Good carp run at Albert Falls
Albert Falls is having a good run of carp at the moment for the conventional anglers catching plenty in the range of 2-6kg. There was a report of a carp in excess of 12kg picked up in the deeper area of the dam.
This shows that if you want the bigger fish, you need to fish deeper and further out. These bigger fish are being caught mainly on specimen kit. Inanda has been producing brilliant fish over the last week for the specimen guys, catching a lot of fish in the deeper parts of the damn between 11 and 15kg. If you are worried about your sinker and your hook sitting too close to one another when you cast, use PVA mesh which is the length of your hook link (considering the hook link is not too long) and load it with feed. Include your weight into your mesh, tie a knot above your sinker and hook your hook into the bottom of the mesh. The new Mustad BBS Carp hooks will be perfect for this application without the worry of your rig having any ugly snags in the mesh. A good thing to remember about handling the bigger carp is not too pick them up for too long out of the water. Having your hand under the stomach area puts huge pressure on the vital organs and often can damage the carp where the anglers cannot see. This is why if taking the carp out of the water, it should be done so in the gentlest manner possible, weighed on a weigh mat, a quick photo and then back in the water. This will keep both the fish and angler very happy.
There have been plenty of big bass coming out recently at Inanda Dam on a variety of soft plastics heavily weighted and pulled quickly along the floor. The darker colours seem to be working well such as June Bug and the McArthy Wazza colour. Anglers using these colours from the side are rigging them Texas Rig, which uses a standard bullet head sinker free running from the hook and up a short leader stopping at a swivel. This rig allows the plastic to be thrown very far and also get to the bottom of the dam very quickly. Some anglers are putting a small glass bead between the sinker and the hook, giving a new sound and vibration element to the action of the worm. To get this sound element, a quick jerk every 2 or 3 rotations of the handle on your reel will pull the sinker quickly back into the bead, thus creating a ‘tick’ noise.
There are the usual big fish coming out at Albert Falls on deep diving crank baits in the deepest areas of the dam. There are also reports of anglers catching good fish using a wacky rig. These anglers are using Chinu style hooks through a ring around the centre of a 5 inch dark coloured worm. This is a good method if you are able to fish from a boat. Nagle is producing a lot of smaller fish at the moment with lots of juveniles around. We are pleased to report that after the heatwave of December, the January rains around Pietermaritzburg and up in the midlands have increased flows and brought water temperatures down - good news for trout. While the warmer water is (apparently) great for bass, I couldn't even tempt a bass in the 24 degrees Celsius water over December.
Twitter - @kingfisherdaiwa @SportswaveAndre
There have been plenty of big bass coming out recently at Inanda Dam on a variety of soft plastics heavily weighted and pulled quickly along the floor. The darker colours seem to be working well such as June Bug and the McArthy Wazza colour. Anglers using these colours from the side are rigging them Texas Rig, which uses a standard bullet head sinker free running from the hook and up a short leader stopping at a swivel. This rig allows the plastic to be thrown very far and also get to the bottom of the dam very quickly. Some anglers are putting a small glass bead between the sinker and the hook, giving a new sound and vibration element to the action of the worm. To get this sound element, a quick jerk every 2 or 3 rotations of the handle on your reel will pull the sinker quickly back into the bead, thus creating a ‘tick’ noise.
There are the usual big fish coming out at Albert Falls on deep diving crank baits in the deepest areas of the dam. There are also reports of anglers catching good fish using a wacky rig. These anglers are using Chinu style hooks through a ring around the centre of a 5 inch dark coloured worm. This is a good method if you are able to fish from a boat. Nagle is producing a lot of smaller fish at the moment with lots of juveniles around. We are pleased to report that after the heatwave of December, the January rains around Pietermaritzburg and up in the midlands have increased flows and brought water temperatures down - good news for trout. While the warmer water is (apparently) great for bass, I couldn't even tempt a bass in the 24 degrees Celsius water over December.
Twitter - @kingfisherdaiwa @SportswaveAndre