Happy New Year to all our readers, may 2017 be a blessed year for you!
For the first time in 12 years my family and I did not join the annual Vaalie migration down to the coast this December.
We went down to Bloemhof (Die Kiewiete at die Hoek resort below the dam) this year and eventually got there after a few mishaps. We were supposed to leave on the afternoon of the 22nd but my workers phoned me in the afternoon telling me that the truck broke down and they are stuck on the side of the road, needless to say I went out and luckily got the truck running and got home at 20h30.
We left early the next morning and the trip down was a breeze, with people on the road actually driving decently for a change. Arriving in Bloemhof we first drove across the bridge over the dam to see what the water level looked like….and it was still ALARMING but we were greeted by welcoming rain.
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Whilst unpacking at the house I discovered that two of the crates with fishing stuff did not join us on the trip.
Fishing on day 1 and 2 was very very slow and we only had a few bites with no fish to show. My patience was rewarded on Christmas day with a beautiful piece of gold, Carp of about 5kg’s.
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So by now we realised that we left the new landing net, scale and weigh mat amongst other things at home, hence all weights are just estimates.
We caught a few Carp in the 500 gram to 4kg class over the next few days but the Barbel was an absolute no show, time to go hunt them only to realise that the mounting bracket for the electric motor was also left at home….
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The weather was EXTREAMLY hot with morning temperatures reaching 30 and climbing to 36 in the afternoon. We also had some heavy wind and more welcoming rain.
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Bad weather is actually good during a family holiday as it brings everyone closer together. We often sat around the table playing cards or me tying new rigs (and sampling some Rum or Whiskey) and my son painting his model toys whilst the girls are painting nails or doing other girly stuff.
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The rig that worked for Carp, muddies and small Barbel.
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Small baits with very little flavourings worked best, the best bait for the entire weekend – Single yellow floatie with sweet dough backing and plain Mielie bomb.
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One afternoon I targeted only Muddies and this was the best one for the weekend, not very big but lekker to target a specific species and successfully catching a few of them.
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On the 30th we went to a place to fly-fish but got stuck badly in the mud on the way down to the river and the flow was also very high, so no fly-fishing took place.
That afternoon I finally caught a half decent Barbel.
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The new year started great and I caught a few fish, ending it with another piece of Bloemhof gold.
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We had a great trip and the enjoyed catching some fish!
Totals for the holiday, 23rd till the 2nd.
Carp – 46
Grass Carp – 4
Muddie – 9
Barbel - 6
