moving to SA

[sboxman]

Hello guys,

In a couple of weeks I will be relocating from Amsterdam to SA, to Bloemfontein to be precise. I am a fishing enthousiast, mostly on pike, zander and perch. Now I have seen that SA has some nice predators to catch. Id really would like to fish on bass and if possible goliath tiger fish.

Back in the Netherlands I use ultralight equiptment (5_10gr gear). What is the average bass in SA doing in terms of force and power? And do any of you know where to go shopping for gear in Bloem? Are thereany spots in bloem to throw a lure afterworking hours?

Hope to catch some monsters in your beautifull country.

[Navrik]

Welcome sboxman. I am sure one of our members closer to Bloem will respond. You won't really find tigerfish in the inland waters. Mostly on the East of Natal and up north in some of our neighbouring countries.

You will however be able to catch giant catfish in the Orange River as well as the ultra popular yellowfish. Gariep dam around 2 hours away from Bloem aslo has yellow fish and we recently saw some large mouth bass catching.

Bass is a predator so it is very aggressive. You will typically find size to around 3kg with the record being around 6.5kg. We also have the small mouth bass mainly in the dams of the Western Cape which is even more aggressive and gets up to about 3.5kg with 2kg - 2.5kg caught quite often.

Areas like the Vaal river probably 2-3 hours away from Bloem also has yellowish, barbel (catfish), carp, mudfish and bass.

[sboxman]

Thanks for yor reply! I dont think i will go for carp and cats, takes alot of gear to bring with you. First couple of months i wont hve a car I am affraid. Yellowfiah looks like a bottom fouraging fish, like carp, isnt it?

Do you think my gear would be sufficient to take with me to SA?

Rods:
abu garcia vendetta 5-21gr 2.70m
mitchell 0-8 gr 1,50m

Reel:
Mitchell mag pro lite 500 series.

Braid:
Fox jigsilk nanofill 0.10mm 13.8 lbs

Lure:
Mostly softbaits of Reins (rockvibes, gtails 5-12 cm). (I wont take the jigheads)
rapala j-5 to 13
Spinners

[Jeremy]

Welcome to the site sboxman. You are not going to get goliath tigers in SA. They are only in the Congo and Tanzanzania, central Africa. You will even struggle to get tiger fish in SA and the only place is in northern Zululand at Jozini dam.

I would say your best bet is to target bass which is not even indigenous to SA but a welcome species as they are so much fun but you will quickly see that you will need some form of water craft to targeted properly.