On Monday
18 February I decided to take a day off from photo and video editing
and head off to Le Bonheur crocodile farm in search of some bass. There
was a cold -front on the way and I knew that life was not going to be
easy. I took my trusty 5 weight Temple fork outfitters, Jim Teeny fly
rod, Orvis mid arbour reel and 6 weight Rio Mainstream floating fly line
and tied on a self made leader comprised of Maxima Ultra Green line.
The fishing was tough as expected and my heart was in my throat when a
very large bass rolled over on one of my black minnow flies, but I
missed on the strike. A little while later I found a school of small
bass and changed to a Sean's minnow in size 10 in white (there where
lots of small fish fry in the water) and proceeded to have a whale of a
time catching them. On a 5 weight rod, a bass the size of your hand can
put up a good scrap.
A lot of people I know moan about catching small fish but lets face it, statistically, small bass outnumber larger ones by a thousand to one.... Another reason that I love latching into a school of smaller bass is that the commotion brings in the bigger bass... logically. And so it was that I started to notice the tell tale larger shapes looming like sharks a bit deeper down. A quick change to a clouser minnow and wham.... At the end of the day I had 30 bass with two being over 1.7kg.. Not bad for an afternoons work...
At one point I changed to a small white flipper and had the smaller bass cartwheeling over it before latching on. Good fun...
One sore point is the worrying amount of water hyacinths that I spotted in the water.... Hope that this does not become a major problem for this great venue. http://www.lebonheurcrocfarm.co.za/
I Then headed off to try out the Berg river near Paarl for some smallmouth bass. The river was looking amazing with good flow and clear water. I worked the area around the railway bridge and hooked one bass but lost it. You can't win them all.... Also spotted a lovely koi swimming upstream in a rapid.
A lot of people I know moan about catching small fish but lets face it, statistically, small bass outnumber larger ones by a thousand to one.... Another reason that I love latching into a school of smaller bass is that the commotion brings in the bigger bass... logically. And so it was that I started to notice the tell tale larger shapes looming like sharks a bit deeper down. A quick change to a clouser minnow and wham.... At the end of the day I had 30 bass with two being over 1.7kg.. Not bad for an afternoons work...
At one point I changed to a small white flipper and had the smaller bass cartwheeling over it before latching on. Good fun...
One sore point is the worrying amount of water hyacinths that I spotted in the water.... Hope that this does not become a major problem for this great venue. http://www.lebonheurcrocfarm.co.za/
I Then headed off to try out the Berg river near Paarl for some smallmouth bass. The river was looking amazing with good flow and clear water. I worked the area around the railway bridge and hooked one bass but lost it. You can't win them all.... Also spotted a lovely koi swimming upstream in a rapid.
Bass this size are fun on a 5 weight fly rod.
Finding the fish is half the battle.
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