Oppiekoppie Bass Farm - Brits

Where: Oppiekoppie Bass Farm - Near Brits
Date: Saturday, 28 April 2007.
Time: Arrived at 6:30, left at 13:30.
Accessability: Good
Weather: Cloudy and very cold throughout the day. Windy, cloud cover constantly changing
Water condition: Brown
Water temperature: 15-16 Degrees
Fishing by appointment only:
Please phone Ben Calitz 082-3600 373 Markus Willers: 082-802 5063 before you go.

A man on the Radio says it's going to be a bad day for fishing...
...but what does he know right? A lot apparently. Oppiekoppie is a nice little place nestled in the koppies near Brits in the North West Province. The Dam has been there for a while now, recently new dams have been built and the main dam has also been extended. There is plenty of Bass and Kurpers, stocked periodically.

A very cold day!
This day was a particularly cold day. Windy and definitely not ideal for fishing...but I firmly believe that you can catch Bass on any kind of day, you just need to work harder...much, much harder. I only caught 3 that day, and only one was worth writing home to about. The water was also brown in colour and visibility was very low. I tried a number of different techniques, targeting fish in all sorts of spots. Oppiekoppie Bass Farm as abundant structure and little coves and grass overhangs where bass can hide and ambush pray. Slow retrieval didn't work that day, neither did dark, pumpkin or watermelon seed coloured lures work...no the only thing that work where small little 2" white coloured grubs (Berkley Gulp). I also had success with a Booyah White Blade Spinner (3/8).
Fish were biting short (close to bank). All strikes, even the ones I missed seemed to be aggressive strikes as opposed to feeding strikes.



Conclusion:
Good experience. Nice place, baaaad day for fishing. Will I go back? Definitely! Early summer, late spring; March should be excellent.


Visit them at www.oppiekoppiebassfarm.co.za

Bass fishing at Harties!... Yes, I said Harties

Where: Hartebeespoort Dam.
Date: Saturday, 14 April 2007.
Time: Arrived at 8:30, left at Saturday 12:30.
Accessability: Very Good.
Weather: Cloudy and cold in the morning. Warm and clear in the late moring and afternoon.
Cloudy and cold Friday (night before).
Water condition: Clear and clean.
Water temperature: Relatively warm considering time of year.
Fees: R25.00 per person, R25.00 per vehicle.


Great Expectations
We were promised a trip to the Vaal on a friend's boat. But due to unfortunate circumstances, that never realised. So Foxtrot, Savage, another friend of ours and I reluctantly headed towards Hartebeespoort Dam. Don’t ask way, we just did. I promise you, I did not expect to write anything about the weekend’s fishing.

We fished at Oos Oewer Angling Club. The day started overcast and chilly but the sky cleared up at about 09:30. Despite the cold night before, the water was relatively warm. We also expected poor water condition, but were surprised to see clear water.

Fish’on!
We fished from the land and caught more than 30 Small Mouth Bass between us. Savage started with a blinder, landing three bass in three casts. Most of the bass where caught on spinner bait. Gold, Black and orange colours where the most successful. I tried worms and Rapalas, with some success. We even caught two spotted bream. As I said before, the water wasn’t to cold, so the fish were active. Fast retrieval of spinner bait did the trick.

Outcome?
I’d say successful. Nice day, except for the ‘misunderstanding’ we had about going to the Vaal River and fishing on a boat all day. A mistake I’ll never make again.

Foxtrot goes to Mapelane - Northern Kwazulu Natal

This may not count as fresh water fishing but the fishing was as fresh as any other place I know.

I met Henk, our host at my work place. I found out that he is the one and only father of Raymond de Bruyn, one of the fishermen on ESA. This got me thinking and a plan started to develop. It did not take me long to realise that old Henk loved fishing – it was ultimately him that taught Raymond how to fish – or so he claims. We decided that with a few friends we will tackle the big sharks in the Mapelane bay. I was told that ragged tooth sharks weighing up to 180 kg can be landed. I thought what the hell, it is worth a try. I tried to get Bossie and Savage to go along they were a little concerned about the sizes of the sharks and decided to keep to fresh water fishing a little longer.

So I went with Henk, his younger son Steven and an accomplished mountain bike rider called Norman.

We were warned that no-one caught any fish for the last 5 months but like any good fishermen we believed that we will be the ones to change all of that … ga

Our trip started on Wednesday 28 Feb and we should have known when it took us 4 hours to sort out the trailer lights that this was not going to be a normal fishing trip. We loaded all the equipment, tents ground sheets, rods and reels, more rods and reels, gas braais, pots and pans. Even a bread pan as Henk was adamant that he was going to bake beer bread. (Why any one wants to make bread from beer still eludes me). When we finished, the bakkie looked like a taxi on its way to Moria city on Easter weekend.

Thursday 1 March

The roads to Mapelane are in a good condition but I would suggest a high riding bakkie as the last 20 k's goes through natural forest and it takes you along a two track gravel road. The camp site is based in natural forest and there are plenty shade trees for tents. Don’t forget Blue death (can be bought at the local shop) or the ants will carry you and your tent away.

After we set up camp, we waited in anticipation as Steven prepared the rods (He was the only one accept for Henk that knew how) Henk just looked. We would later realise that this was something he did well…look that is. We went to the beach and were nearly blown away by the wind. Henk noted that the wind was blowing the wrong way but still we tried. The sea was very rough and Steven battled to slide bait (Once again he was the only one that knew how while Henk stood nearby and looked on). We soon realised that this was not to be and started concentrating on the lagoon. This was more to my liking. At least here I could cast and did not feel like a grade 1 student on the first day of school. Steven and Norman caught a few Thorn fish or Flag tails as we knew them. Norman soon renamed them to something that cannot be mentioned on this website.

We went back to camp very tired and believed that Friday would be better… Ga

Friday 2 March

We woke up early morning ready for a big day full of big fish. When we got to the beach we realised that the sea was even bigger than the previous day and decided there and then to leave the sea fishing for later…. We decided to go to Cray fish point. “It is a short stroll along the beach” Henk said… GA

Two kilometres later we reach Cray fish point. There are supposed to be Cray fish there, or so they say. It is a beautiful spot and one can catch reef fish, that is if you can get to the reef. As it was Cray fish season we tried our luck and as any good fisherman will tell you, we though we will catch our quota of 8 per day within the first fiver minutes. We had illusions of crayfish for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We caught two in four days…. By midday we decided to head back home – another two k’s. By the time we reached the camp site we could have been biltong and decided to have a drink, mistake number one. Later we tried the lagoon again, mistake number two. This time I got on board and caught a small little cob. I felt like a school boy that lost his virginity - I wanted more but nothing happened. As the wind tried to blow us off the beach, we decided to head back for camp. Once again the thirst got hold of us. Mistake number 3. We tried to put a newly bought Webber braai together, but this was as successful us our fishing and this made us even thirstier. Steven and Henk told us to be careful at night as there may be Gabon vipers around. This didn’t sit well with Norman as he felt that he may be allergic to snakes. By 11 that night I was looking for a second pair of legs as mine didn’t work anymore. As I couldn’t find any I decided to go to bed. Tomorrow was going to be the big fishing day GAAA !
Saturday 03 March

We were woken up by the shrill sound of a six year old girl screaming at the top of her voice. It was Norman. He woke up with the biggest snake staring him right in the eye. I did not know that a big person can move that fast. It later became known that it was only a small inquisitive mongoose who only wanted to see what was going on inside the tent. (I think he is still running)

Any way, we got ready for another day of big fishing. Cray Fish Point here we come… again. We were back sooner than we anticipated. We got board and decided to take a stroll up the dune. This is the largest natural dune in the southern hemisphere I was told. To me it felt like the largest dune in the world Back down again and another bit of lagoon fishing. I caught a few cod and the largest shark for the weekend - A 30 cm Lesser Sand Shark. It was the largest and only shark caught by our party that weekend. By now we realised that maybe we were not going to get lucky with the fishing and left for camp.

Sunday 04 March

We were woken up by the shrill sound of a six year old girl screaming at the top of her voice. It was Norman again. This time he had a bad dream. The day went pretty much the same as all the others accept that this time Raymond and Wesley from ESA came to visit us. They gave the sea one look and went back to camp. Didn’t bother.
Monday 05 March

We packed up early morning and left for home. It was a great trip and though we did not catch much, I can recommend Mapelane to everybody.

The camp sits are good and 99 % of them have shade for the whole day. I would suggest camping over caravan as the road into Mapelane may be tricky with a caravan. Take your own braai as there is no braais in the campsites.

There is a small shop that has the most important things like beer, but do take water along as you can not drink the water on the site. The ablutions are ok but don’t expect 5 stars. The toilets were clean and I did not feel uncomfortable in the showers. My wife will hate it though. So make of it what you want.

Fishing is normally good but I will phone next time before we go. Just to make sure. But I will go. You can fish for any thug from tiger fish in the lagoon to large raggies and honeycombs in the sea. In Cray fish season you may become lucky and catch a Cray fish or to on the reefs.

There are no shark nets but I saw a few people having fun in the water.

If camping id not your style you can also make use of a few well equipped Chalets in the reserve. For the not so much into the fishing people, there is a couple of Hiking trails to enjoy.

Bossie's trip to Top Lodge in the Drakensberg

Top Lodge
Pristine scenery, calm misty weather, a borrowed rod & reel and enough bass to keep me busy for a week. Top Lodge is a private little spot hidden in the Babangibone Valley in the northern Drakensberg.

My wife and I went there mid February this year and I can strongly recommend it to anyone. We met our hosts Gavin and Joan Everitt late that Friday afternoon. Gavin showed us around our private cottage and made us feel right at home. Earlier I had laid my eyes on a little dam just north of our cottage, so when Gavin offered me a Rod and Reel, I had to accept

Saturday Morning
Early the next morning after a brisk hike in the hills, I took my wife back to the cottage, made her some coffee and snuck off. I approached the little dam like a cat sneaking up to its pray, inspecting and analysing the contours and shadows. I left all my gear at home, but found everything I needed in Gavin's tackle box.

The water was shallow and stained from the leaves. I couldn't see very deep but could make out enough movement to spot my target. And so, with a floating popper lure, the hunt began.
I only fished for about two hours, caught two and missed a few more. It was great fun.

What else?
Besides fishing, Top Lodge offers a whole lot more. Here are some of things you can do, see and have access to when visiting Gavin and Joan at Top Lodge:

- braai / barbecue
- onsite- fireplace
- fishing (less than 3km)
- fishing onsite
- golf (less than 5km)
- horse riding (less than 5km)
- kitchen (fully equipped)
- lake onsite
- microwave in unit
- nature trail (less than 2km)
- nature trail onsite
- parking all onsite
- private entrance
- restaurant (less than 5km)
- rock art (less than 20km)

You can contact Gavin and Joan at:
Local Tel: 036-4386575
Cell (1): 083-3681111
Cell (2): 083-9906384