SA BASS July 2018 by SABASS

July 2018

Issue 207

Bivane Dam

Change to RSA: R39.34 (VAT incl.) Other Countries: R34.21 (Tax excl.)

ranks

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Volkswagen Amarok. Greatest load capacity. McCarthy Volkswagen Wonderboom Cell: 083 488 8529, Tel: 012 567 9345

Commercial Vehicles

Contents

SA BASS Magazine

is published monthly (12 issues per annum) by WJ Lindeque cc t/a BB Print (CK99/23366/23)

Office hours:

Our office hours are Monday to Friday, 08:15 to 16:15

Contact numbers:

Office: (065) 849 3264, Alternative: (083) 306 2718 Fax: (086) 234 5026

Postal Address:

SA BASS, PO Box 24938, Gezina, 0031, RSA

Publisher:

Hannes Lindeque - hannes@sabass.com

Editor:

John Badenhorst - john@sabass.com

Field Editors:

Bennie Wiese, Bryan Leppan, Colin Willmer, Derrek Stewart, Dewald Viljoen, Divan Coetzee, Gary Peter, Gareth Dryden, Gordon Brown, Joe Dreyer, Kevin Lofstedt, Louis Bezuidenhout, Mzi Tyhokolo, Neels Beneke, Philip Kemp, Roger Donaldson, Rowan Zerf, Rudi Dreyer

International Columnists:

Bertrand Ngim, Clint Skinner, David Swendseid, Gareth Rawlins, Matt Williams, Tylor Brinks

Advertising Manager:

Wilma Lindeque - wilma@sabass.com

Subscriptions:

Hannes Lindeque - hannes@sabass.com

Facebook Administrator:

Chris Greenland

Digital subscriptions:

www.magzter.com

Layout and Design:

Storm Deezigns - dee@stormdeezigns.co.za

Distributed by RNA:

Jannie Junius (011) 248 3536

REGULARS & FORUMS 06

SA BASS “Change to Cranks” Changing from other baits to a crankbait is a tough decision to make unless you are a crank fanatic and just fish them all the time – Lionel Crow

DESTINATION “Bivane Dam - When the fishing gets tough, you need to dig deep” Being born and raised in Johannesburg I’ve been fortunate enough to have fished most of the venues available to Gauteng and Mpumalanga anglers. – Johan Van Coppenhagen

About SA BASS magazine: SA BASS, which is editorially and financially independent, is a monthly magazine catering exclusively for the bass angling community in Southern Africa. SA BASS is distributed country-wide by RNA to outlets, not only in South Africa, but also in Namibia, Swaziland and Botswana. SA BASS is designed as a specialist bass fishing publication and has catered for a well-defined niche market since April 2001. It enjoys the support and endorsement of non-government organisations, but is not affiliated in any way to these bodies or to any other publishing, environmental or political interest group. Our mission is to promote bass angling as a socially acceptable and popular outdoor recreational activity, and in addition, to encourage acceptable angling ethics. As such, SA BASS provides pertinent information on a wide range of subjects. These include providing a platform for informed debate on issues affecting the sport of bass angling, providing information on bass angling strategies and techniques, bass angling waters and opportunities, and also creating awareness of new products. Within this editorial mix, due consideration is given to developing the sport among all the 02 SA BASS July 2018

country’s people (including the youth), and to the practical conservation of the country’s natural resources. Copyright is expressly reserved and nothing may be reproduced in part or whole without the permission of the publisher. All enquiries regarding editorial correspondence, manuscripts and photographs should be directed to: editor@sabass.com Address contributions to the editor. Manuscripts, photos and artwork will be handled with care, but their safety cannot be guaranteed. Enclose a stamped, self addressed envelope with all editorial submissions. The publisher and editorial staff are not responsible for researching and investigating the accuracy or copy right of the material provided for publication in SA BASS magazine. While every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the contents of this magazine, the publisher does not accept responsibility for omissions or errors or their consequences. Readers are advised to use this information with the understanding that it is at their own risk. The views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the publisher, the editor, editorial staff or SA BASS Society.

FLW “Swim Jigging Winter Grass Lines” Grass-fishing swim-jig technique: Let the jig sink to the grass. Swim the jig along the grass. And rip the jig free when it touches the grass. – Curtis Niedermier

How to use QR-codes 1. Open the QR-code reader/scanner app on your smartphone. Most smartphones models often have an app pre-installed. If not, visit your phone’s app store and download the app. 2. Keep a steady hand while the QR-code is centred on the screen. 3. As soon as it is done scanning, whatever information should present itself for your viewing pleasure.

FLW “Two Schools of thought on Tournament Preparation” Doing it yourself and networking with other anglers are both effective means of preparing for a tournament, but which one is right for you? – Ken Duke

MASTER CLASS

ANGLING INTERNATIONAL

“The Art of Flipping (Part 3)” There are no ifs and buts when it comes to tackle and equipment for flipping to bass in heavy cover – Gordon Brown

>> Angling Recognised >> Bass Cat Increase Production >> New CIFTE Show >> BC210 Bass Boat >> Hayabusa Spin Muscle >> William Chambers Dies

34 PHOTO BY ANDY HAGEDON

STRATEGY

KLASKAMER “Baarsgedrag” Alles klink altyd so eenvoudig. As baarshengel tog maar net so eenvoudig was, maar ongelukkig is dit nou nie so maklik nie. – Philip Kemp

“Retrieval Techniques - Topwater Fishing” In the previous issue there was an article on line selection for topwater lures which touched on examples of where these lures would be fished and selecting your line accordingly – Roger Donaldson

“SACRAA Survey Revealed” The South African Consolidated Recreational Angling Association (SACRAA) has revealed that in 2017 total spending by an estimated 1.3 million recreational anglers contributed R26.5 billion to the economy.

TOURNAMENT NEWS “The Perfect Marriage...” Relationships are tricky to say the least and as we all know, a slight difference of opinion can in some instances have dire consequences for a relationship. – John Badenhorst

CLASSROOM COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS

“Basic Rigging for Soft Plastic Baits” It becomes a habit to insert the hook and rig a soft plastic lure perfectly g – Roger g Donaldson straight

42 30

CONSERVATION

FLW

MY CAST

READERS-go-BASSING

Cast-for-Cash - Tournament Results

INTERNATIONAL “Big Water, Big Weather, Big Smallmouths (Part 2)” Here are two more tips on how to handle rough water. – Fishingboy and David Swendseid (DUO Realis U.S.A)

“Essential Skills Fishing 101” How to Tie A Leader to Braid. – TJ Maglio

ON THE COVER “Troy Batty with a Hartebeespoort Dam kicker” Image: Hannes Lindeque

SA BASS 03 July 2018

As I sit and write this piece for the latest publication, I sit and wonder about where things are heading these days. Another fuel increase has been felt by every single individual in this beautiful country of ours. A rise in fuel prices means that the sport we love so much becomes even more expensive in our endeavours to get there, the cost of tackle and the knockon effect filters down to basics such as food. As dedicated anglers agree, we already have to budget carefully for our fishing trips and with the way things are going, those budgets become even tighter. In all walks of life, when humans feel the economic crunch, the first aspect of the budget to take a knock is the budget allocated for entertainment and in our case, it happens to be bass fishing. Let’s just hope that our government finds a way to put a stop to this madness. What I find interesting is that neighbouring countries are paying thirty percent less for their fuel and yet the fuel they use is processed right here in South Africa! We pay our taxes, we contribute to the coffers of the ones in power and yet, we have more power outages due to so called “cable theft” than ever before. Residents of neighbourhoods have to jump in and fix potholes in their own streets and refuse removal on a regular basis is something that seems to be a part of a distant past. Yet, we keep paying our taxes or else, we will be the ones who would probably be sitting behind bars in the future. A friend of mine recently suggested withholding taxes until the powers that be can make changes for the better. Closer to home for us anglers, the hyacinth problem is now not only prevalent in Hartebeestpoort Dam but also becoming a problem in areas such as Roodekopjes, Murray Park and a host of other dams around the country. What would it take for local government to actually do something about the issue? In most cases it is a situation of “a little too little, too late” as we’ve seen in recent times where the problem should have been actively combated before it got to the point where it is right now. There are many organisations and individuals that have tried to get the needed permission to do something constructive about the issue and yet, because of red tape, find that they are not allowed to do so at their own cost and worse, if they do, they might be charged for breaking some law. Then, not only as a South African citizen but as a contributing member of our country and a tax payer just like you, I also start asking questions but alas, asking these to our local government results in another run around. With delight, some anglers are already looking forward to the upcoming pre-spawn season and although winter fishing patterns still persist and will do so for some weeks, there is a clear indication that the upcoming spawn might be a very good one indeed. With the FLW Cast-for-Cash final and the upcoming FLW Small Craft Championship, and a host of other tournaments on the horizon, there is still plenty to look forward to as we head into August and September. Very few members of the public realize that in a couple of months, the 04 SA BASS July 2018

Olympics of Fishing is being hosted by South Africa and with this in mind, the early part of next year is going to be a very busy time for anglers and spectators. In this issue of SA Bass magazine, we look at another host of interesting views, tips and ideas from our regular contributors and field editorial team to help you make the right selections in terms of weather or water conditions in order to have the best possible chance of braving the cold and still catching a fish to smile about. Grab a friend, a flask, some tackle and a smile and hopefully we will see you out on the water. John Badenhorst / Editor

2018

R35.50 R215.00 R429.00

R27.95 R159.00 R319.00

>> SA BASS

Change to Changing from other baits to a crankbait is a tough decision to make unless you are a crank fanatic and just ﬁsh them all the time. I always have a rod on deck with a crank tied on and will throw it from time to time when worming is tough or little is happening on anything else.

Cranks >> Lionel Crow

ut this is just a guess and a chance, not a calculated decision, but if I’m lucky and trigger a reaction strike I will continue with the crank for some time. A calculated guess will be if I am fishing plastics and find that I am getting hit as I am retrieving faster to recast and fish take on the faster action, or if I see there is a lot of bait fish in the water and bass are actively feeding on them, and if the wind is pumping and the surface is choppy and fishing anything else is difficult. These are for me certain times for changing to a crank. Selecting a crank to fish should also be as calculated as possible to attain the best results. Things to take into consideration are type and size and colour of baitfish for Quality speed clips (not swivels) allow for quick bait changes and enhanced bait movement

06 SA BASS July 2018

the time of year or dam you are fishing, the depth that the fish are feeding at, the depth of the water that you are fishing in and the colour of the water you are fishing in (baitfish will change their colour according to the colour of the water or structure they are found around). My crankbait box consists of one or two surface lures such as the Wake Shad, a number of Series 5 and 6 Strike King cranks and plenty of Red Eye Shads of different sizes and colours. Lipless cranks are my ‘go-to’ cranks almost every time before tying on something else. I find they match the baitfish better than most and the rattle attracts the feeding bass as well. As far as choosing the right colour to fish with, I will try and match the baitfish with natural co colours first - I believe that the Red Eye Shad in Majjorra is the most natural looking of all the colours but will have its days when it needs to be replaced with a darker or brighter colour, but those are a very few. I have found that if you are having havvin trouble trying to match the hatch colour wise, a cchrome Silver or Gold will normally match anything anythin ng in our waters and perform exceptionally well in n stained s water. wa never a great believer in the notion that a w I was rod and an nd reel r played a great role in my successes with cranks as a I believed that as long as the crank was in

the water and being retrieved at the right speed and depth, it would have the same results. But I was horribly wrong as I discovered during a tournament at Goedetrouwe Dam a couple of years back. It was a tough comp with bites few and far between - I got a 4.2kg early in the morning at the outlet then struggled the rest of the day until I discovered the crankbait bite was on. I was fishing the banks opposite the hotel with a Series 6 Chartreuse/White crank catching mainly catfish (and some monsters at that) but soon started picking up big bass, most in the region of 4kg- plus but never put one on the boat because every time they jumped they threw the baits. I was fishing a 7.4 medium heavy rod designed for cranking but very heavy to throw, and even after a few days could certainly feel I had been cranking. My reel was a 6.3:1 ratio spooled with 20lb mono and I was willing to bend the hooks straight in order to retrieve a snagged crank - I thought I was well equipped, but did I learn a lesson! Many factors affect the swimming of a crank and to be more effective itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s advisable to take some time and think about the action you need to achieve. The lip length and design will have the main effect on the way the crank moves but it is also be affected by line diameter, retrieval rate, rod position, rod action, rod length and the waters you are fishing, namely grassy, rocky structure or timber, choppy or calm waters and so on. Starting with reels - and we can write a whole book on this â&#x20AC;&#x201C; many will tell you the ideal cranking reel is a 5:1 or slower ratio reel. The reason they give for this is that the longer the crank is in the water, the better the chance of it reaching its desired depth and staying there, and that a slower retrieve has better fighting power, but the down side to a slow retrieve is its inability to take in the slack quickly enough if needed: for example if the fish jumps or swims directly towards you. Slower retrieve ratios are more suited for deep, open waters, subtle presentations in the shallows or powering through grass. A high ratio reel will be more effective for burning baits over grass beds or shallow waters, but can also be used in deep open water to bring a crank to a desired depth quickly (but then it takes discipline to slow it down once it is in the zone). A high speed reel also gives you more control when playing a fish. Spooling the reel can also be crucial to the effectiveness of the crank - by far the best choice is a nylon or copolymer line, but Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve seen guys fishing cranks with braid and fluorocarbon, usually in heavy structure where feeling your way through the rough stuff is essential, and braid is particularly good for top water baits as it floats better than most other lines and also keeps the action of the crank true instead of pulling it under. There are many different rods designed specifically for cranking. The longer rods seem to be more popular than the shorter ones mainly because you can get better distance on a longer rod, and the further out the crank goes the better chance it has of reaching its effective depth when retrieved. But cranks come in many different sizes and weights and certain baits will be more effective on certain

Keep colour selection simple- to match baitfish, water clarity and weather conditions

SA BASS 07 July 2018

Red Eye Shad

rods - you obviously won’t find one specific crankbait rod that can handle all types of cranks. The rod also makes a difference in hook set and there are a lot of different views on this - the pros on TV seem to sweep the rod or reel into the loaded rod more than a heavy yank that will more than often pull the hooks. And the sweep is normally the instant you feel the rod load up or the crank stops its usual wiggle. Unlike plastics that are soft and feel natural to the bass the crank is hard and doesn’t feel right in its mouth and will be spat the moment it’s tasted (if you have seen Glen Lau s “Big Mouth Forever” there are some scenes of bass spitting cranks full of trebles with ease) so the sweep must be instant and striking is for free. Some pro anglers believe that the hook set is after the strike and once you have felt the weight of the fish on the rod, in other words striking and setting the hooks are two different actions. The rod is used for playing a fish back to the boat once hooked and a longer rod will give you the ability to play it better by keeping it out of structure, away from sharp propeller blades and so on, but remember that by keeping the rod

08 SA BASS July 2018

high you are manipulating the bass into coming to the surface and urging it to jump. You have less control on an airborne bass and this is when they tend to spit the cranks the most. Another time is when you force the rod into the water to prevent the jump, but the moment the rod tip is in the water you will lose tip action and are in danger of over powering the fish and ripping the hooks. My favourite area for throwing cranks is rip rap where I enjoy bumping the crank off rocks and trees; my second favourite is open flats where I take the boat out to the desired depth - especially if there is structure such as rocks on the bottom – and then work parallel to the bank at that specific depth. For example when throwing the series 5 Strike King cranks I position the boat at 3.5m, then I know the crank will be running just above the floor but will bump into anything that is sitting just off the bottom. Thirdly lipless cranks can be fished in many areas at any depth but I prefer to fish them in and around grass, and then also square-lipped cranks in structure such as timber and grass, basically areas where you would normally consider tying on a spinnerbait. Cranks are very effective as they cover lots of water very fast and are competition winners; if you take the time to master them you will have another tool in your box that will help with your quest to beat the odds, whether it be in competitions or just socially. My suggestion is to leave your plastics and jigs at home and only take your box of cranks, force yourself to fish them - and don’t be scared to put them into structure and grass but get yourself a good lure retriever. Ideally you would want to hire a professional diver on your first couple of outings, but retrieving cranks is part of the lessons you need to learn if you are going to master them properly.

>> SA BASS DESTINATION

BIVANE DAM

WHEN THE FISHING GETS TOUGH, YOU NEED TO DIG

DEEP

BEING BORN AND RAISED IN JOHANNESBURG I’VE BEEN FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO HAVE FISHED MOST OF THE VENUES AVAILABLE TO GAUTENG AND MPUMALANGA ANGLERS, AND KNEW I WOULD HAVE MY WORK CUT OUT TRYING TO ENTER THE KZN PROVINCIAL TRAILS.

>> Johan Van Coppenhagen

ith very limited information on the KZN waters and a not too bad season in 2016/2017, taking Rookie of the Year and qualifying for the Natal Coastal team that fished Clanwilliam in August last year, I knew I had to somehow try and get as much information as possible before each tournament if I was going to be competitive in the 2017/2018 season. So my work began… With two poor results at the first four events held at Midmar and Albert Falls Dams, I knew I would have to pull a rabbit out of a hat if there was going to be any chance of me making the Natal Team heading to the Vaal River later this year for the national championship. With event five and six scheduled for Bivane Dam, situated between 10 SA BASS July 2018

Vryheid and Pongola and with a surface area of around 700 hectares, I knew I had to put in the time to somehow figure out what these fish were doing. However, with work and equipment failure, this made prefishing very difficult. My history at Bivane wasn’t too great having one blank at event five and a not too bad finish at event six last year. I began my research with trusty Google and started monitoring water levels and air temperatures, also spending countless hours on Google Earth. With mixed reports coming back of guys blanking or catching one or two fish, I knew the homework I had done would not be enough. As far as I could establish at the time, there were no contour charts available for Bivane Dam strangely enough, not

even a sediment chart and the idea of spending a week on the water logging sonar to create my own chart was just not an option. I then contacted John Easton from FishTec, he had mapped Bivane Dam early last year, and made my purchase of the full Bivane charts. As soon as I got home I connected my trusty Lowrance Elite 9Ti to a battery and started looking at the charts in the comfort of my lounge. Being able to work on my charts at home helped to eliminate wasted time on the water looking for areas, which therefore also increased my fishing time. Why work harder if you can work smarter? My pre-fish was scheduled for two weeks before our tournament because anyone that knows me, knows I don’t like to fish the weekend before due to

the number of anglers on the water. So, with two weeks to go to pre-fishing I started by studying my old waypoints on the newly purchased charts and could now see why those fish were there. All my fish had come off points in an old river channel that used to run through that area. The fish were using these old channels as highways to feeding areas, which explains why some of my fish had been spitting out bait fish into my live-well last year. I looked for similar areas on the chart and marked these as potential spots. I also studied areas Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve seen other people target and now understood why those spots were holding fish. From there I divided the dam into two sections, the river section and the main dam. The main dam section consisted of the main and mid dam. During pre-fishing, I would run each section on a day.

As more rumours made the rounds of anglers only catching two or three fish over a couple of days I knew something was up compared to last year. I noticed that Bivane only filled up two or so weeks before our tournament last year, whereas this year it was filled up over a month before. The early rising water had given the fish more than enough time to adapt to the change and move up into certain areas. Since I had marked areas, my plan was to just run water on Friday to try and see if I could get a bite and formulate a plan for Saturday and Sundays practice from that. We arrived at Bivane Dam around lunch time on the Friday knowing weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d have good weather on Saturday and bad weather on Sunday. The plan on Friday afternoon was to first run areas where I got fish last year. We covered water quickly looking for that first bite, to no avail and got off the water at 18:00 feeling very

disappointed. Early Saturday morning we headed off to a spot in the river where I had found good quality fish the year before. We spent around an hour going over the area comparing different charts and targeting rock in 25ft of water, also with no results. We then switched to running areas where fish had been caught in previous tournaments, trying to cover as much water as possible looking for just one bite, again with no success. By this stage we had run some areas in the main dam near the launch as well as sections down by the river, all with not a single bite. With lunch time approaching, we started focusing on the mid-section of the dam, working a deep cliff area with cranks and Texas rigged plastics. The cliff started levelling out with a very slight point sticking out which, to the naked eye, seemed like nothing. However, my Aerial HD chart revealed something else - a shallow rocky bank running

One part of the dam SA BASS 11 July 2018

FishTec converted AerialHD data into a 3D like contour charts

out around 20m with nice drop offs on the sides and around 30m wide. I noticed a small patch of Chicamba weed sticking out and placed a weightless StrikeKing Caffeine Shad perfectly against the weed. Not knowing the depth, I left my bait to sink to the bottom but before that could happen, I saw a slight jump in the line and knew I had a bite. I switched over the reel, took up the slack and felt something at the 12 SA BASS July 2018

end of my line as I set my hook and was into a fish. I landed a nice healthy 3.1kg. We fished that side of the rocks and drop off with nothing further. I then positioned the boat on the open water while working the section where I got my first fish while my friend Werner sent a deep diving crank out to the other side into more Chicamba weeds. On the second turn of his reel, Werner was into a healthy fish.

The first thing I noticed was the quality and size of the fish, with the second being the fact that both fish were caught very close to Chicamba weed. I looked around and discovered that both sections had small patches of reeds within 5m of the Chicamba weed. Things fell into place like a puzzle and we began searching for those areas, picking fish off here and there. Something wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t making sense however, as we are running all these areas but not always getting fish off all of them. I turned to my trusty FishTec charts to figure out the similarities between the spots that were producing fish and those that werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t. The Aerial HD and Mosaic charts showed me the same rock info but something had to be different, so I switched to my elevation charts. I feel I need to explain these elevation charts in more detail because of how important it is to understand what it is exactly. FishTec uses a high definition flying camera to capture certain key areas of a dam when the dam level is low, and using photogrammetry software, creates the AerialHD chart. This is very much like satellite imagery, just 20 times the resolution. As great as this is, it is still two dimensional, making it hard to determine the height of a rock, or a ledge on an inlet for example. This is where the elevation chart comes in, from the HD imagery, FishTec somehow converts the AerialHD data into a 3D like contour chart, but with fifty times more detail. To top it off, the FishTec charts have hundreds of photos from around the dam that can be viewed right there from the charts using the Panoramic Photo Viewer. This is a true game changer for me, and apparently we are the first in the world to have this, proudly South African, thanks to FishTec and Lowrance. Back to my story. After looking at the areas on my elevation chart where we were catching quality fish, I noticed the amount and size of rocks around the Chicamba weed was very similar and the amount of Chicamba weed was the same. Bigger fish were relating to a smaller patch of Chicamba weed. So, my plan

changed and we started idling down the bank, fish finder set to elevation chart, as we searched for small patches of Chicamba weed. When we found similar areas, we compared that section on the elevation chart. If there was a match, we would stop and make a cast. Low and behold, we started picking off good quality fish. Very satisfied we got off the water on Saturday evening with some sort of a plan and I spent the rest of the evening looking for similar areas on my elevation chart. My new idea was to run our tournament times for the final day of fishing starting at 07:00 and to only focus on similar areas where we had found fish. Launching early Sunday morning we waited for “the start” and ran to a key spot I marked where we had caught our first two fish the day before. The area was a shallow flat, 10ft deep with deep water all around it. It was around 30m wide and had a small patch of reeds on the left and right of it with a very small clump of Chicamba around three to five metres in-front of the reeds on both sides of the flat. My special rocks, as I call them, were just to the left of the weed on the left-hand side of the flat, with more to the right of the weed on the right hand-side. Werner opted for a crank and I opted for a soft plastic. Werner was into a good fish just short of 2kg on his first cast to the left and I was into a fish from the right of just over 2kg. We fished that area for a bit longer with no further action after which we ran to our second spot. On my second cast, I was into another fish of over two kilos. With no more bites there, we moved to our third spot. On the fifth cast, I was into another decent fish at only 09:00 in the morning! We decided to head home with the data we had gathered so I could begin putting my plan together leading up to our event. The week before cut-off, rumours circulated about plenty of blanks, one or two fish being caught and also a healthy 4.1kg coming out as well. Knowing fishing was going to be tough with very few five fish bags

coming out, I decided not to target five fish but instead aim for three big bites a day. While I had enough spots to get five fish, with other anglers on the water and some potentially knowing what I knew, I wanted to make up points with weight rather than with points per fish. If I managed to get five fish, that would be an added bonus. I also monitored the weather leading up to our event, noticing some changes. I continued spending hours going through my valuable charts looking for the specific areas the bigger fish were relating to, to the point that I almost had the elevation chart imprinted on my brain. I left Durban early Friday morning before our provincial trail and drove to Bivane Dam with my game plan playing in my head all the way there. Walking down to the dam on arrival, I quickly noticed the water colour was slightly changed but still felt confident my plan would stick. I would later discover that the water temperature was also three degrees colder. For those that don’t know, provincial trails are held on one venue with two tournaments in the same weekend – Day-1 and Day-2 – with each day’s tournament getting its own score. This means that by the end of a season, we would have fished four venues and eight tournaments. The worst two scores are dropped. At the start of day-1, I drew boat number 24 but wasn’t worried as I knew most guys would run for the river. Arriving at my key spot, the first thing I noticed was that the Chicamba weed on the right was missing so focused on

the left side instead. I made a perfect cast with my weightless Caffeine Shad with no takers. After at least another ten empty casts, I decided to switch to a finesse presentation and picked up my spinning rod spooled with 6lb line and rigged with a Z-Man Streak on drop-shot. My first cast produced a 2.2kg fish. After about ten minutes I moved to the right where the Chicamba weed was missing, with no luck. While I knew my areas wouldn’t hold a lot of fish, I knew I could get quality fish. I worked down the bank to my marked areas but found boats sitting right on the hot spot focused on fishing the reeds instead of the small patch of weed. It was very frustrating knowing there was a two-kilo sitting right under somebody’s boat and there was nothing I could do. I decided to hang back and wait away from the boats. When they didn’t move in thirty minutes or so, I moved along. This went on for a while. Eventually, I got to a spot and hung back from another two boats and waited. As I was about to move, the boat sitting within ten metres of the Chicamba weed moved off to work the bank. I immediately cast, landing within half a metre of the weed – bang, on with another 2kg fish – landed and in the live-well. By now I could see that my only down fall was going to be time wasted while waiting for boats to move off the sweet spots so I could target my areas. A couple of times during the day, I would run back to my key spot, hoping that the fish had moved up, to

SA BASS 13 July 2018

no avail. At 15:00 I decided to make one last run to my key spot. Low and behold, now the left side of the Chicamba weed was missing as well. I made a couple of casts anyway but got nothing. I resorted to idling down the bank looking for spots where boats had moved off and finally found one empty. I quickly moved in and was into another fish on my first cast. It wasn’t as big as my other two but it was my third fish! Time for weigh in. My three fish gave me a total bag of 4.905kg which secured fourth place for the first tournament and earned me some good points. My prediction for the tough fishing was proven correct with only one five fish bag being weighed. I launched early for the second tournament and while waiting, studied my charts for more areas that could possibly be the same as my other areas. I knew I needed more spots due to the amount of boats fishing the same areas as me but not picking up that the fish were in fact sitting right under their boats. I marked a couple of spots with the same type of rocks even without knowing if the other two key factors would be there too. Knowing the fishing would be even harder on day two after the previous day’s pressure, all I wanted was two big bites and knew if I could get another top ten finish, that would move me up substantially in the points race. Although, I was boat number 4 which meant I could run anywhere, I wanted to stick to my game plan. With my key spot being weedless, I couldn’t run back to that and opted to run to a spot just before that area where I had battled to get into the day before due to boats sitting right on top of my sweet spot. I made my first cast within centimetres of the Chicamba weed and bam, fish on. I landed a healthy 2.2kg. Once more I idled down the bank passing boats sitting on top of sweet spots and chose to run my new areas. However, I could only find two of the three key features I was looking for. 14 SA BASS July 2018

My eyes stayed glued to my elevation chart. While working down another bank, a boat moved off a spot that I knew had the three key features I was looking for. I quickly started my motor and ran to that area, stopping a fair distance away to get everything ready. When I got closer, I cast to the Chicamba weed. My lure dangled for about five seconds before I felt a tap. I made my hookset and the fight was on with a very strong and healthy 2.44kg. When I landed her, it was clear I would need to run this fish, so I tied down all my rods and sped to the weigh station. I opted to weigh both my fish which gave me a bag just over 4.6kg. Having calculated that this bag would put me in seventh place on day one, I opted to pack up and head home to avoid traffic. As it turned out, my 4.6kg bag was enough to secure another fourth place and earned me valuable points in the point race overall. My two top five finishes put me in line to possibly go to the national championship later this year. With two events remaining at Inanda Dam, the pressure is still on! I have based this article on my own experiences and knowledge of bass fishing and also how my FishTec charts have helped me to find bigger fish. As you have read, I ran similar areas for pre-fishing and tournament fishing but with different results. Each chart I used from my FishTec Bivane chart card had its place and I feel it’s important for anglers to practice using their own charts to the fullest potential. Many anglers don’t realise that their chart cards have so much information on them, so it’s important to play around with the charts. Success comes with spending time on the water, making use of your charts and most importantly – paying attention when catching a fish. Think, if something over there looked promising for that bass, there must be more than the naked eye can see. If it wasn’t for my elevation chart, I would never have seen those subtle differences that the bigger fish were relating to and I wouldn’t have done so well.

Swim Jigging Winter Grass Lines *UDVV ȴVKLQJ VZLP MLJ WHFKQLTXH /HW WKH MLJ VLQN WR WKH JUDVV 6ZLP WKH MLJ DORQJ WKH JUDVV $QG ULS WKH MLJ IUHH ZKHQ LW WRXFKHV WKH JUDVV

>> Curtis Niedermier

that the jig falls onto the “grass side” of the edge. “Let it sink down until it touches the top of the grass, then swim it slowly over the top,” Shuffield explains. “When it hits a clump, I’ll rip it through and let it fall back.”

Greener is better

Set up with the boat outside the edge of the grass and cast at a slight angle just less than parallel to the edge so that the jig falls onto the “grass side” of the edge

Some grass will die off in the winter, depending on the temperature, grass species and depth. As a result, not all grass produces the same results. “The grass might have died back some, and most of our lakes have winter drawdowns, but that doesn’t do anything but make a little more definitive edge,” Shuffield says. “The grass stays green most of winter, especially the deeper grass. I notice that if I’m pulling up dead grass I’m not catching many fish, but if it’s green grass I’m catching more fish.”

Winter swim jig Shuffield’s favourite lure is a bluegill or crawfish pattern 1/2- or 5/8-ounce jig, but he’ll drop back to a 3/8-ouncer in shallower situations.

The backup plan

When it gets really cold, bass sometimes drop down to the bottom on the outside edge

ou can rip rattle baits through winter grass beds like everyone else, or you can offer bass something different: a swim jig. Former pro Ron Shuffield says a swim jig is one of his preferred cool-weather lures when bass set up camp on grass-line edges. It’s a lure that can be worked quickly, or dragged more slowly when conditions warrant a change-up. Shuffield shares his most productive technique.

Good grass location Figure out where the grass “edges out” in the back of a creek. Typically it’s at about the same depth across the area. Areas where a creek channel swings up along the grass edge, or any place that the grass tops out along a drop-off into deeper water, are the sweet spots.

Grass line setup Set up with the boat outside the edge of the grass and cast at a slight angle just less than parallel to the edge so 16 SA BASS July 2018

When it gets really cold, bass sometimes drop down to the bottom on the outside edge. In that case, switch positions to hold the boat over the grass and cast out off of the edge. Let the jig sink to bottom, and work it back until it hits the grass once again. “I’m going to hop it if they’re out on the outside edge,” Shuffield says. “I’m trying to keep the bait in contact with the bottom for the majority of the retrieve.”

Jerkbaits too On sunny, windy days, a Megabass Vision 110 jerkbait twitched over the edge of the grass can pick up any bass that have suspended up out of the cover. “Usually here [central Arkansas] our shad die-off starts around 47ºF (water temperature),” Shuffield says. “If you’re on the lower end of the temperature scale, or if you can see small 1- and 2-inch shad flitting around and sinking in the water column, that’s the time you need to break out your jerkbait. Add some six- to 10-second pauses, and don’t get wild. That’s an excellent backup technique for wintertime fishing.” A jerkbait twitched over the edge of the grass can pick up any bass that have suspended up out of the cover

BASSIN KIDS OUTREACH PROJECT A Division of SA BASS Magazine & South African Bass Angling Sport Society

08 - 14 July 2018 We at SA BASS are inviting all avid young anglers between the ages of 7-16 years to join us for loads of fun and adventure. Venue: Boskoors Farm, 30km North of Pretoria on the Moloto Road.

Bookings are essential! We have limited spots available as we like to keep the number of campers at a minimum, to ensure that every child gets the necessary individual attention and guidance. Please call Wilma on 065 849 3264 or 083 306 2718 to book your spot. For more information visit www.sabass.com or e-mail wilma@sabass.com SA BASS 17 July 2018

PHOTO BY ANDY HAGEDON

TWO SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT ON TOURNAMENT PREPARATION Doing it yourself and networking with other anglers are both effective means of preparing for a tournament, but which one is right for you? Two of FLWâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biggest stars, Scott Martin and Andy Morgan, weigh in. 18 SA BASS July 2018

By Ken Duke

PHOTO BY KYLE WOOD

hey say there’s more than one way to skin a cat, and there’s definitely more than one way to prepare for a bass tournament … or even a long weekend on the water. Just ask Andy Morgan and Scott Martin, two of FLW’s brightest stars. Between them, they have a Forrest Wood Cup championship (see sidebar), 36 Cup appearances, four FLW Tour Angler of the Year titles, eight FLW Tour wins and almost $5 million in tournament prize money. You could make a solid argument that either pro is the B.O.A.T. (best of all-time) in FLW history, but they have different approaches to tournament preparation styles. Morgan is old school, preferring to find and figure out bass on his own, with as little outside influence and input as possible. He exemplifies the do-it-yourself attitude that has mostly prevailed in the sport for decades. Martin’s approach to preparing for competition, which includes gathering

information on a fishery from outside sources, isn’t “new.” In fact, many would say his father – the legendary Roland Martin – was its pioneer. More recently, Scott has developed a small group of confidantes who can give him insight into various fisheries and help him find what he calls the “pulse” of the water before he ever launches his boat. There’s no question that either method can work – the results of our experts speak volumes – but each can fail just as spectacularly if done without considering a number of mitigating factors. And at least in this case, the “two schools” of thought are not really at odds; call them different responses to different needs and different circumstances.

Mutual Disclaimers Andy Morgan: “I occasionally like to get some good general information, but I’d rather figure things out myself. Part of the problem is finding sources

you know really well and who know how you think and fish.” Scott Martin: “Figuring things out all on your own is great, but it can be impractical at times. I can’t always get away to pre-practice for an event, and my home in south Florida is a long way from most of our venues. Utilizing my resources as best I can within the rules of competition is just another way of educating myself and getting up to speed about what’s happening on a body of water when we have such a limited period of time to prepare.”

The Basics Andy Morgan: “Figuring things out on my own and avoiding dock talk or other outside information keeps me from having a lot of preconceived ideas about where the fish are and what they’re doing. That stuff can waste a lot of time and give you a lot of mental hurdles to overcome. It’s hard to focus on one technique when you hear that you SA BASS 19 July 2018

PHOTO BY KYLE WOOD

should be trying something else, especially when that ‘something else’ is not something you’re comfortable doing. “I’ve never been successful running somebody else’s stuff. I feel like I’m off chasing rabbits. When I was growing up, if anybody told you anything about fishing, they were probably lying to you. I tried figuring things out on my own because I didn’t have a lot of people I felt I could trust.” Scott Martin: “When people talk about getting outside information to prepare for a tournament, a lot of them have the wrong idea. I don’t want specifics or waypoints or even baits or colors. I want good, general information like which end of the lake has been most productive or what techniques are catching the most fish or a very general overview of what’s happening. I want the ‘pulse’ of the lake, and it doesn’t tell me exactly where to fish or what to throw, but it gives me a starting point to figure things out.”

Philosophy

PHOTO BY CHARLES WALDORF

Andy Morgan: “I want to get paid everywhere we go. Basically, I rely a lot on seasonal patterns, and I watch the weather really closely for two or three weeks in advance of a tournament. Otherwise, I’m just looking for very general information – like how much weight it’s taking to win local tournaments and stuff like that. If it takes 20 pounds to do well and I’m only catching 12, I know I need to be doing something different. I just want to know if I should hold ’em or fold ’em.” Scott Martin: “I’m looking for information that can help me get on a pattern – or two or more. I don’t want spots because they rarely hold up – conditions are always changing – and spots rarely win tournaments. Spots are usually what you fish when you don’t have a solid pattern.”

Limitations and Pitfalls Andy Morgan: “Because I’m battling the clock and my own preference for certain techniques, doing it myself can be limiting. A lot of times I don’t get on the winning pattern or location or bait, and as a result I haven’t won a lot of major tournaments in my career. But I’ve been consistent and have picked up a lot of checks and Angler of the Year points.” Scott Martin: “I had to learn what information I wanted and who I could 20 SA BASS July 2018

trust to give it to me. Sometimes, getting too specific has cost me. And sometimes practicing and getting on fish too far in advance of the tournament has caused me to waste a lot of competition time. It’s easy to get locked into what the bass were doing rather than focus on what they are doing. Until you have some experience working with information from other anglers, that can create problems for you. It’s one thing to have information – even good information – but something else to use it successfully.”

(Unexpected) Benefits Andy Morgan: “Doing things on my own and without a lot of outside information has forced me to focus on what works for me rather than what works for other guys. Anyone who knows me can tell you that I rely on about four different techniques, but I can adapt those four techniques to a lot of different conditions just by moving shallower

or deeper or by speeding up or slowing down. That makes it easier for me to break down the fishing conditions as quickly as possible.” Scott Martin: “Working with other anglers I trust has made me a more versatile fisherman. When you talk with an excellent angler and he tells you that a certain pattern might be strong, you either learn that method or lose the benefit of that information. Over time, you become more well-rounded, and there are fewer holes in your game. Tournament preparation and working with others has made me a lot better through the years, and it keeps paying dividends all the time.”

Advice Andy Morgan: “I’m confident that my way is better … for me. But that doesn’t mean it’s best for everyone. Until you know what your niches are and how your mind works as a tournament

angler, you can’t really make a determination like that. I do believe that doing everything on your own is becoming a thing of the past, and that it’s an increasingly difficult method to use. Information is key, and it’s getting easier to find good, reliable information these days. There’s just too much information out there.” Scott Martin: “First, you need to trust your instincts. Develop them and know that they’re more valuable than any outside source. Second, do your research. Look at maps, check Google and generally do all the homework you can before you get to the water. Finally, if you’re going to work with other people, use one or two sources. Don’t try to get a piece of information here and another piece there. Find a handful of trusted friends that you can look to, not a bunch of random dudes you don’t know well. And consider working with someone else who’s fishing the event with you.” ■

TALE OF THE TAPE

Though Andy Morgan and Scott Martin have different approaches to their tournament preparation, both have experienced great success in their careers. Here’s how their stats stack up.

SCOTT MARTIN

ANDY MORGAN

Forrest Wood Cup wins 1 — 0 Forrest Wood Cup appearances 16 — 20 Angler of the Year titles 1 — 3

FLW earnings $2,714,770 — $2,154,051 FLW top-10 finishes 38 — 64

PHOTO BY CHRIS BURGAN

PHOTO BY KYLE WOOD

Tour-Level Wins 8 — 1

SA BASS 21 July 2018

>> SA BASS STRATEGY

(Part 6)

Topwater Fishing

A selection of topwater baits for bass

>> Roger Donaldson*

n the previous issue there was an article on line selection for topwater lures which touched on examples of where these lures would be fished and selecting your line accordingly. There is one common denominator with all the lures described below and that is; when casting to a target area try to aim just a few metres past the spot. This allows you time to get your

22 SA BASS July 2018

lure working at the speed and desired fashion before it reaches the prime area. Let’s take a look at a selection of topwater lures and put their retrieval techniques into action. >> Walk-the-Dog or Zig-Zag lures (The Zara Spook and Skitter Walk are a few examples.) These lures are very durable yet are designed to be fished in open

water where their action can be fully utilised. How to get the lure to ‘zigzag’ is also surprisingly easy. Once the lure hits the water there is no rush in getting the bait to start moving. In fact, many Bass anglers would say that when you let the lure sit this is one time when you get bit! After engaging your reel, allow for a few seconds and start by reeling in any slack line and then simply twitch your

rod tip downward on every turn of the reel handle. Every twitch will result in the lure darting off to one side and then the next, left and then right. The choice is yours now, whether you choose not to interrupt the retrieve, or if you want to pause during the retrieve. How many times you pause is also your choice. A similar walk-the-dog swimming action will be achieved if you elevate your rod tip and then jerk and wind in. Work with both styles and see which suits you at the time. >> Diving and Popping lures (Chug-Bug, Skitter Pop) Although there is a very big difference in the swimming action of these lures as the Chug-Bug dives under the water and the popping lures do not. I’ve chosen to group them as the retrieve action is so similar. These diving lures are however designed to dip briefly (for 10 to 20cm) below the water surface, gurgling and leaving a stream of bubbles in its wake. The popping lures have a concave appendage on the face of the lure. When jerked and retrieved simultaneously the concave delivers a distinct popping noise and also produces a slight spray, which can be enhanced depending on how aggressively the bait is jerked. Much the same as you would have done with the zig-zag lures, the angler can cast out and then lower the rod tip and start with a rapid twitch downward. As the lure either dives or pops you can reel in the slack line you have created and then continue the process, over and over until done. I’d like to highlight here that how hard and fast, or aggressively you retrieve is really decided on the day. Personally I prefer a more subtle retrieve in calm weather conditions and then increasingly aggressive in breezy conditions. >> Propeller Baits (Torpedo’s, Skitter Prop, Dying Flutter. NOT Buzzbaits.) The technique used for these lures is precisely the same as diving and popping lures. The objective here being that you want the propeller to deliver many very brief, frantic

gurgles when jerked and retrieved. Although the retrieve is the same, this does not mean that the lure will behave anywhere similar at all. These lures travel straight and wow, do they attract explosive bites. Also, allow the lure to rest for two, three, or even four seconds out on the water surface just to alternate your retrieve strategy. Those smallmouth bass won’t resist that little trick! >> Buzzbaits This old favourite really is a bass magnet and so easy to use too. Many angler’s first question to me is, “Which way around does the lure swim?” The propeller/s churn the surface of the water, while the hook lies beneath the surface, directly under the propellers. But don’t worry about this, as the buzzbait automatically arranges itself that way once you start retrieving. The key after casting in is to quickly be prepared to engage your reel and start your retrieve as the buzzbait hits the water. This will keep the lure from sinking beneath the surface too far and lets the blades of the propeller/s churn the surface much sooner. Keep your rod tip elevated at all times and make a constant retrieve to help the buzzbait stay above the surface and “buzzing”. >> Frogs and Toads There are now so many varieties, including the SPRO Bronzeye Frog, Gene Larew’s floating frog, popping frogs, Zoom Horny Toad… and the list goes on. I have two Plano tackle boxes for my frogs; one for my SPRO frogs and another for all the other soft plastic frogs. They all have particular retrieve techniques and truly there are too many to mention in this article. Next month we’ll put together the techniques for each. *Roger Donaldson is an experienced journalist and knowledgeable bass angler who has enjoyed many enlightening hours with many of South Africa’s top, competitive bass fishermen. As a competitive angler himself, he also enjoys sharing his expertise with fellow bass fanatics in the hope that they find the same joy in this unique sport.

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to feature in “readers go Bassing” send your story and pictures to editor@sabass.com all photos published in “readers-go-Bassing” are for the exclusive use of Sa BaSS Magazine. any photos previously published by other magazines will not be considered.

This ’s th mon

N WIN

BLESSED NEWBIE PB My friends and I recently went fishing in the KZN Midlands on a private farm dam near Karkloof. It was a very productive day with a catch of 28 fish in total. It was slightly overcast with dam levels much lower than usual. Most fish were between the 700g to 900g mark with one exception of a 1.02kg bass caught by my friend, Nick Watt, who has only recently in the last few weeks started bass fishing. The fish were caught on Cullem jerkbaits and a Rebel floating minnow. Great magazine, over-flowing with info and tips! – Dave Hean

I’m very blessed to have captured a new out of Africa PB today. 13lbs (5.9kg) of Mexican bass. Think my 15.1lb (6.855kg) Africa fish may be at risk over the next few days. – Justy Varkevisser Multiple Protea angler and FLW South Africa pro-angler at Costa FLW Series Championship, USA, 2017 – Ed.

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THANKS I caught this bass on a white Booyah Buzzbait at a private farm dam near Brits. Thanks for the great magazine and all the great advice – Dean Strydom

YSBEER Van die begin van winter af het al tweekeer ge-“blank” maar dankie tog vir Gary Peter se artikels in die Junie-uitgawe. Tenspyte van die koue weer het ek gistermiddag en vanoggend gaan visvang en sukses gehad. Ek het met ‘n Flippen Craw aan ‘n Texas-strop baie stadig gehengel en was gister beloon met een klein vissie en een groter vanoggend. Aangeheg is die fotos van die twee swartbaars wat ek gevang het. Baie dankie vir die hengelwenke – Nico Venter

READERS GO BASSING Mail aiil & Win Wi n

E-mail your picture and details of your catch to editor@sabass.com and stand a chance to win a hamper (valued at R600) sponsored by Culprit South Africa. Please send us good crisp pictures of good quality. Pictures send electronically must be of at least 250KB. (We prefer pictures of 1MB). Potential cover pictures must be portrait and at least 3MB.

HEALTHY

All photos published in Readers-Go-Bassing are for the exclusive use of SA BASS magazine. Any photos previously published, or published by other magazines will not be considered.

My dad and I went fishing for an afternoon at a private farm dam outside Nigel. I caught this healthy fish at about 17:15. My lure of choice was a Sebile Pivot Frog fishing against the shallow rocky bank I was standing on. This beauty weighed in at 1.96kg. Thanks for the great magazine. – Reinhardt Marais SA BASS 27 July 2018

>> SA BASS CLASSROOM 1

BASIC RIGGING

FOR SOFT PLASTIC 2

28 SA BASS July 2018

>> Roger Donaldson*

t becomes a habit to insertt the hook and rig a soft plastic lure perfectly straight. After hundreds of hours of bass fishing one realises very quickly that bass do not accept a lure nearly as readily (if at all) when it is rigged “skew”. The rigging techniques we will look at in here will cover all the conventional styles that you can use in everyday bass fishing with soft plastic lures. You’ll be excited to learn that it is easier than you had imagined. There is one common denominator with all lures and that is they have to be rigged straight. “What is straight?” you may ask. Let’s take a look at a few of the different plastics and how you need to get them onto a hook. >> Jerkbaits, Stickbaits, Grubs and Curly tail worms (No appendages) The Fluke is an example of a jerkbait and is a “fish” shaped lure designed to dart left and right if jerked strategically, or simply allowed to flutter down casually through the water column. The Senko is an example of a lure shaped like nothing really other than a cigarillo. Why the bass like it so much is a difficult question to answer – but they really do. It has a wonderful way of transiently, gliding to the bottom, but also has the ability to be twitched and jerked when retrieved. The body of grubs and other curly tail worms are also straight in design and the tail produces the most vibration and

enticing twirling action when the body is ri rigged straight. We’ll therefore i them similarly. categorise The above description of the lures swimming action is important to consider before rigging these baits. If these lures aren’t straight then 99.9% you will not get a bite. So how do you do it?

STEP 1: Insert the point of your hook dead centre at the top / head of the plastic and continue until the entire shank of the point (until the first bend) is imbedded in the centre of the plastic. STEP 2:

Now bring the point directly out the side of the lure.

STEP 3: Thread the hook all the way through until the plastic almost covers the eye of the hook and the knot too. STEP 4: You’ll need to swivel the hook 180-degrees now and so that the point of the hook faces the plastic. The eye should disappear inside the plastic now. This makes sure the knot is hidden. STEP 5: Rest the hook against the lure and take a measurement with your thumb nail, as this is where the point of the hook must be inserted. STEP 6: The intricate part. Imagine a very straight line down the length of the lure, push the lure up slightly and then pierce the hook in at the thumb nail measurement point

and follow all the way through to the other side. Take a look and make sure your lure is lying straight. Any kinks then try step six again until the lure lies straight.

STEP 7: The final step. From near the point of the hook you now want to press the plastic up in the direction of the eye of the hook (only 3 to 4mm) and then imbed the point just beneath the surface of the plastic. This will prevent the point from snagging on weed and structure beneath the water. I hope that wasn’t too difficult to discern from the photographs provided. >> Creature baits or lures with appendages (These may include many different lures, such as the Brush Hog, lizard, frog, etc.) These baits are designed to be either dragged along the bottom, shot into and around jetties and structures, or lily pads, or even pulled across the surface. As mentioned earlier, the common denominator applies; they need to be rigged straight. This will enhance their natural action and make the lure more lifelike. Any lure with legs or swimming appendages will have a section which we can class as the belly of the lure. This is the point where Step 6 from the above lesson will take place – directly in the middle of the belly. I used a Brush Hog for this example so let’s see how it works. STEP 1:

Same as the above

example.

STEP 2: Now bring the point directly out the side of the lure, but position the point to exit at the centre of the “throat” in order to line

up the point of the hook with the centre of the belly.

STEP 3:

Same as the above

example.

STEP 4: Also, the same as the above example. Make sure the knot is hidden. STEP 5:

STEP 6: Like before, imagine a very straight line down the length and belly of the lure, push the lure up slightly and then pierce the hook in at the thumb nail measurement point and follow all the way through to the other side.

Rest the hook against the belly of the lure and take a measurement with your thumb nail, as this is where the point of the hook must be inserted.

As we described in the previous example, take a look and make sure your lure is lying straight. If the lure is bent, curved, or kinked then do step six again until straight.

STEP 7: The final step. As before, imbed/prick the point of the hook just beneath the surface of the plastic to prevent snagging. This should more than adequately cover your general soft plastic fishing techniques for bass, outside of “wacky” worming, drop-shotting and other technical options. I hope to see readers sending pictures of their improved catches using these easy rigging methods. *Roger Donaldson is an experienced journalist and knowledgeable bass angler who has enjoyed many enlightening hours with many of South Africa’s top, competitive bass fishermen. As a competitive angler himself, he also enjoys sharing his expertise with fellow bass fanatics in the hope that they find the same joy in this unique sport.

SA BASS 29 July 2018

ESSENTIAL SKILLS FISHING 101

by TJ Maglio

How to Tie A Leader to Braid raided superlines have a lot of benefits, but the upside comes with two big caveats: Braided line is too visible for clear water or high-pressure situations, and it’s tough to break if the lure snags. The compromise is to attach a monofilament or fluorocarbon leader. Several knots accomplish the task, but Quaker State pro Matt Arey prefers a double uniknot. Arey recommends a 6- to 10-foot leader, which is long enough to retie baits several times each day without having to replace the entire leader. Here’s how he ties it.

1. Overlap the two lines by about 6 to 8 inches and then double back the braid, creating a loop. (You can start with either line.) 2. Wrap the tag end of the braid around the leader and the standing part of the braided main line about six times, passing through the loop formed in the previous step with each wrap. 3. Lubricate with saliva, and slowly pull the tag end of the braid until the wraps draw together, but do not cinch it down all the way. 4. Repeat the process with the leader around the standing part of the braid. 5. Lubricate both sets of wraps, and slowly slide them together. Tighten by pulling the tag ends in opposite directions, then gently pulling the standing lines in opposite directions. Trim the tag ends to finish the knot. ■

30 SA BASS July 2018

Air Craw :LWK WKH VHDVRQ IRU EDVV ȴ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΍HUHQW LV ZKDW WKH QDPH LPSOLHV DQG KHUH WKH FODZV KDYH DLU DLU Q ȴOOHG SRFNHWV WKDW DFWXDOO\ OLIW WKH FODZV XS R΍ WKH ERWWRP ZKHQ Q LQ D UHVWLQJ PRWLRQ JLYLQJ WKH EDLW PXFK PRUH PRYHPHQW WKDQ Q EHIRUH 6RPH RI WKH EHVW WDNHV ZH KDG GXULQJ WHVWLQJ ZDV ZKHQ ZH OHIW WKH EDLW VLWWLQJ GHDG RQ WKH JURXQG ZLWK WKH RFFDVLRQDO WZLWFK HYHU\ QRZ DQG WKHQ )LVKHG RQ D &DUROLQD ULJ LW LV DOVR D JUHDW EDLW WR SURVSHFW WKH HGJHV RI ZHHGEHGV DQG GURS R΍V DV WKH VLQNHU IDOOV DQG GXH WR WKH WUDSSHG DLU LQ WKH FODZV WKH EDLW IDOOV DQG WUDLOV EHKLQG OHDYLQJ WKH FODZV XS LQ WKH ERG\ RI ZDWHU DV D FUDE RU FUDZ ZRXOG KDYH DV D PHWKRG RI GHIHQFH 7KLV VHHPV WR VZLWFK WKH EDVV RQ DQG WKH WDNHV DUH DOZD\V YHU\ SRVLWLYH

$LU &UDZV DUH SDFNHG LQ EDWFKHV RI HLJKW ZLWK D KHDY\ GXW\ ]LS ]LS ORFN RQ WKH SDFNHW WR KHOS PDLQWDLQ EDLW IUHVKQHVV ORFN RQ WKH SDFNHW WR KHOS PDLQWDLQ EDLW IUHVKQHVV Visit jour nearest tackle store and ask for Damiki’s Burn Grub loaded with Bass Juice

FATHER’S

DAY SPECIAL

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André van Rooyen Cell: 083 229 9502 www.avrtaxidermy.co.za 21 2 Maré M Street S | Roodepoort | 1724 Email: a E avrtaxidermy@mweb.co.za We W promote catch & release SA BASS 31 July 2018

>> SA BASS MASTER CLASS

FLIPPING

PART 3

THE ART OF

+P VJKU VJTGG RCTV UGTKGU YG NQQM CV VJG CTV QH Ć&#x20AC;KRRKPI YJKEJ YKNN GPNKIJVGPKPI CPF CUUKUV [QW VQ ECVEJ OQTG CPF DKIIGT ĹżUJ +P VJKU KUUWG YG NQQM CV TQFU NKPGU TGGNU DCKVU UKPMGTU CTGCU VQ Ć&#x20AC;KR DQCV EQPVTQN CPF OQTG >> Gordon Brown*

Soft plastic lizards can be used as jig trailers

A Tunder Struck football jig

here are no ifs and buts when it comes to tackle and equipment for flipping to bass in heavy cover. As Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve said before, the rod must be a minimum of 7â&#x20AC;&#x2122;6â&#x20AC;?, simply p y because anything shorter will not aallow yo you to flip a good distance. The rod needs to be a fast action rated up to 30lb line and to have a heavy power rating. With sso many lines on the market marke et to ch choose from, I would still recommend recomm mend a 100% fluorocarbon with a min nimum oof 20lb breaking strain. minimum Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nea arly invi nearly invisible and has no stretch, making makin ng it sens sensitive to feel those subtle bites. Some an bi anglers are starting to use braided lines lines, bit if you have not used braid before, I would stick to the monofilament type lines. Also always retie knots after landing a big fish, and continually check line for nicks or frayed spots as flipping heavy cover takes its toll on your line. The only reel to use is a baitcaster, preferably with a 6.2 or 7.1 gear ratio so as to take up any slack

line quickly. Remember, when a fish is hooked, you need to get it out of the brush as quickly as possible. Keep your drag set pretty tight, but not locked all the way down. If you hook a big fish, the line must slip a little rather than to break off. With the use of heavy line you should also use heavy wire hooks. The normal gauge hooks will open up when striking. The hook size will depend on the bait used. I always go up on the size hook because I am fishing for bigger fish and want a good solid hook set. The wide gap design is always a good choice. Always use a Texas rig (slip bullet weight) when fishing plastic baits, which must be pegged. The best way is by using a toothpick. The flat toothpicks are much thinner than the round ones, and can be pushed further in the weight. I use pliers to push the toothpick tight into the weight and then snap off the protruding ends. The reason for pegging the weight is because you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want the worm and weight to separate. When itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

Flipping is a casting technique used to place your bait in a specific target area 32 SA BASS July 2018

pegged, you have a solid one-piece lure that will go through heavy cover much easier. One can also buy Florida weights with a steel spring at the end. This makes it much easier as you can twist the sinker into the top of the worm. With the invention of the tungsten weights, which are much smaller in size than their lead counterparts, we now have a smaller profile that allows the bait to go through thick cover much easier. Tungsten weights come at a higher cost. One can also get these weights in a variety of colours at an even higher price tag, but if you can afford them it is well worth it.

Bait The number one bait for flipping is always going to be the jig. There is so much that can be said about jigs and many chapters have been written -and are rewritten – every year. We now also have the invention of the football swim jig and heavy finesse jigs, but keeping it basic, the standard weight to use is a 3/8oz to ½ oz jig in shallow water (one meter) with sparse cover, and a 5/8 oz to ¾ oz in very thick cover and deeper water ( more than three meters). The weight must also be considered when a certain fall rate is required. In clear water a faster fall might be better, as a bass cannot get a good look at it. In winter or stained water a slower fall is better. My suggestion is to buy a few jigs of different weights and colours, and experiment. Talking of colours, black and blue are a must in your tackle box. Next is the crab colour combinations, brown and orange, pumpkin seed, chartreuse and watermelon combinations. Remember, when fishing deep, the dark colours,

black, blue and Junebug will have the biggest contrast for fish to see. One can get jigs with tinsel that adds a little flash, and also with rattles. Trailers on the back of a jig is always a good option. The size of the trailer gives you a further option on rate of fall that you want to achieve – the bigger the trailer, the slower the fall. A trailer can consist of the following: Triple Ripple Craw, Yum Chuck, Guido Bug, Flippin’ Craw, single and twin tail grub, Uncle Josh pork rind baits, Brush Hogs, 6” and 8” lizards with the head cut off, 6” Dead Ringer worms and so on. If you are flipping plastic baits, any of the above trailers can be used on their own, including Brush Hogs and the numerous types of creature baits. Another bait is a single blade spinnerbait. Here I use a chartreuse/ white skirt with a gold coloured Colorado blade in dirty water, and a white or pearl skirt with a nickel blade in clear water. A 3/8oz to 1/2oz spinnerbait with a # 4 or #5 blade works best. A lot of times I tip this with a grub of the same colour. A plastic twin tail grub is also good and gives stability on the drop. Make sure you use a good swivel with the blade so that it turns easily on the drop.

fishing a lay down, stump or individual piece of structure, the sun works to your advantage, because you know that it will position the fish on the shady side of the structure. Take both factors into account as you also don’t want you’re shadow to fall across the structure. The position of the sun is not important when fishing very thick cover, as it will form a canopy of shade for the fish. I trust that, with all the information provided in this 3- part series, it has been enlightening and assist you to catch more and bigger fish. *Gordon Brown is a multiple Protea bass angler and a regular SA Bass contributor.

Boat position Boat positioning is a crucial aspect of flipping. In determining the proper way to approach a piece of cover or structure, the most important considerations are the wind and sun. Obviously, it is impossible to flip with the wind at your back because if you are easing up to a log and make a flip to it, the wind will push your boat on top of the cover. So always move the boat into the wind, regardless of how slight it is. When

SA BASS 33 July 2018

>> SA BASS KLASKAMER

Baarsgedrag Die top hengelaars sal maande, weke en dae spandeer om uit te werk waar die baars hulle tydens kompetisie sal bevind en wat hulle op daardie spesifieke tydstip sal wil eet, om dan op die dag van kompetisie vyf baars in hulle sak te probeer kry, met hopelik een of twee mooi, groter visse om sodoende ‘n vet tjek los te slaan.

>> Philip Kemp*

lles klink altyd so eenvoudig. As baarshengel tog maar net so eenvoudig was, maar ongelukkig is dit nou nie so maklik nie. Sommige top hengelaars het egter so ‘n aangebore aanvoeling vir dit wat die baars moontlik sal doen. Ek ken ‘n paar hengelaars wat in die katagorie val, en glo my, om saam met hulle te hengel, kan redelik intimiderend wees. Hierdie hengelaars het amper ‘n aangebore gevoel vir dit wat baars sal, of wil doen. Baars se gedrag is eintlik so eenvoudig, maar tog is ons as hengelaars geneig om dit so gekompliseerd te laat klink. Baars het nie die vermoë om te kan dink nie, ook nie die vermoë om te kan kies nie. Hulle reageer bloot net op instink en kondisionering.

Die skrywer met ‘n wintersbaars wat hy met ligte gerei gevang het 34 SA BASS July 2018

Hulle instink is bloot gebaseer op eet, teel, beskerming en verdediging. Die grootste deel van ‘n baars se gedrag is egter gebaseer op kondisionering en ons vind dit veral by ouer baars. As ‘n baars deur ‘n spesifieke area swem en daar kos te kry, is die kanse altyd goed dat hy net soos die “Pavlov en sy hondkonsep” weer sal terug keer na daardie spesifieke area vir kos. Die teenoorgestelde is ook waar. As ‘n baars in ‘n sekere area aangeval of sy lewe bedreig is, is die kanse ook goed dat hy nie weer na daardie area sal terugkeer nie. Dit is egter hier

waar dit geklompliseerd kan raak. Die baars se sintuie werk die meeste van die tyd saam om sy instink en kondisionering toe te laat om sy gedrag te domineer. Nou presies wat beteken dit? Alle spesies van vis het verskeie sintuie. Visie, reuk, gehoor, gevoel en die laterale lyn kombineer om ‘n stimulus na die brein toe te stuur en sodoende die vis se gedrag te beïnvloed. As ‘n baars dus honger is, sal sy maag ‘n boodskap na die brein stuur om te eet. Dit verhoog dus sy jag instink en hy is onmiddelik meer bewus van wat om hom gebeur. Sy sensoriese sisteem skakel aan en visie

Baars het nie die vermoë om te kan dink nie, ook nie die vermoë om te kan kies nie. Hulle reageer bloot net op instink en kondisionering

speel skielik ‘n belangriker rol as die baars begin rondkyk vir ‘n potensiële prooi. Dit is egter goeie visie en die laterale lyn langs sy lyf af wat hom help om ‘n smaaklike happie in die hande te kry. Die laterale lyn langs die lyf voel ook die verskil in waterdruk aan, maar so ook vibrasies in die water. So kan ‘n baars aanvoel as ‘n skool kleiner vissies naby verby swem deur die vibrasie van beweging wat hy deur die laterale lyn ervaar. Dit is natuurlike instink by baars om te gaan ondersoek instel as daar iewers vibrasie in die water is. Sodra ‘n baars dan gaan ondersoek instel, word sy oë die belangriker sintuig om op staat te maak. Al kan die baars aanvanklik nie die skool vissies sien nie, sal hy in die rigting van die prooi begin beweeg. Sodra die baars dan sy prooi kan sien, sal hy tot die aanval oorgaan. Die kleiner vissies, wat die prooi is, sal juis in skole swem as ‘n verdedigingsmeganisme. Die klein vissies sal dan gekoördineerd beweeg as

‘n skool en sal soms vir die roofvis die voorkoms van een groot vis aanneem. So sal die roofvis soms die skool vissies met rus laat. Kleiner vissies, soos die Gizzard, soos wat hy in Amerika bekend staan, het ‘n swart kol op sy stert. Wetenskaplikes glo dat die kol deur predatore soos baars as die vis se oog gesien word. Omrede baars die kop eerste aanval, sal dit in die geval die stert wees. Dit gee die vissie dus ‘n beter kans om te ontsnap. Die skool vissies sal ook in verskeie rigtings laat spat as hulle aangeval word. Dit sal die baars, wat uitsluitlik op sy visie staatmaak, deurmekaar maak, en so het die kleiner vissies ‘n beter kans om te ontsnap. Beide spesies gebruik dus hulle instink om so te oorleef. Die natuur sal ons altyd verstom. Daar is vir ons nog soveel om te leer van die wonderlike wêreld van baarshengel. Gebruik hierdie wintermaande om juis soveel as moontlik uit te vind, nie net die baars se gedrag nie, maar ook so ‘n ietsie van elke prooi waarop die baars jag maak. Probeer uitvind hoe die

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gedrag van die prooi ook die baars kan beïnvloed. Ons is so geneig om soms net navorsing oor baars te doen en moet eerder die prooi ook bestudeer. Lekker lees... en as jy ‘n kansie kry om die winter ‘n lyn in die water te kry, moet jy dit beslis doen.

4" Flutter Craw Brown Pumpkin Copper

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SA BASS 35 July 2018

>> SA BASS TOURNAMENT NEWS Relationships are tricky to say the least and as we all know, a slight difference of opinion can in some instances have dire consequences for a relationship. When it comes to relationships, there are many sayings that put things in greater perspective. "You don't know someone until you live with them" is one of many.

The

Perfect Marriage... >> John Badenhorst*

’m not talking about a normal conventional marriage here. What I’m talking about is something that many anglers have experienced and some will experience it in time to come. Relationships need care, dedication, understanding, flexibility and a passion to succeed. Take away any one of these elements and the relationship may very well be doomed. You as an angler have passion, drive and commitment to your sport. One fateful day you bump into another angler with the same passion and after chatting for a bit, you make arrangements to go and throw a line together. Some weeks later you do just that and have an incredible day out on the water. 36 SA BASS July 2018

You chat even more and decide that based on your mutual passion for this sport you are going to start fishing tournaments together. The new season of a tournament series is about to kick off and you’re excited to get out there with your new found friend and “perfect” fishing partner and do your thing on a competitive level. The first two tournaments go well and you find yourself sitting within the top ten spot on the log and knowing that keeping at it will put you well within your goals when it comes to the end of the tournament series. Sadly, in life, we all have to deal with disappointment and the next tournament does not go according to plan and now things start to change.

With the next tournament looming, you know that in order to hold onto your current point standing, you have to be better prepared and do some serious homework which includes an intense pre-fish at a venue that neither you or your partner have ever fished. You spend hours on Google, you talk to social anglers, get tips and ideas as part of your planning and the day before your planned pre-fish, your partner casually informs you that he can’t make it because he is attending a baby shower with his wife for a friend. You end up fishing this new venue for the first time on tournament day and barely hold on to your log standing. During the tournament, you suggest a specific spot that you’ve been told about and yet, because your fishing partner also happens to be the owner of the boat, decides to try some other spots only to find out at the prize giving that the top three bags of fish came out at the very spot that you suggested. With the next tournament you at least get to prefish and develop a pattern and have a sound plan for tournament day and feeling confident, you arrive ready to do battle with those green fish. Out on the water, things are going well and with five fish in the live-well, you start working on upgrading. With four hours to go before the close of the tournament, you make a suggestion to head out to a spot you’ve heard of when your partner informs you that he’s calling it a day and heading back as he’s tired from a long week of work and promised to spend some time with his wife because tomorrow is their wedding anniversary. You concede unhappily only to find out later that you missed the top ten standings by a mere 100g and with four hours to go, this would have been an easy task.

Here is when you start regretting this relationship and it’s only made worse when your partner informs you that due to his planned long weekend with his brother, he can’t make it to the next tournament. At this point your team slips down into the mid twenties and you’re not a happy angler. On the next tournament you plan everything, from extra fuel and maps to picking up some secret lures only to find that your partner pays the entrance fee because he forgot and you hastily have to run out to the bank to make payment and make urgent calls to secure your entry. This and worse has happened to many anglers fishing the many tournament trails here and abroad. Just like any relationship, it’s important to set out boundaries from the very start and to work together even on paper in planning a strategy and goal and sticking to the plan to the very end. Tournament fishing takes a serious amount of planning, practice and a very high level of dedication. Granted, there are going to be mishaps where your partner or even you forget something as simple as charging the batteries for the trolling motor and this is simply because we all have busy work schedules to juggle. Sadly, finding that your partner is not who or what you thought them to be might be too late in a tournament trail and you find yourself having wasted not only time but a great deal of hard earned cash by paying in advance for the season. When fishing with someone becomes a grind, it’s time to look at your goals again and if those goals are still attainable, then stick it out, if not, maybe it’s time to cut your losses and walk away. *John Badenhorst is the editor of SA BASS magazine, the Master of Ceremony for FLW South Africa, radio presenter at Platinum Gold Radio and a keen ultra finesse angler.

SA BASS 37 July 2018

Limpopo

Gauteng

L-t-r: Team Beli VC, Team Fear no Fish, Team Exterminator, Team SA BASS LP, Team Anti-depresant

L-t-r: Tony Lagesan, Gareth Dryden, Shaun John, Peet vd Schyff, Johan Cloete, Hennie du Preez, Malcolm Coetzee, Steve Dyke, Herman Ras, Japie Botha

9.560kg

9.320kg

Venue: Nandoni Dam

Venue: de Hoop Dam

Winning team: Beli VC Team Members: Justy Varkevisser & Reed Eastman Number of fish weighed: 5 Total bag weight: 9.560kg Heaviest fish: 2.635kg Best time: Early morning Depth: 25ft Structure: Channel Lure: 6â&#x20AC;? Moffat Colour: Green pumpkin Rig: Texas-rig

Winning team: Rapala VMC Team Members: Hennie du Preez & Johan Cloete Number of fish weighed: 5 Total bag weight: 9.32kg Heaviest fish: 3.36kg Best time: Early morning Depth: 4 to 6ft Structure: Trees Lure: Black Speed Craw on Texas rig Lure: White/chartreuse spinnerbait Rig: Texas-rig

Next venue: see our website www.flwsouthafrica.com

Results: Day-1

1: Team Beli VC - 9.560kg

1: Team Rapala VMC - 9.32kg

2: Team Fear no Fish - 6.720kg

2: Team HillBilly Poisen - 7.79kg

3: Team Ex terminator - 5.135kg

3: Team Gel Ev ents - 7.65kg

4: Tean SA BASS LP - 4.250kg

4: Team Bass Outlaw s - 6.90kg

5: Team Anti-depresant - 3.980kg

5: Team PG Aluminium Silv er Lakes - 6.78kg

38 SA BASS July 2018

May North West

Back: August Lingnau, Pieter Khourie, Louis Bezuidenhout, Anton Bouwer, Johann Zwarts, Vikesh Parbhoo Front: Anton Vogt, PD Swanepoel, André Pretorius, Nigel Potgieter

8.020kg Venue: Mokolo Dam Winning team: SA Rare Game Breeders Team Members: Anton Vogt & PD Swanepoel Number of fish weighed: 5 Total bag weight: 8.020kg Heaviest fish: 3.600kg Best time: Whole day Depth: 10 to 20 meter (32 - 65ft) Structure: Rock cliffs Lure: ½ ounce jig with Stretch-40 trailer Colour: Black&blue jig Rig: Next venue: see our website www.flwsouthafrica.com

Championship 2018 Bivane Dam, 23 - 25 Aug

Results: 1: Team SA Rare Game Breeders - 8.02kg 2: Team Nev er Giv e Up - 5.86kg 3: Team Westv aal BM - 5.14kg 4: Team Catastrofix - 5.10kg 5: Teams Greens² - 4.52kg VisitVisit www.flwsouthafrica.com www.flwsouthafrica.com for entry for entry forms, forms, dates, dates venues and and venues. results. For general enquiries phone 082-416-5524 SA BASS 39 July 2018

May

Kwa-Zulu Natal

Team R&R - Ross Summerell & Ronnie Thompson

7.515kg Venue: Albert Falls Dam Winning team: R&R Team Members: Ross Summerell & Ronnie Thompson Number of fish weighed: 5 Total bag weight: 7.515kg Heaviest fish: 3.060kg Best time: Early morning Depth: 4 to 15ft Structure: Rocky ledge Lure: Mojo rigged Watermelon Green fluke Lure: Slow rolling a chartreuse chatterbait Next venue: see our website www.flwsouthafrica.com

Results: 1: Team R & R - 7.515kg 2: Team Peter Maskell Auctions - 5.850kg 3: Team Predator - 4.685kg 4: Team Bass Warehouse Fishtec - 2.600kg 5: Team Gamakatsu Outdoors 365 - 0.570kg VisitVisit www.flwsouthafrica.com www.flwsouthafrica.com for entry for entry forms, forms, dates, dates venues and and venues. results. For general enquiries phone 082-416-5524 40 SA BASS July 2018

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>> SA BASS INTERNATIONAL Swendseid had an awesome day cranking giant smallmouths

Water, W

eather,

Smallmouths

Columbia River Smallmouth Adventure: Lake Celilo (Celilo Park, Oregon) 42 SA BASS July 2018

>> Story and Images by Fishingboy and David Swendseid (DUO Realis U.S.A)

Part 2

Swells and white caps are common in open areas on Lake Celilo

Who says there are not big smallmouths in the marina?

n Part-1 of this final instalment of the Columbia River series, I talked about the highlights of my smallmouth bass fishing adventure, focusing on mid-depth crankbait fishing for pre-spawn fish in Lake Celilo’s east pool. I finished the article with rough water tips from David Swendseid. He addressed different types of rough water, life jackets & flotation devices, pre-launch safety checks and boat design. Here are two more tips on how to handle rough water.

Rid your boat of water Always ensure you have strategic means to get rid of water from inside the boat. A swamped boat is the number one reason for deaths and injuries. When your boat gets swamped by waves, access water will short the electrics leaving you immobilized on the water. A dead outboard renders you immobile in situations where waves will continue to crash your boat onto rocks causing it to take in more water. Boats with upright flotation offer additional safety but even well-built boats may sink rendering the occupants in danger. So, extra bilge pumps, even portable units and or even buckets will be useful.

Prop and power correctly Never run your boat out in big water with a fast propeller. When you are fishing in windy conditions, use a prop that lifts the boat quickly that allows the hull to climb.

For instance, a four-blade prop with smaller pitch will allow the hull to lift up quicker. A prop with heavy slip is slow out of the hole and can lead to disaster in rough water situations. All in all, regardless of what you might face out on the water, it is imperative that you acquaint yourself with basic on the water safety skills before you head out to big water.

Finding pre-spawn staging areas We got started in Lake Celilo’s east pool under predominantly clear but windy conditions after having made it through rough water that has become a daily routine for us since day-1. We spent the morning fishing deeper areas such as riprap and bluff shorelines but ended up catching only walleyes. Finding smallmouths in staging areas often depends on the temperature gauge. As a case in point, we fished the west pool two days ago where water temperatures were in the 9°C range. As conditions stand in the east pool, the water temperature was already pushing 10°C by midday on one of the riprap shorelines where we were headed to fish. The riprap banks in Lake Celilo are vast. It is practically impossible for the angler to hit every fishy looking spot. Instead of focussing on everything that is out there, we narrowed the high percentage areas down to transitioning rocks where we found schooling fish in isolated areas tight on the break under approximately 1.5m to 2m of water. SA BASS 43 July 2018

A close-up shot of a solid fish on Realis Crank M65 8A

Before we even had the chance to fish areas with similar features nearby, conditions turned windy, leaving us with no other alternatives but to head back to the marina. In fact, I actually had second thoughts about heading back but it turned out to be a good call after all.

Action-packed marina Warming trend is always a key factor. If the water is stable or warming, whether you are out in a cove or a marina, bass should be present and active. Having spent the majority of the day in the east pool searching for the warmest, stable areas to fish, is ironic for me to even say that the 10Â°C range water temperatures we found in the marina came as a total surprise. Every marina is unique and I am not implying that they all hold big bass. However, the conditions we encountered in one of the nearby marinas were literally scenarios straight out of the textbook. The key factors that generated active feeding conditions in that area were the flow characteristics of the warm water within the marina into areas along the confined shorelines as a result of the wind and current as well as the topology of the marina itself. We were primarily targeting areas where we believed the mixing of warm water occurs, and those were predominantly areas along current breaks and windblown shoreline outside the marina. We were literally fishing on prime waters unknowingly and ended up catching four solid smallmouths cranking shallow in areas where most anglers would motor past. We caught some giant smallmouths fishing just one marina and it was literally an action-packed afternoon. More so, it was a meaningful way to conclude my weeklong trip on the Columbia River. We could have caught more fish but that is a story for another day.

Top baits of the day Swendseid caught this solid fish cranking a Realis Crank M65 in the marina 44 SA BASS July 2018

The top bait of the day was the DUO Realis Crank M65, specifically the 8A, in Omnicraw and Red Tiger

Compared to the 11A, the 8A has a slightly shorter diving bill that can be fished shallow or mid-depth on either heavier or lighter line

We were forced to head back to the marina before river conditions worsen

colour patterns. Earlier in the week, I caught a lot of big smallmouths fishing deep primarily on the 11A but the conditions have changed. Switching up to the 8A enabled us to fish in 1.5m to 2m depth range where we believe pre-spawn females were holding. I ran my 8A on a 12lb-test Sunline Basic FC. I chose 12lb-test because it comes in a diameter that enables me to run the bait deeper in certain areas. All in all, I was fishing the 8A fairly shallow and making bottom contact regularly. One of the key features of the M65 that I want to highlight is its obstacle avoidance capabilities. The M65 achieves that with its fixed, low ballast system in the lure

body which gives it the ability to bump, collide and crawl through cover more effectively. This is an improved feature that also enables the M65 to enter and remain in the strike zone longer. Whether you are a pro or weekend warrior, the unique features of the M65 will equip you with distinct advantages to increase your catch ratio, especially in challenging conditions.

Acknowledgements A big and sincere thank you to DUO Realis U.S.A, David Swendseid and his family for inviting me to Oregon and the Columbia River. Thank you for reading.

SA BASS 45 July 2018

>> SA BASS ANGLING INTERNATIONAL >> Anthony Hawkswell*

Angling Recognised

EFTTA CEO, Jean-Claude Bel (right) at the meeting in Brussels

EFTTA and the European Anglers Alliance (EAA) have welcomed a resolution adopted by the European Parliament’s Fisheries Committee which further recognises the importance of recreational fishing within communities in the region and its major contribution to the economy. The Fisheries Committee has requested that the European Commission evaluates the role of angling when considering the Common Fisheries Policy CFP) so that both types of maritime fishing – commercial and recreation – can be managed in a ‘balanced, fair and sustainable’ manner. The resolution, a non-legislative binding report entitled ‘State of play of the recreational fisheries in the European Union’ was drafted by MEP, Norica Nicolai, the Chair of the EFTTA and EAA-backed Forum on Recreational Fisheries and Aquatic Environment. The report was adopted at a meeting in Brussels last week and it is hoped that it will be approved by plenary vote in June. “This is yet another important step towards a muchneeded full recognition by the European institutions of the recreational fisheries sector and its importance to people, communities and the economy, including the implementation of the eco-system-based fisheries management approach and ‘best-use’ of the society’s wild fish resource,” says EFTTA and the EAA. Both groups contributed to the preparation of the report and organised a conference earlier this year in the European Parliament to discuss its findings. The meeting was attended by several MEP’s and representatives of the European Commission and Member States. During the debate, EFTTA and the EAA reiterated the need to include the recreational fishing sector in the CFP on an equal footing with the two other major fisheries stakeholders, commercial fishing and aquaculture, when discussing the CFP and the management of sustainable fish stocks. EFFTA and the EAA both welcomed the report’s call for more and better catch and socio-economic data on a regular basis to get a clearer picture of catches by anglers and its socio-economic importance and trends. 46 SA BASS July 2018

Bass Cat Increase Production Bass Cat and sister company Yar-Craft have Rick Pierce announced plans to increase the number of boats produced at their Arkansas facility by more than 50%. The project is expected to create around sixty new jobs, will expand existing facilities by 18,000 square feet and see the construction of a new building. The company says that improved marketing, sales and new product development have driven demand ahead of market growth over the past three years. The expansion will enable both brands to reduce the resulting significant backlog. Announcing the plans last week, Bill Yeargin, CEO of parent company Correct Craft, and Rick Pierce, President of both brands, said they were thrilled to see what the future holds for Bass Cat and Yar-Craft. “The entire team has worked hard to get where we are today and this project will help our thrust into the future. Things here are extremely bright,” said Pierce.

New CIFTE Show

Crowds at the opening of the first CIFTE show in Suzhou

The first Chinese International Fishing Trade Exhibition (CIFTE) opened its doors early June in Suzhou, near Shanghai. Angling International was the only global recreational fishing trade magazine to attend the event. It was run alongside the Suzhuo Shanghua domestic show, which celebrated its tenth anniversary. Both events were organised by the Chinese Fishing Tackle Association (CFTA). The international trade show had its own professional trade complex and altogether the whole arena comprised nine halls on two levels. Among the exhibitors at the event were: Mustad, Shimano, emerging Chinese brand, Crony, awardwinning hookmaker, BKK, and Italian-based line OEM, Gruppo.

BC210 Bass Boat an avid tournament fisherman myself, I SeaArk Boats has launched a new bass model, the BC 210 – the first of its kind could see more and more of a need for in the Arkansas company’s line-up. an aluminium boat that offers all the features that allows you to fish The new boat uses 0.125 gauge comfortably and competitively. aluminium for the step-hull design, floors and decks and the “It was a privilege to get very manufacturer stresses there is no valuable input from our sister wood in the build. company, Bass Cat Boats and The interior features a builtRick Pierce. We look forward to in cooler, a 43-gallon live-well, introducing more models in this four lockable storage boxes and two line-up soon.” SeaArk stresses that no wood has been lockable rod boxes for up to 22 rods. used in the manufacturer of its new all The BC 210 is 21’6” long, with aluminium BC210 bass boat Also standard on the BC 210 is a a 94 inch beam, 72 inch bottom and fibreglass console, designed by Bass Cat 200 horsepower rating. There are many Boats, that accommodates a large depth finder. options available, including dual consoles, “This endeavour has been en a long time coming,” power poles, hydraulic jack plate, and the Amped ent, Stev said SeaArk Boats President, Steve Henderson. “Being Package.

Hayabusa Spin Muscle The Hayabusa Spin Muscle Wacky Hook

The Hayabusa Spin Muscle Mu Wacky Hook Wack igned d to enhanc enhance the actio is designed action of wacky aits while al also impro rigged baits improving hooking and es. landing rates. The hook’ss shar sharp V-bend tightly secures a soft plastic worm and allows the rod’s action to transmit directly to the bait, says the 60-yearold manufacturer. The Spin Muscle’s design also allows hooking power to travel directly to the hook point for solid hook-sets and the semi-twisted hook point locks into the fish’s mouth upon penetration. The Japanese-made hook comes with or without a weed guard and is available in multiple sizes. It has a bait holder and is specially elongated from point to hook eye. The hook is endorsed by FLW angler, Kurt Dove. “It’s kind of a secret but a lot of people are using it,” says Dove. “It is great for finesse type presentation. It will embed in a fish’s jaw further than traditional round bend hooks on a lot of presentations.”

William Chambers Dies The founder of Zoom Bait Company, William ‘Ed’ Chambers, has died at the age of 73 after losing a fight against a rare form of cancer. Described as a ‘giant’ within the industry, Chambers was an iconic lure designer who started the Zoom Company in his backyard as a hobby before officially founding it in 1977. Family-owned and operated from day one, he worked alongside his wife, Faye, growing the business with the help of close friends and fellow fishermen from the Athens BASSMaster. Eddie Wortham was at high school when he became Zoom’s first employee. He is still there as General Manger. Shortly after starting the company, Zoom experienced another spurt in sales. Chambers’ son, William Edward Jr, while still at school, stepped in and began running routes and delivering worms across the southeast with Wortham. Chambers Jr was later joined in the business by his sister, Kym, who filled the shoes of her mother when she retired. In an obituary posted on its website, Zoom Baits said: “Chambers was a humble man who never saw himself as famous. He was completely content working seven days a week seeking constant perfection. This was evident in his second hobby, making handmade balsa crankbaits. “W.E.C. Custom Lures was his passion. It was born around 1992 and, by the mid-90’s, was in full swing. With the help of close friends, Chambers developed many crankbait models that are highly sought after to this day.”

*Anthony Hawkswell is the editor of Angling International since 2013

SA BASS 47 July 2018

>> SA BASS CONSERVATION

Survey Revealed

multi-disciplinary study by researchers from Rhodes, Cape Town and North-West Universities, the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB) and the Oceanographic Research Institute (ORI) on the economic impact of the recreational fishery in South Africa, which was recently commissioned by the South African Consolidated Recreational Angling Association (SACRAA) has revealed that in 2017 total spending by an estimated 1.3 million recreational anglers contributed R26.5 billion to the economy. The industry also supported 94000 employment opportunities. The study was funded by the South African Fishing Tackle Agents and Distributors (SAFTAD). At a SACRAA conference industry representatives, researchers and high profile marine and freshwater anglers deliberated on key issues facing the current and future status of recreational fishing in the country, in both coastal and inland waters. The sectors within the economy that benefit the most from recreational fishing are the manufacturing and the trade, accommodation & catering sectors (26.5 and 24.9% respectively). It was also estimated that a quarter of all recreational fishers come from low-income households and that many use the fish they catch as a safety net to ensure there is food on the table.

“These findings confirm our belief that recreational fishing, in all its forms, is a valuable contributor to our country’s economy and is also a significant creator of employment opportunities,” says SACRAA chairman Mr John Pledger.

48 SA BASS July 2018

“It is therefore deserving of far more attention and interaction with the various government departments that have the mandate to manage and regulate it,” he adds. SACRAA is recognized as an interest group in terms of Section 8 of the Marine Living Resources Act (Act 18 of 1998) and will apply also apply for recognition once the Inland Fisheries Policy is implemented via legislation. It is a non-profit association established in reaction to the limited level of recognition of the recreational sector and the lack of transparency and interaction with the sector by amongst others the Department of Agriculture, Forestry & Fisheries (DAFF), and out of concern for the declining state of key angling species. It is an independent body that acts in the best interests of its members and the recreational fishing industry. It is not affiliated to any government or other angling organizations but has the support of the South African Sport Anglers & Casting Confederation (SASACC) and SAFTAD. *Additional Survey info: Prof Warren Potts, e-mail: w.potts@ ru.ac.za; Tel: (046) 6038415 *Information re SACRAA: Mr John Pledger, E-mail: jpledger@iafrica.com; Tel: (011) 794-6950 *SACRAA - South African Consolidated Recreational Angling Association. For more information on SACRAA and how you can become involved please visit their website at www.sacraa.co.za *SAFTAD Show (South African Fishing Tackle Agents and Distributors)

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