The previous Wednesday,
Derek Dale, one of the C.C.C. Bass Club members
had asked me to go fishing with him on the following
Saturday at the monthly league out at Darwendale.
So there I was on one of my favourite pieces of
water, in a Thunderbird boat powered by a 150
HP Evinrude.
We started off in about 12 feet
of water and our choice bait to start the day
was a spinnerbait. The spinnerbait was black and
red with double willow leaf blades. Fan casting
the area which was rich with weed patches, I noticed
an anthill where no oxygen weed was growing. From
a distance of about 4 metres I pitched my spinnerbait
and within 2 cranks of the reel I was in. Instantly
I felt a tug as a large bass engulfed my spinner
– I landed my first fish at 7:30am, a nine
pounder! We caught a couple more, mainly 2 to
3 pounders then decided to move on to another
spot.
We moved off about 200 metres
up the dam where I immediately spotted another
anthill. With the trawling motor on full speed,
we raced over to it. On my very first cast, a
7-pound bass erupted onto my spinner – as
luck would have it, I lost that one! As we cruised
slowly across the dam, I pitched my spinner not
more than 2 metres from the boat and out of the
weeds popped another large bass! Within the blink
of any eye, my spinner was out of sight, I quickly
set the hook and with my 25 pound Big Game line
and 7 “ Quantum rod, hauled the beast onto
the side of the boat. He weighed in at 8.6 pounds!
Yet again we set off up the dam
– on the first clear patch that we saw,
my partner Mr Dale and I caught 12, 2 to 3 pound
bass in about 10 minutes, it would seem that nothing
could go wrong today! Another anthill close by
showed a clear line between the oxygen weed and
the red weed, I placed my spinner perfectly into
the middle of this patch and the game was on again!
To my delight, after a strong fight, I landed
a 9 pounder. It was only 8:45 in the morning.
Edging closer to the shore I spotted yet another
anthill, this time Mr Dale had first cast, alas
with no luck. I followed his lead and cast over
the same spot, within minutes another monster
had grabbed my spinner – this time, I had
cast over the weed patch so had a struggle to
bring him to the boat. My live well was now looking
impressive with 4 huge bass in it.
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By this
time it was midday and the heat was fierce, we moved
back to our first spot of the day welcoming the slight
breeze along the way. I saw a small fish jump out of
the water, whilst trying to eat something floating by,
I decided to make a cast near the fish. Well, ‘what
do you know?’ out of nowhere another huge tug
and my line was off. After another awesome fight, the
fish was mine – yet another 9-pounder! What a
brilliant day, I can hardly describe the feelings of
pleasure and pride that were mine.
All good things end and as weigh-in
approached we found that we were the last to bring our
fish to the scales. Already some of the other members
had heard about my catch and were eagerly awaiting the
results. When I transferred my fish from the live well
to the weigh-in bag, gasps of amazement were heard all
round! The tension mounted as I approached the scales.
At last it was my turn to show off my days catch, as
I pulled my fish out of the bag one by one, the previous
leader of the day hung is head in despair – he
knew I had the ‘duma’ catch of the day!!
My total catch weighed in at 20.16 kgs (44.45 pounds
to be exact) – I was thrilled. Congratulations
by all followed and a perfect day ended with all the
Bass Club member sitting round the braai watching the
sun go down and talking about the wonders of fishing.
My thanks must go to Mr Dale for
taking me fishing and of course to Ark Manufacturers
who custom made the Mustad powered spinnerbait. All
5 of my bass swam free at the end of the day and who
knows maybe I’ll catch them again when they are
14 pounders!
Matt Elkington
Congratulations
on your "duma" catch Matt! |
PICS & STORIES - AFRICA 