Winter bass at Albert Falls
Carp
Most of our dams have seen very little action over the last week, largely due to the lack of anglers present. Fishing was good and reports suggest that those who did spend time on the water found themselves showing off with impressive catches indeed. Local carp whisperer "Oom Danie” managed a great carp weighing in at 16kg at his favourite spot. This is one of the many good fish reported from various dams throughout KZN. Albert Falls had anglers busy with smaller fish at the river mouth as well as all the way around the very low water line, particularly at the slipway sights. Nagle Dam saw two fish of 11kg and 15kg caught on FX flavour tiger nuts close to the dam wall. These fish were caught in broad daylight and took the baits after being in the water for only 15 minutes. Inanda saw good numbers of smaller carp for a few anglers who decided to spend time to the right of the camp sites towards the cabins. These fish were caught on light conventional tackle with the reel of choice being the Daiwa Black Widow 5000 filled with 10lb Daiwa Sensor, bun spice mielies and tigers produced the goods.
Bass
On the bass front, cold weather pulling in means one thing only, dress warm and prepare for slow fishing. These cold snaps are usually used by bass anglers as resting periods to recoup from the previous weeks or days of angling. Take this time to get stuck into your tackle and sort out the old from new, used from unused and the good from the bad. This will help the next visit to the tackle store as it may save you from buying unnecessarily, as most anglers so often do. It could also help you to see what you do require on your next outing to the tackle shop so get stuck in, get an inventory going and make your bass fishing more organised. If you are craving a tight line and bending rod, head down to Albert Falls for some of the action. Deeper water areas are still producing excellent catches of quality fish on Crank baits as well as drop-shot being fished slow on steeper banks. The fish have become extremely territorial in this low water and will smash just about anything that is kept in the strike zone for long enough. This is why drop-shot has been as effective as it has. The lures can be kept suspended in the bass territory and wriggled in front of the fish until it decides it has been irritated enough to feed. Inanda will be much the same in the deeper water and off the cliffs, particularly in these colder conditions.
Big fishing competition for physically challenged anglers at Durban Naval Base on 1 August 2015 - Call 031 701 7444 for more details.
(File Photo: Gallo Images)
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