Tilapia biting well in KZN
Carp fishing at Inanda has certainly slowed down over this past week with not many of the smaller fish being caught. Most of these fish seem to be taking a blend of sweet and spicy on Tiger Nut baits.
Sometimes finding the fish can be a bit difficult so fishing as wide as possible with a large feeding area is the best, you must however be careful not to over feed these fish as they have been known to go off the bite in these areas where there is too much food available.
Albert Falls has been producing some good fish with them moving into areas that the dam has slowly started to claim back. These are excellent places to lay feeding areas as the carp are looking for trapped insects among the reeds and grass that would have no doubt grown while the water level was still low. Here a high protein feed with Maggots or Hemp Seed will work exceptionally well to keep the carp interested during the feed.
Nagle Dam is still producing its constant feed of 3-5kg carp with the odd angler getting one or two over the 12kg mark. Fish at Nagle Dam seem to be feeding on garlic flavoured bread bait in the centre of a high protein feeding area, mostly taking baits between 2 and 3 am, so a stay-over trip is a must. The right alarm is a necessity when fishing at night. A lot of dams are currently very low and the campsites can be up to 40m away from the water’s edge. The correct alarm will allow you to hear the fish take off and allow you to get to the rods fast enough to set the hook and begin the fight. Having your alarm too soft can be detrimental to your fishing trip, not hearing the fish on the first run could destroy your chances of hooking up, as we all know carp are incredibly skittish and will drop baits for any reason. So the faster we are to setting the hook, the more chance we have of landing the fish.
Albert Falls is producing some decent bass currently in the deeper areas on load clicking crank baits. The fish at Albert Falls always seem to fall victim to a loud crank bait in the deeper areas. Many bass anglers believe that Albert Falls is home to some of the biggest bass in KZN. This is very possible with us receiving reports of fish over 3kg coming out almost week. The only issue that anglers have with fishing Albert Falls is because it is so deep, the fish often suffer from barotrauma. This is easy to avoid by slowing your retrieve to the boat once the fish is on and using a hypodermic needle to release the air in the swim bladder.
Hazelmere Dam is doing exceptionally well with all the rain we have been having and has risen by a few percent. Anglers have not wasted time by fishing the dam and its new structure as soon as possible. Here fish will be exploring the new found structure in search of food and safety. A weightless fluke flicked between branches or under a tree should yield excellent results. Inanda Dam has been quiet on the bass front with not many huge fish coming out. There is still the odd big fish coming out, but reports are mainly smaller fish between the 1 and 2 kg range. The dam has risen a bit, but fishing from the side is still difficult due to the lack of structure and very weeded up banks.
There are plenty of tilapia around at the moment with anglers having a great deal of fun catching them on fly fishing gear. These fish are incredibly strong for their size and are extremely fun on a fly rod. Anglers have reported these fish being extra aggressive lately and are loving surface flies like the white death and DDD.
Into the Berg now where anglers have been reporting that the winter colours still seem to be working in this hotter weather. Fish are sitting very deep so a sinking line is a must. To get to the bottom faster anglers are using braided sinking tapered leaders. These leaders have a sink element built into them and they drop the fly almost straight to the bottom. The fish will usually be hiding under the weed beds waiting for insects or frogs to fall down the sides, so an angler must be clever, by locating these weed beds, casting alongside them and letting the fly slowly sink to the bottom of the dam. These trout are sitting waiting for an insect to do exactly that.
(File Photo: AFP)
Twitter - @kingfisherdaiwa @SportswaveAndre
Albert Falls has been producing some good fish with them moving into areas that the dam has slowly started to claim back. These are excellent places to lay feeding areas as the carp are looking for trapped insects among the reeds and grass that would have no doubt grown while the water level was still low. Here a high protein feed with Maggots or Hemp Seed will work exceptionally well to keep the carp interested during the feed.
Nagle Dam is still producing its constant feed of 3-5kg carp with the odd angler getting one or two over the 12kg mark. Fish at Nagle Dam seem to be feeding on garlic flavoured bread bait in the centre of a high protein feeding area, mostly taking baits between 2 and 3 am, so a stay-over trip is a must. The right alarm is a necessity when fishing at night. A lot of dams are currently very low and the campsites can be up to 40m away from the water’s edge. The correct alarm will allow you to hear the fish take off and allow you to get to the rods fast enough to set the hook and begin the fight. Having your alarm too soft can be detrimental to your fishing trip, not hearing the fish on the first run could destroy your chances of hooking up, as we all know carp are incredibly skittish and will drop baits for any reason. So the faster we are to setting the hook, the more chance we have of landing the fish.
Albert Falls is producing some decent bass currently in the deeper areas on load clicking crank baits. The fish at Albert Falls always seem to fall victim to a loud crank bait in the deeper areas. Many bass anglers believe that Albert Falls is home to some of the biggest bass in KZN. This is very possible with us receiving reports of fish over 3kg coming out almost week. The only issue that anglers have with fishing Albert Falls is because it is so deep, the fish often suffer from barotrauma. This is easy to avoid by slowing your retrieve to the boat once the fish is on and using a hypodermic needle to release the air in the swim bladder.
Hazelmere Dam is doing exceptionally well with all the rain we have been having and has risen by a few percent. Anglers have not wasted time by fishing the dam and its new structure as soon as possible. Here fish will be exploring the new found structure in search of food and safety. A weightless fluke flicked between branches or under a tree should yield excellent results. Inanda Dam has been quiet on the bass front with not many huge fish coming out. There is still the odd big fish coming out, but reports are mainly smaller fish between the 1 and 2 kg range. The dam has risen a bit, but fishing from the side is still difficult due to the lack of structure and very weeded up banks.
There are plenty of tilapia around at the moment with anglers having a great deal of fun catching them on fly fishing gear. These fish are incredibly strong for their size and are extremely fun on a fly rod. Anglers have reported these fish being extra aggressive lately and are loving surface flies like the white death and DDD.
Into the Berg now where anglers have been reporting that the winter colours still seem to be working in this hotter weather. Fish are sitting very deep so a sinking line is a must. To get to the bottom faster anglers are using braided sinking tapered leaders. These leaders have a sink element built into them and they drop the fly almost straight to the bottom. The fish will usually be hiding under the weed beds waiting for insects or frogs to fall down the sides, so an angler must be clever, by locating these weed beds, casting alongside them and letting the fly slowly sink to the bottom of the dam. These trout are sitting waiting for an insect to do exactly that.
(File Photo: AFP)
Twitter - @kingfisherdaiwa @SportswaveAndre