Leewkop dam report

[Nooduck]

I visited Leewkop dam on the 25th of October and again yesterday.


Left early morning and got to the dam at about 5am each time.


The view of the Jukskei river early morning is just awesome, well that's before you the mist lifts and you see the turds flowing past  



The dam has filled to capacity again, was almost just a mud pool in winter due to broken pumps and lack of funds.....lowest I have seen it 30 years.


On the 1st Sunday I lost a small Carp of about 2kg in the long grass close to the side. Left at 10am to spend the rest of the day with the family.


On Saturday evening the flying ants attacked us and I caught a handful.


Was at the dam at 5am again and the Carp loved the flying ants.


Caught 3 Carps 1-3kg, all released again.
The fish were all in a good condition.


When I arrived at the dam the placed was VERY dirty, beer bottles/cans from the night before...
After 7 a team of prisoners arrived and cleaned everything.


Very nice and safe place to fish in the middle of Johannesburg.

[REEFMAN]

  Thanks for the report!

[SurfnTurf]

Do you know if there are any bass?

[MIKE PIKE]

Used to be a long time ago , doubt there's any now .

[Nooduck]

Mike is 100% correct.


They tried to introduce Bass in 2002/3. The Cormorants made short work of the small Bass.
An informal program was started to cull some of the birds because  we counted more than a 100 of them at the dam on a few occasions, way to many for such a small irrigation dam, and we "reduced" the number to an average of about 30-40 birds.
More Bass was obtained and released into the dam but due to various reasons they never fully settled in the dam.


Biggest problem with the dam is "mismanagement"!!!!!!
Year after year as soon as the fish has spawned the water level will drop (pumped to irrigate farm lands) and all the eggs will be out of the water.
One year(think 2004)  the agriculture manager kept an eye on this and we had record Carp catches, not in size but in numbers.


Species that I personally caught at Leewkop:

• Carp
• Barbel
• Blue Kurper - not seen any in years
• Vlei Kurper -not seen any in years
• Large Scale Yellow - only know of 1 ever caught, must have washed down the canal system from Jukskei river.

[Nooduck]

I went to Leeuwkop again on Sunday (21 March 2021) for a quick morning session.
The road that leads around the dam has been closed due to mud pools, went through with diff lock on but will not try with a normal car.
Looks like the team that cut the grass also have not been to that side (eastern) in months, veld grass is hip height.
Had a few bites but did not catch anything.


I just HAD to catch a fish and went back on Monday again, this time with a slasher to cut some of the grass.
Fish were very active and I managed to land a nice Carp and a small Barbel.


Fished at 70m from side and bait was as follow:
Top Hook- Kariba Earthworm
Bottom Hook - Honey and musk floatie
Mieliebomb- dipped in Fluro honey/sweet mix

[REEFMAN]

Well done Gabriel!  Perseverance pays! Nice fish bud.

[Nooduck]

Report for Sunday 19 September 2021


I arrived at Leeuwkop dam just after 6am. The morning temperature (16 deg) was way warmer than forecasted and no need to start the fire for which I was prepared.
Baited up the normal sliding Rietvlei trace with mieliebomb, oozing honey floaties with a sweet white dough backing.
The dam surface was undisturbed very little fish activity and I started to wonder if I’m wasting my time.
At 8am the left rod took off like a steam train and about 15 minutes later I managed to land a beautiful Carp of about 8,5kg.
Whilst busy releasing this awesome fish the other rod took off like a bullet train…
Ten or so minutes later I managed to land an even bigger carp of about 9kg.


The wind started to pick up and I left at 10am with no further bites.


Both fish were released safely.

[REEFMAN]

Good skills Nooduck!! 

[Nooduck]

I was at Leeuwkop again yesterday and fished from 6 till 10am.


The guarding at the gate is now controlled by a "special unit" from Correctional Services. These guys think they are far superior than us normal plebs [size=78%]……[/size]
They are VERY rude and treat everyone as trash, even though you are nice too them and treat them with respect.
Typical Government rules- nobody knows what the rules are and one guard is persistent that you must book in advance others just let you in…


I would advise that you try and book 1st- not going to post persons details on a public forum so you are welcome to pm me.


Enough ranting


Fishing was a bit frustrating with the baby Carp eating everything before the bigger fish can get to it and the bigger fish are concentrating on spawning.


Well it is still nice to go to a safe fishing spot that is 10 minutes from home!