Newby disscusions

[Jim_From_Zim]

Edit update: 

The divisional weigh station will be held at Eligwe and not at Emerald Casino as I had previously mentioned.

[WalterK]

Depending on my shift pattern, I would like to be there. Will give me an opportunity to see whether Eligwe is an option for me. And of course it will be the closest that I have been to a real bass

[Jim_From_Zim]

Cool, but I really dont see the point of joining the club to be honest.

I'll ask around to get you other launch facilities in the area

[LloydRey]

Please advise where this is? Eligwe

Cant find it on Google maps

[Jim_From_Zim]

Eish, spelling error on my side: Its actually Eligwa Boat club

Or check this link: https://www.google.co.za/maps/place/Elig...27.8524882

[WalterK]

Spent the day driving down the Vaal looking for an affordable place to launch.

Umfuleni caravan park - R300.00 per launch
Southern Sun hotel - R500 per launch
Rapid dawn - R150 per launch
Abrams Rus - Around R200 per launch (Per vehicle + per person)

but you can get a season ticket from Abrams Rus from July to June the next year at R1500.00 per year. The permit is linked to your vehicle registration so you can only take the same car and boat when using the permit. Visits for the year are unlimited. 
Permit is discounted if you stay in Sasolburg (I do not qualify)
Permit is discounted for pensioners (I do not qualify)

Each launching site wants a copy of the boats buoyancy as well as a copy of your skippers before they allow you to launch.

[WalterK]

Saturday was set aside for my Skippers license. So I leave bright and early. 5Km from home, a little Mazda Rustler not only skips the stop street, he decides to turn in my direction and hit me square head on. Crippled my Jeep.

But I made it to the training and got the skippers.  

Now to transfer the COF to my name and all the paperwork will be in place for me to roam the waterways.

Still have not caught a bass yet but I have spent a lot of time speaking to people with a lot more knowledge than what I have. I actually spent the day next to the river during the Gauteng regionals. Although 20% of the bass anglers wanted to toss me in the river the rest where extremely helpful and willing to share tips.

I have spent several hours on you tube and have enough theoretical knowledge to catch bass. I will be going on extended leave next month and will spend a lot of time on the water to put this knowledge to good use. If I have not caught a bass by the end of July, I will need to revert to bank angling and do write ups here on the bass forum.

So guys for your own sanity, I hope that there will be a bass in my well soon.

[Jim_From_Zim]

Sad news Walter. Did the mazda survive?

A word of caution: The river is fishing really bad at the moment, so rather take the time to drive to another venue like Boskop or Rust de Winter.

It was great to meet you at the river though. I'll keep you posted when I go out next again and you'll be welcome to join me - just not to the river!!!!!

[WalterK]

Thanks JfZ.

Mazda was totaled.
I will need to replace my bumper though.

I need to spend some time on the water as I am trying to perfect skipping my rig across the water.
I have watched the pro's skim their rigs across the water, bouncing it like a flat stone.
I am battling with my accuracy right now. At home I put it on a spot around 50% of the time but on water I am all over the place.  

Three rods set up now
One drop shot.
One weightless with braid.
One with a Carolina/Texas combo. Think you guys call it a mojo.

I am really getting the theory in place.
As luck would have it, I seem to have lost some of my Red label gut.
It seems that my fishing partner has noticed that my line sinks and hers did not, so she went and commandeered it. She only has one rod though (Carolina/Texas setup) so my braid is safe for a while.

While at the river on Saturday, there was a guy with a tinnie and an electric trawling motor fishing the pier. He pulled a 500g bass out. Nice to watch. I have noticed that a bass does not carry the same body weight as the fish that will not be mentioned. A 1kg bass is huge but the fish that will not be mentioned is a runt at 1kg. I believe that the bass offers 10x the fight though.

Well we will use the winter to settle then give it a full go starting September. Strange, but even though I am waiting to catch my first bass, I am already addicted to the sport. Does not make any sense at all.

[Jim_From_Zim]

I' a bit of a stickler when it comes to things, so forgive my interruption of your set ups...

Weightless - here you can use floating line or mono in this case

Drop shoot - Use the braid here, but add a leader onto the end of the braid, about twice the length of the rod. A good albright knot works lekker for this application. When you rig the drop shot, use a paloma knot for the hook (small round hook is better) and make the tag end of the knot a little longer, say 200mm. Once tied, send the tag end back through the eye of the hook, this will allow it to stand the correct way up. And when you pop your plastic onto the drop shot hook, only nose hook it in a backwards directions - hook from tail end towards nose

Texas/Carolina (mojo) - to be clear, a carolina is typically used for deep situations. It also uses a small swivel in the line. The weight (typically heavy like 1oz) cannot move past the swivel. 
Texas/Mojo - here you can cheat with some gummies. Most texas/mojo set ups use a 1/8oz weight, or a 3/16thoz. If you use gummies before and after the weight, you can set the weight at any length away from the hook. On a mojo rg, the clearer the water, the more it is away from the hook to about 400mm. When you want to use the same set up as a texas rig, you simply slide the weights and gummies down to the nose of the hook. 


I'll get some pics for you and post shortly to show you what I mean.

[WalterK]

Be sure that I am paying attention.
I have enough good quality mono line laying around.

Dion (the weigh master for the regionals) also showed me a wacky as well as a modified wacky.
But I have run out of rods for now.

If you only had 3 rods, how would you set them up?
I have 2 baitcasters and one coffee grinder.
Which reel would would you use for which setup?

I take it that it would be a little tacky to use mt 12" waft rods with big bore bait runners which hold 800m of line.

[Josvanheerden]

If I only had 3 rods I would set them up as follows:-

1. Weigtless - your spinning set up would probably best for this. It is also easier to skip with a spinning rig in the beginning since you don't risk getting overwinds - nothing worse than spending unnecessary time untangling a crows nest when you ought to be fishing. My line preference for weightless is 8lbs flourocarbon but braid with a FC leader also work wonders. if you intend throwing flukes on a spinning rig it may be better to use a swivel with a short leader - unless you rig them dead on they tend to spin a little and wind up your line.
2. Texas/Mojo - put a gummie in front and behind the weight so you can alternate the rig as the situation dictates. An all round good qaulity flouracarbon in 12lbs would be ideal but Berkley Big Game is also acceptable. The big game is also much cheaper to replace in the event that you get those overwinds which have to taken care of with a pair of scissors.
3. Crank/Spinnerbait - get yourself some good quality clip-on swivels or duo locks so that you can alternate baits without having to retie every time. I would suggest 10 -12lbs Berkley Big Game - it has a bit of stretch which will help keep those trebles in the bass's mouth where they belong.

[WalterK]

Thanks Jos.

Nice profile pic.

I was secretly hoping that someone would say that dropshot is a must because I have just spent a fortune on "Special" hooks and sinkers.
Good to see that although a clip swivel is not pure, it is not frowned upon either and will certainly keep a few in my box. Having two left hands around sharp treble hooks is not fun when having to retie often.

Using a fluorocarbon leader with a braid line sounds interesting as the fluoro would tend to sink and the braid float. It makes a lot of sense if you want to keep the lure close to the surface.

I am going to test the different rigs in a swimming pool soon.
What do I want to see besides the action of the lure?
Weightless, the lures should float close to the surface?
Texas it will drag on the bottom?
Carolina, the weight on the bottom but the lure a few inches up?
Crankbaits will of course depend on the size of the lip.

[Jim_From_Zim]

3 rod set up:

Spinning rod/coffee grinder - braid with flouro leader - drop shot/wacky/modified wacky, or if needed, weightless

Baitcaster # 1 - texas/mojo

Baitcaster # 2 - crank/spinner bait or your carolina if needed

Weightless doesn't necessarily "float", but more along the lines of just sinks a lot slower

Texas testing in the pool: Put your ladder into the pool so that it is standing at an angle from the edge to the bottom. Pitch the texas rig next to it, on top of it etc. Think as if the fish are under the ladder and do you get the texas rig to them, while casting from in front of the ladder (consider you dont always get nice side access to laydowns, so you'll need to attack it head on instead)

Pop your Kreepy into the middle of the pool, post the carolina over it and let it sink to the bottom. Now bring it back over the kreepy feeling what the weight does as it goes over the kreepy.
Do the same for the mojo.

Dont laugh, but if you want to see what different rigs do in a pool, this is the best way to visualise it.

[Josvanheerden]

I hardly fish with dropshot unless I am taking a vertical approach to deep off-shore structure but then again our KZN fish aren't generally as finicky as the Vaal river fish where a more finesse presentation may be required at times.

I prefer for finesse presentations to use a 1/16 jighead with a tiny curly tail or cut tail worm. Really seems to get the bite when all other techniques are failing.