Bass Menace

Spinning reel cause its way easier to drop the bait down... Lift the bail arm and off it goes.

We only have one dam (that I know of) above that latitude (29 deg South) that was stocked back in the 80's with FLMB. This dam is well known for large bass and great bags. I am heading out there tomorrow for my first time. http://goo.gl/qX7yPu Most of our larger dams have mixed FLMB and NLMB.

Bass are not native to Africa and have been introduced into many lakes, reservoirs and water courses all over Southern Africa. Both Northern and Florida strain bass have been stocked for many years. Small mouth in certain areas. Monster fish have been caught in South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

Thanks for the replies guys, the fishing wasn't great on Saturday with me landing only 5 dinks for the morning and my mate only got 1, none on the sick fish. Will try them again next trip Bluebasser your one has definitely seen some action!

Thanks ww2. Gold nugget and green penny are great imitations of an indigenous fish we have here in Natal called a Scaly. Photo by bahaflyfishing.co.za

Hi guys Any opinions on these baits? I bought a pack and and going to try swimbaits for the first time tomorrow. I bought a pack of the owner weighted swimbait hooks with the little spinner attached. I assume the best way to fish these is to allow them to sink and then crank them back nice and slowly? Any tips or advice would be appreciated.

My most successful poppers and walking baits have been in baby bass colour. Pop-X and Zippin-Ziggy... DJ I have caught many fish on a firetiger pattern super spook and Rapala popper. When they hungry they don't seem to mind.

My partner is removing all his braid and replacing it with floro. He reckons the noise scares the fish. hahaha

I have PP green on mine...

Darn... didn't think of that QnS! Thanks...

I reckon the biggest problem I have with tying a leader is that instead of having one knot, I now have two. That drops my confidence level somewhat. I bought some Suffix braid yesterday but they only had hi-vis yellow in the 30lb range, I was going to ask this very question. I am going to fish it without a leader and see what I can conjure.

Thanks BlueBasser! I am heading off to the tackle shop tomorrow to get some big baits!

Thanks guys, I must say I thought it was the opposite: Hot water, go smaller. I didn't think about going bigger! No wonder I haven't nailed any hogs yet this year. Our waters are currently around 29c (84f) on the surface and the water has a dark green colour to it with lots of particles/insects suspended. Vis about 6 foot. Maybe I should try a large lizard or some of ragetail worms. What colours would you recommend?

Showoff! haha

To snap off easier with heavier braid/line. With a slack line, take your hand and start wrapping your line around your rod between the reel and the first eye. Wrap the line as many times as is necessary so that the line doesn't bite into your hand when you start applying pressure. Works for me... As for the OP, I have a Ci4 on a Crucial 7 'MH F rod. Spooled with 15lb powerpro. I use it for everything because its such a great setup.

2 x *** *** Black rods 2 x Shimano Symetre 2500 reels 1 x $100 in the bank and 2 x sweet combos. But I would also go MH F for overall use and 2500 size reels are ample.

In our local fisheries we have the Mozambique and redbreast Tilapia as well as a few smaller Cichlid species. Here we have the opposite problem to you in the U.S.A. Bass are aliens and Tilapia are indigenous. Many argue that bass have cause a massive decline in the Tilapia population as well as indigenous minnow and Labeobarbus species. This time of year there are large schools of Tilapia fingerlings and the bass absolutely hammer them. Normally they spawn a few weeks after the bass and the young bass have lots of food after the adult Tilapia abandon the youngsters. Bluegill have also been blamed for the declining Tilapia numbers. There have been some cases in small ponds and farm dams where the bass have annihilated the Tilapia with only the larger old specimens remaining. The bass soon overpopulate the dam and that's the end of that without proper culling.

Saw that you guys up in the Northern states had a Polar vortex or something.... Being at 30 deg South on the Indian Ocean we have very mild weather in Winter. This allows us to fish all year round. I read the thread one member posted about ice fishing for perch, very interesting and something very foreign to us.

I have been using these a while now down here. Works a charm with a BB Squirrel Tail.

I also like the Rapala Husky Jerks. We have a 3-spot minnow colour here that does some serious damage.

Got me some Ultra-vibe speed worms (yet to catch a fish) Rage Anaconda (Caught plenty of fish) Would really like to try the 13 Fishings *** rods. Alas they are not available here.

Thanks for the responses all! So Jig takes it by a long shot. Square bill and wacky senko right up there too. I rigged a blue/black jig up this morning and will use it on the weekend. I get the feeling that the fish will hang around the rocky drop-offs for quite some time yet. Especially in the heat of the day. I suppose a slow drag will be the best presentation? Is it better to drag it up the drop or let it fall down the drop? Cheers! Dennis

Hi all Its going into mid-summer here now and we have been fortunate enough that most days have been cloudy and rainy, so the fishing has been ok. Pretty soon the heat will be on with clear skies and temps in the 30's. As you know the bite can get tough. On Sunday it was pretty steamy, water temps around 25c and after the morning bite died off, we were cruising some of the rocky banks and the finder picked up lots of fish at the 10m (30') range on the rocky ledges. All over the dam that depth seemed to hold fish. I was dragging a T-rigged liz and only manage one bite. My deep diver cranks would get nowhere close to that depth. Most of our fish where caught before 10am fishing the reed lined banks and water weed in approx 9' of water. So the question is how would you entice these fish to bite? What would your 5 top Summer lures be? Scanning some of the articles it seems a jig is the lure of choice... Pic is ls the largest I managed on Sunday, caught with a watermelon seed lizard. Thanks guys BM

She was released You're welcome anytime Lanz!

Very nice fish... fishing in the rain has its benefits!