bunch of line off the front as you attempted to cast. Clearly the combo was a bad idea, even though it was pink.

Kick boat training – Easy	The Gully

By now the sun was falling and prime time was on its way. Time to kick off to my favourite corner. After five more minutes of tangles and despite her best efforts the combo was finally aborted.  I handed over my 10lb wacky rod, changed over to a Texas rig for my girl and within a few casts she was plopping it in the right places.

We pushed into a very weedy corner and she decided she’d hang back a bit for fear of disturbing my fishing (ed. well trained already I see) but hadn’t reversed all of 2 metres and I was onto a good fish from under the weed. She excitedly motor’d over and once I had a nice 1.5’sh kg fish in hand she insisted she touch it…“eeeeeuuuw” kinda describes her reaction…”it’s sooo slimy!”

My 1.5kg Keeper

By then the bug had bit, she wanted to catch one. Pushing further down the gully, five minutes later I had another on, hooked almost under her feet. A real rat I wouldn’t even let her photograph. Now she really wanted one! She pushed ahead of me down the channel and a few casts later had her first bite.  A really sly bite, one of those gentle lethargic pick up and go types. She missed it,  “aaagh too slow…sorry babe, keep trying my girl”.

As the sun was pretty much behind the hill and gone, and only a little twilight remained we headed out of the channel and back toward the car. With a short section of bulrush to fish I said “fish this last section then we’ll go.” With a quick flick she landed a cast in the perfect spot! “Great cast babe” I said as I moved further up. Seconds later, with an almighty scream and much kicking, the tranquillity was shattered, and much of the bird life scared I’m sure. I turned around to see my Shimano Crucial in her hand buckled in half and a decent fish desperately trying to free himself. I was shocked and really excited for her. I think instinct took over as she tussled the largie like a pro, wielding the rod from side to side to  direct the fish as if she had done it all too many times before. I kicked over and lip gripped her first fish ever. A solid fish that even I would’ve been stoked to catch.

Donna’s first Bass….sorry….Fish ever!

I think she was starting to understand this fishing thing. Not happy with that, after composing herself. Her very next cast she plopped her lizard back next to the reeds and got smashed again, unfortunately the hook never stuck this time. But she wasn’t done a few casts later, and with the same, now familiar kicking and screaming,  she was on again! A minute or two of mayhem later she had another great fish in hand and a smile on her face that was priceless.

Donna’s second Bass ever

Awesome effort and great reward for a first time lady angler.

The twilight faded while we kicked our way back to the launch site, as we grabbed our kit and headed back to the car I got my reward…

“I can totally see why you guys do this” she says.

“Mission accomplished” I thought to myself.

ed. well done Donna! Great effort and hope to see you on the water again soon!

Malcom, Andrew and Garreth had another cracker of a trip to Clanwilliam dam in the Western Cape, getting into some really nice smallmouth and largemouth bass.

Thanks again for the article Malcom and the great pics!

Clanwilliam 21 – 23 January 2012 a.k.a The Garreth Show!
Well after Garreth’s first trip to Clanwilliam he had to leave the country to work for a few very long weeks and by the time he got back he had some serious withdrawal symptoms and had to catch some bass. Andrew suggested we hit Clan again before Rondegat dries up. So that’s exactly what we did last weekend while the TWK Classic was on. The whole weekend we didn’t see a single bass boat.

Andrew and myself got to Lebanon around 1pm on Saturday and Garreth was there already. We set up camp, got our tubes pumped up and tackle good to go.
The water level was down to 65% which has exposed the island but there was still some fishing to be done around it. Andrew was the first into a nice size small mouth on crank. We fished the area for a while and then we decided to make a move to the far bank for a few hours before it got dark and then go back to the island and try some top water.

 We got to the other bank and only a few minutes had passed when Andrew was into another bass, I also got one just keeper. Then the next thing Andrew and myself hear is a big splash and a ‘Wooohooo!!!’ from Garreth, he was a bit ahead of us but we could see it was a good large mouth. He landed it just we got there and it was a beast! We took a few photos and then put her on the scale…2.75kg and Garreths new PB. Needless to say he could go home right there and then a very happy man.

After we had pulled ourselves towards ourselves and got back to fishing we picked up bass on regular basis. We had the pattern within an hour, the fishing could be the best we had ever had at Clan. Maybe 30 minutes later Andrew and myself had a replay. But this time it was slightly smaller at 2.55kg, still a great catch.

By now the sun was getting low and we started heading back to camp. Had a braai and got ready for the next day.

Sunday morning bright and early around 4am, had a quick breakfast and did a few trips carrying our stuff to the water. We decided since the far bank was fishing so well we were going to make a day of it. It was cloudy and cool, a welcome relief and a slight breeze at our backs but nothing to worry about. We were getting fish (not a lot) on just about everything from crank to plastics to top water. It was looking good for the day. There was a good class of large mouth out of 1.2kg up to 1.6kg with the odd small mouth in between. Andrew got a good small mouth of 1.68kg on top water.

Around 11am the fishing died down but somehow Andrew was still catching the odd fish. It must have been around 1pm or 2pm when Andrew and myself had a sense of Déjà vu, a splash and a Wooohooo!!! He did it again! Another 2kg large mouth but this time 2.25kg. That fish picked up our spirits.

 We fished the bank a little longer before we hoped back over to the other side but as we were going over the wind was changing direction and was getting stronger and stronger. Longer story short it was the hardest we have ever had to kick to get 1cm forward. It got so bad we ended up pushing our tubes along the bank where we could walk. Luckily as we turned the corner the wind was across us and we could fish again. I was quickly into a 1kg large mouth and so was Andrew. Soon after that I got my biggest for the trip of 1.92kg. Garreth wasn’t going to be left out and got a solid 1.6kg and I followed suit with a 1.6kg of my own.

We kicked back to the island but by then we were gatvol of being blown around and got off the water for a early night. Broken bodies and very sore feet we somehow managed to cook supper and then went to bed.

Monday morning and the alarm goes off at 4am, now I’m thinking not a damn am I getting up I’m still buggered from yesterday so I waited for somebody to make the first move…nobody did. Garreth even slept through 8 minutes of his alarm, that’s how long the song is. We eventually got up around 8am had a quick chow and did some bank bashing up river. I was the only one to land a bass. Garreth had a decent bass but the hook was thrown.

That was that. Another awesome trip with two good friends. Cant wait for the next one.

Ok so in December we took a bit of time off and of course managed to fish a few spots in and around Cape town.

Doordekraal
First up was Doordekraal where  we enjoyed a great afternoons fishing with some nice fish being caught mostly on the wacky rig.

Rob fishing hard and gets rewarded.
A Nice wacky fish

Paarl Farm Dam

Myself and my wife Kim then enjoyed an afternoon  fishing  a farm dam in Paarl.  The fish were really active, jumping out the water and smoking dragonflies that were trying to lay their eggs. All you had to do was wait for a fish to jump, then throw a weightless fluke at the area, wait 2 seconds and fish on.  Exhilarating! We caught 27 fish between the two of us in 4 hours. Many little guys but one or two keepers showed themselves.

For an idea of what we experienced check out these cool photos.

I spent Sunday afternoon at the same venue with a few mates and we nailed them again using similar methods.

Kim with some good fish caught from her Froggy Mini Pontoon.

Western Cape Stream-SmalBlaar Beat 6

Then for a spot of wild trout on the Smalblaar beat 6. What a great day! We hammered the trout on nymph and a few took surface fly. I even managed to get 2 nice smallmouth bass. I let them go, sorry CPS , but smallies are my favourite fish to catch.

Stalking river trout
Nice Smallmouth Bass	One of the many runs on the Smalblaar
Awesome venue	Nymphing a stunning pool

Kwaggas Quickie
Then off to Kwaggaskloof with some friends, the main aim was to ski and wakeboard, but during lunch we dropped in on Smallie Bay for a quick fish. First cast with my jig I got hit, sadly I was sleeping, or trying to open a beer I can’t remember. Had a few good knocks but no commitment, they also kept taking the tail off the trailing grub I was using so I tossed the jig and kept the grub but rigged it mojo and got a very nice hit from a healthy smallie weighing in at around 1KG. It was a good day for fishing as the fish seemed to be very active despite the heat.

How was your december fishing? Please let us know, we would love to hear from you.

Towards the end of October I gathered a posse of mates and invaded Mofam. We all arrived in good spirits at about 530am. From the time we parked the cars to the time we put foot to trolling motor was about 1 minute 30 seconds. The guys were amped, no time for banter.  Talking is for chicks.

We all headed in various directions. Jason and Adrian got towed to a secret spot and apparently hammered the fish there. Jason was so appreciative of this spot that he donated one of his rods to the deep blue as a marker buoy for future reference.

Anyway , I think it was my second cast with a zara spook that I had my first enquiry.  Matt then caught his first fish of the day a few casts later…. and then again…. and then again. That basically was the pattern for the day, I would be net boy.

I didn’t have a most memorable catch but Rob did, in fact he had two. The first one was a nice 1.5 kg largie that took a top water popper that was dangling off the boat. All Rob heard was a boil at the back of the boat and his one rod vibrating ….. Fish on.

The second was a very nice fish of 2.7kg caught on the one and only Wacky rig!

Everyone caught numbers of fish, it was a great day spent on the water. Thanks to all my mates for making it an enjoyable day.

Matt and myself with some good Mofam bass
Adrian and Jason
Chris and Nathan
Llewellyn and Rob with his 1.5kg
2.7kg Wacky!  Nice fish Rob

Ok so it’s not remote  as in “its safe to fish kaalgat” but considering not many people fish the sections we went to, it qualifies. We had to put our new Froggy V-Craft Mudbug Float Tube through its paces and there is no better place to do it than on Clanwilliam. So we organised our wives to join us and we headed there for a mid week break.

Tuesday
Our timing was a bit off weather wise as a few days before there was a serious cold front with reports of snow in the area. Of course the day we arrive it was 35 degrees with not a cloud in the sky and not a breath of wind. Great tanning weather my wife tells me. So we hit Rondegat bay for the afternoon. The water temp was very nippy to say the least with patches of very warm water. Fishing was much tougher than the last time but with patience and a little thought we were rewarded with some nice fish.

Rondegat Bay
Some late afternoon smallies 1.5kg & 1.4kg Respectively
1.6kg Smallie	They taste better when they are released

Wednesday
The morning was spent in the bay again but absolutely nothing for me but Myles landed a nice 1.9kg smallie on a 5 weight fly rod that took a good 10 minutes to subdue.

Myles with some nice early morning fish 1.5kg and 1.9kg respectively
1.6kg & 1.4kg Smallmouth Bass
Tons of smallmouth Fry – Future looks secure	Waiting for that topwater smallie

The rest of the day was spent fishing for river smallies….in the river section. This is where a float tube comes in really handy as you can access water that you will never be able to with a boat, or on foot for that matter. We found a spot that wasn’t fenced off and headed off into the bush with the landy, and came across this really lovely piece of beach were the girls could chill and drink cocktails and we could disappear for a few hours.

The fish where still not really interested but I managed a rat on one of the drifts and lost one in the rapids but it really was a great feeling drifting down the river for about 2kms, fishing spots that not many get to fish, we really enjoyed it, so much so that we did it again the next day.

Clanwilliam Cocktails	Froggy Mudbug ready to river drift.
Heading Out
A rat caught in the channel	Caught in the bay

Thursday
We spent the morning fishing the bay and the fishing was starting to pick up. This is normal for your last days fishing, it’s just one of those things. We picked up some nice smallies before we headed in for breakfast and to pack up.

The afternoon we did the river drift again. We picked up fish fairly regularly. The water is very clear in the river and you can see fish swimming everywhere. Some even swam up to me to check me out. These fish are not interested in anything, you have seen them so they have seen you.

I caught my first proper sized river smallie while drifting in very very shallow fast running water. I did not expect such a nice fish to be cruising in such shallow water but there she was and because it was so shallow she spent a lot of time in the air winning her my “most memorable catch of the trip” award.

Smallies live here.	Most memorable catch of the trip – 1.4KG

Moral of the story, get out there, try new spots, and please, please remember …. they taste better when they are released.