Newby disscusions

[WalterK]

Thought I would start a new thread to discuss the basics before going on to the water.

I have this little irritation that is slowing me down right now, but I suppose that work is a necessary evil, and I need to cover fuel costs somehow. Anyway, the internet is faster here and research is possible during short breaks.

Looking at the different setups is interesting.
I find that the difference between the Texas and Carolina rigs is the difference that the bullet sinker is away from the actual hook. Now using gummies, could you make a basic rig then just move the sinker to adapt to the conditions?
Or is it better to have a fixed Texas rig and an adjustable Carolina.

Then the first question that I should have asked is why you guys don't use a clip swivel to connect your lures. Would that not allow for a quick change of lures?
That would also prevent line twist. (Plus I have a few of them for bank angling)

Looking at  the drop shot rig. Could I once again consider a gummie to position the hook, or is the hook in a fixed position?

The wackey rig is pretty simple but you probably need to know when to use it as can only see it being used with a stationary line and not trawling at all, but what do I know?

Knots.
Please name a few knots so that I can look them up.
I know of the Palomar knot but there must be more.
I need a quick knot to tie my lures as I am limited to two rods for now and may need to tie a couple of knots.

Guys, please humor me.
I need to get the basics down before charging into the river.
I have a couple of the Rapala type hard lures, a few frogs and a few bags of the soft type lures.
I think that I have the basic flukes in pumpkin and in dark blue
I have craw in pumpkin and blue (Stolen with my eyes as I see every boat has at least 1 rod with craw on)
I keep a few No.3 wide gap hooks
I have gummies 
Funny thing is that I have all the funny shaped bugs, dragonflies, crabs and crickets (Because my wife likes them and buys all the funnies that she sees in the shops.
I will be changing my line soon as I am sure that the bright red gut with the bass sticker on the reel is just too bright. I will be looking for a clear mono filament.

Where to shop for bass fishing.
At present I have Jardines in Meyerton.
Sollies in Vereeniging and Vanderbyle
Varswater in Vanderbyle
and
Timols in Nigel.
Am I missing a shop.
Not in to internet purchasing yet as I still need to get over the trust issues. (And the wife won't give me the credit card)

Lots of questions and I do apologise.
I am hoping that someone else new to bass fishing joins in or at least benefits from these questions.

[Jim_From_Zim]

Texas: you pin the weight to the nose of the bait using a gummy so the weight doesn't slide. Use this rig for pitching and shallower depths

Mojo: allows you to adjust the weight to a fixed position up the line. Typically around 300mm or so from the bait. Light rig for closer combat

Carolina: heavier weight fixed away from the bait. Usually we set it up like this: gummy, heavy weight, glass bead or two, fixed swivel. Then lighter leader line to a hook about 400mm or so. This rig is for deep rocky spots

We dont switch baits with a clip as we try to keep the profile of the bait simple.
To prevent linw twist you must set your hook correctly on the bait

Drop Shot: use a paloma knot with a longer tag end. Once tied, feed tag end back through the eye so the hook is positioned up. Add weight to end of tag end. Good for rocky spots, spawn beds etc

Wacky rig: i use it everywhere. Easier if you have a weighted hook. Not only used as a stationary line but also casting and pitching

Knots: i use paloma for everything. Lots of people use a uni or slip uni knot, i just dont trust this knot as much as a paloma.

If you go to the river, leave your frogs and funny crickets etc at home. Texas your creature baits. Mojo your flukes and wacky your senkos.
But the trick at the river is to cast accurately at the structure. You'll never catch a bass in the middle of the water, always on the structure (man made, rocks or trees)

Line: get double X mono as a start. But flouro is better in the long run as mono floats and flouro sinks

Shops: those sound about right. Mias also good as well as western accessories

[WalterK]

Went to the boat shop to give the motor a once over. Don't want to launch the boat and spend the day trying to start it.
All good on the motor side.

Bought an anchor, muffs and a spare life jacked for my fishing partner then went to find a fishing shop.
There I bought a roll of fluoro line. Only 200 yrds as I only have two reels to re-spool.
You guys do realise that fluoro cost the same as a small second hand car ?

I will be spooling my reels the way I spool by bank angling reels
I emerge the line in luke warm water during process to reduce the memory.

Will be fetching the second boat tomorrow and will be putting one of them on the river on Thursday.
No fishing yet, just putt putt a few hundred meters from the launch site to get a feel for the boat and the trawling motor.

I do get a feeling that I may be losing my boat because my fishing partner already wants to put a sun canopy on her.
Are you guys super tough, or do you have a way to beat the sun?
I know that sun glasses is a must, but not necessarily for the sun, as you need to protect your eyes from flying hooks.

I am not technologically advanced and basically my computer skills are limited to Microsoft Outlook.
I will however take a few pictures during the course of the week and try to post them.

If I start a thread named "Post a picture of your boat" do you think that we will get a response?

Jim_from_Zim I have not forgotten about your kind offer of assistance.
I just do not want to be a total idiot when we do finally meet.
I need to get the basics down pat.

Well back of to work now.
Stay well and leave some fish in the pond for the rest of us.

[Jim_From_Zim]

I did warn you that flouro is expensive. To make it "cheap", back your spools with some kind of mono or whatever. Then only use the last 50 yards as flouro. This way you'll get 4 spools out of a reel of line.
What line did you buy, by the way?

And we're as tough as nails. Us lucky folks from Zim even have 3 layers if skin. But for sun protection a good wide brim hat and long sleeve shirt works best. Can never discount stupidity in the sun... Which i often do. The sun roof thingy is for woesie's 
Polaroid sunnies are a must, not only for flying hooks.

To launch at the river you can go to Eligwe boat club, pay some ronts and away you go.

Welcome to start a boat pic thread. Might stimulate some action on the forum

[Riprap]

Morning. Been following but worked through the long weekend.

What Jim didn't mention is that besides 3 layers of skin, maybe it's just thick skin.........

All good advise as usual from the ever kind JFZ. Definitely put a cheaper mono backing and use a uni to uni knot (or your preference....) to join onto 50m of Fluoro to fill the spool.
Alternatively Berkley big game mono in 12 & 15lb is a good enough line to start with and don't let anyone fool you that it's not sensitive enough to detect light bites.

Buy yourself a packet of Big bite baits triple tail minnows in Eufaula colour. You might just be surprised what you catch with that. Good luck going forward.

[WalterK]

Hi Riprap

I was wondering what the forum etiquette was regarding mentioning Jim_from_Zim and you have just solved my dilemma. From now it will be JFZ if Martin does not mind.
Yes, I also worked through the weekend but am off again until Sunday. I prefer this as the water won't be as crowded and I will have a little time to settle.

Just to add that a lot of my questions have been answered on this forum if I go and look at the older threads. I do not want to take away from that but I am hoping that a few more newbies will latch on to this thread and feel comfortable with adding questions of their own or maybe get an answer for a question that they have been wanting to ask.

Just to let the other newbies know, that we can start on this quest together and help each other as we stumble ahead.
Just pop in and say Hi.

JFZ posted a while back stating that bass fishing is a selfish sport and that it takes you away from your family. I took note of this and want to add that it does not have to take you away from your family. In fact it can do a lot to bring the family together. In my situation, my sons have left home and my wife and I would sit on our computers all day. We started to fish for Carp just to break the monotonous cycle of sitting at home. She will bait her own hooks, cast her own lines and catch her own fish. The sad news is that she catches more and bigger fish than I do. But we do it together. The bass fishing thing came by accident as we knew of a guy that had lost his job a while ago. In order to keep him afloat (Pardon the pun) I relieved him of some of his dept by buying his boats. Now with two boats, we will be introducing our sons and their partners to bass fishing as we will launch both boats and have family fishing outings. My specimen fishing son thinks it is a bad idea as nobody should catch a fish if you have not been battling for at least 8 hours. Big surprise for him as I have been battling from the bank for 4 months without catching a fish. But we will get him hooked. (See I did in again, another pun)

Well the idea was to launch my boat for the first time tomorrow just to get a feel of the motor and the trawling motor. Life jackets, sun screen, fire extinguishers and all the bits and pieces loaded when my fishing partner says "Why don't you load a rod just in case". I know it is a bad idea as she will catch the first bass and I will probably end up selling my boat.

We will both be doing our skippers around the 26 of May so I will be taking a little chance on the river tomorrow. I am not a total novice though as many years ago I had a boat. But that was still when Moby dick was a sardine and skippers was not a requirement. Anybody out there on the river, have no fear as I won't be charging up and down. Simply putt putt in circles.

Then my current fishing gear.
I have two rods. One a Sensation bass specialist 210 with a Okuma Ceymar.
The second is a cheap but nice Adrenalin rod and reel combo.
Both of course bait casters but you guys would have picked that up when I said Ceymar.
Don't want to go the Abu or shimano route just yet as the budget has taken a massive blow in the past few days.

My fishing partner has only one rod at the moment, but she controls the credit card and I will be needing to keep an eye on her.
She also has a Sensation bass specialist 210 with not a bait caster, but a reel where the line comes out of the center of the spool. She is not comfortable with a bait caster and she gets no over wind with her reel.

I have a few triple tail minnows in blue (I am going to have to google Eufaula)
I have bags of flukes and worms and lizzards and funny things.
I think what we will do is just cast a few lines to see the different actions tomorrow.
Maybe into the reeds by accident and maybe we will get lucky.

The line that I have bought is the Seaguar fluorocarbon and I have started with 15Lb.
I did not want to go for a more expensive line until I am comfortable that I have sorted my over wind out. I understand how to adjust my reels to prevent over wind but not willing to take a chance just yet.

I love it when Riprap says that Berkley is sensitive. I don't have an idea what sensitive feels like yet.
When I go into the fish shops, every sales man puts a rod to his throat and says "Can you feel my voice ?" . Sorry guys, I am an old artisan with calloused hands. Sensitive is not in my dictionary. They all feel the same. Will need to get my wife to choose my rods.

Then I do know that you get better gear and will be heading that way in time to come, but at this stage I am simply counting on the fact that Bass can't read thus do not know the difference between Shimano and Okuma. Yes the rods need to be of different weights but that too will come.

I have been spending a lot of time on You Tube such to the point that I feel like a WEB Angler. (Being in the 4X4 game, I have come across many WEB Wheelers and know what they must feel like) but there is no comparison between actually casting the line and watching the line being cast on a screen. Watching the American team on the Vaal last year was great and this took me to a few of the American tournaments. If that is what bass fishing is about, it is going to be fun. That Van Dam chap impresses me. I know that South Africa won the world cup, but how do we weigh up to the Americans? I am sure that although we do not have as much water, we are as good as they are. More money over there though, I would guess.

Well I am off to spool my reels now. Boat is packed and ready to go. One rod will have a blue triple tail minnow and the second will have a Rapala X rap. My wife wants a pumpkin fluke. I will be cutting the point of her hook off though just as a precaution. We cant have her actually catching a fish on her first outing now can we. Actually she will only be getting a real hook once I have a least five fish in the bag. No I am not competitive, but I do have a little pride.

Anyone ever considered offering a clinic for new guys. Not on the water but simply a little get together. Tying a few knots, adjusting a bait caster, setting a hook into a plastic worm, bulding a mojo and texas and wackey.

JFZ said that I should practice my casting at home and it was rather amusing. I removed the hooks from an old bait thingy and proceeded to cast fro a stationary boat. Except for putting my goats in a frenzy and having my dogs behaving like bass, I seem to have developed a rhythm. Just need to learn to flip it underhand like in the movies now.

Stay safe guys and leave a few big ones for the rest of us. I take it that catch and release is acceptable, or do we consider bass as an invasive species? I really would prefer to release just to catch again at a later date.

---

OOPs Google has just told me that I don't have a triple tail minnow and that a minnow in no way resembles a lizard.
Come on guys, my wife is already giving me the evil eye. But OK, will need to stop off at a fishing shop on the way tomorrow.
My wife already wants to know who this Riprap guy is. You better hope that we do not get competitive and end up fishing at a compitition together one day. I am just going to point her in your direction and walk away.

---

JFZ, Eligwe boat club is members only. I will probably launch at the municipal site in three rivers tomorrow. I will contact Eligwe and get joining details. Not much access to the river for the private guy at the moment. We used River spray many years ago when it still belonged to the river police. But that is gone now as well.

[Riprap]

Release the bass WK, it's the right thing to do. Besides, I wouldn't eat anything that comes from the water there with all the heavy metals, sewerage etc!

Your wife probably catches more fish than you cos she fishes slower. That's called "deadsticking". Cast to a likely spot and leave the plastic bait there for up to half a minute or longer before giving it a twitch and leaving it again. Very often a bass will just suspend above the bait lying motionless and eventually just eats it.

First cast with that baitcaster, tighten up the magnetic brake control to 10 & tighten the cast control cap on the right hand side so that when you engage the clutch, your weighted bait must hardly drop towards the ground.
Loosen up both from there.
Rule of thumb: if you have a backlash whilst the lure is still in the air, tighten up on left. If when the lure lands on the water, tighten up right hand side cast control cap
And learn to use your thumb to control the spool. Practice and more practice. Let us know how it went.

[Jim_From_Zim]

A quick few pointers for tomorrow: 

There are no fish on the reeds in the river. Simple as that. 
Rather try the laydowns, trees, jetties and retaining walls. 
I'll say it again in another way: dont waste your time casting at the reeds on the river!!!

Lures: the dark flukes or lizzards are fine. Stick to the dark colour plastics as the water is so crap at the moment. 
Leave the green pumpkin off and change it to a darker colour ( black, blue etc)

Dont bother with the x-rap until september. Simple as that

Hope this helps for tomorrow

[Riprap]

I'll say it again in another way: dont waste your time casting at the reeds on the river!!!

Wahahaaaaaaa........., now that's a good tip.

[WalterK]

What an incredible day with both good and bad experiences.

Got to the launch site around 8H00 but was greeted with squatters fishing on both sides of the ramp. Plenty of eyes and people wanting to help. Not a nice feeling. I chose one to assist promising a reward if I was left unhindered and if my vehicle was untouched. With assurances in place, I put the boat in the water but was never really at ease. I will need to join a club with launching facilities very quickly.

This also meant that we could not go far from the launch pad as I wanted to keep one eye on my car. But we had ample fishing obstacles in our fishing zone. With the 70hp motor the boat is a dream. It only takes seconds before it planes feels very stable at any speed. My Wife however is terrified of speed so after checking the planing and stability we simply rode casually the rest of the morning. Keep in mind that we agreed that we would only spend an hour on the water.

We went a little up river and killed the main motor. The control of the boat thereafter was quite daunting for a while as the current had its own idea as to where we were going. There was just too much to do. Trying to cast and fight the current was daunting. This changed when I decided to use the current to my advantage and only use they electric motor to adjust my angle to the obstruction.

We were casting into, on and over obstructions and once we gained confidence that we were not getting hooked up in the trees, we started to relax and enjoy the experience. I managed to cast too high and got my lure stuck in a tree. This meant that I had to head right into a section of the bank with hidden structures beneath the water. Taking my time, I navigated right up to my hook and untangled it. Wow, the amount of control that the trawling motor offers is amazing. With this experience behind us we now could navigate to spots that we thought was impossible. I would put my boat right against a semi submerged tree trunk and used that as a harbor. We cast against retaining walls, under jetties, into roots and in fact everywhere that looked like a place that we should not be casting. (Keep in mind we are bank anglers that try to avoid obstructions).

We saw monkeys, buck and even large  lizards. We saw fish jumping, but these we assumed where carp as all the movement was in the middle of the river. I saw schools of fish on the fish finder but never knew where they were in respect to the fish finder, but it was reassuring to know that there was still fish in the river.

We used dark blue flukes, worms, lizards and craw but never got a bite. This was however not a bad experience. Keep in mind that we were only going to spend an hour on the river, we launched at 8H00 and took the boat out at 13H00. The longest hour of my life, but it rated up there with one of the best. This was the point that we were going to decide whether we would try it again or put the boats in to the market directly. Well it looks like I will be adding another two carports to those I currently have.

The weather was awesome and we got about 10 minutes of rain. When in the shade it was cold and a jacket was always welcome. The sun was not a problem and even at 12H00 it was not that unpleasant. Long sleeve T-shirts, hats, glasses and a good sunscreen got us off the water with no sunburn at all. I will need to get myself some shorter pants and water shoes because you will wet your feet when launching the boat. No roof for us, we will manage the heat and feel that a roof will only take away from the fishing experience.

Well I may have side stepped the roof, but my wife wants to pack a picnic for the next time. I guess that you can't win it all. We got our sea legs pretty quickly and moving around the boat started with a slow crawl but ended with a confident walk. I general a good experience and a very nice morning. I thought that staying on the river all day would have been a stretch but now have no doubt that 8 - 10 hrs is completely doable. My wife did at a stage stop fishing and sat on the co-pilot seat for a while but was soon up and fishing again. We will need to get fishing fit. But no sore body parts to report.

We took the boat out of the water at around 13H00 and again the squatter situation that was a little daunting. My trusty assistant had his hands full just keeping everyone's hands off the boat. I got my wife in the car  and put the boat on the trailer, paid my assistant and drove away, only to stop a kilo away to tie the boat down. The only down side of the day.

No we never caught a bass and I don't think that we even had a bite. But even with that news, you have two new bass anglers on the books. We will be back. Will launch at Abrams Rust next time. I have applied to join a club that launches at River spray and am just waiting for their reply. Once we have a safe launch site, you will be seeing a lot of us on the river.

I will be doing a little research as to which dams to fish as I believe that it will be a completely different experience. Nigel dam seems to be out though as the local fishermen have advised me against it and again due to vagrants pilfering vehicles while you are on the water. Looks like Bronkies is an option.

Well what a great day.

[Navrik]

Lekka report back.

Thanks for sharing.

Bring back fond memories of of my first few trips with my ex-Splash Bass back in 2010.

[Jim_From_Zim]

Hi Walter, 

Glad you had a good time on the river. It can be a place that rewards, and also a place that makes you want to sell everything in a heart beat. 

Where did you launch from? Was it the municipal launch way up river close to the Suikerbos inflow? I guess it was judging by the wildlife you saw at the launch and on the banks around there. 
I did suggest to rather launch at Eligwe boat club... but anyway. Ahbrams Rus is also ok, but I dont see why you must join a club just to launch? If you go every weekend then yes, but the once in a while makes no sense to me

If I am correct as to where you launched, that part of the river is extremely hard to fish, but can yield good results at certain times of the year. This is not one of those times. 
Most of the better fishing is done anywhere from Stonehaven and down towards the barrage at the moment. I cant give too much info on this now as we have our divisionals coming up in 2 weeks time, so state secrets are in force 

But, reading what you did tells me you were doing the right thing, just in the wrong places. And one of the secrets to the river is to pitch into the timber and make sure your baits hits the twigs etc. We call it ringing the dinner bell. 

Other dams: I have fished Nigel dam, its not bad. Filled with many dinks though. There are plenty of bank anglers that go there, so launching and parking your car close to one of them will be fine. I didn't do this the last time I went and some drunken *ssholes that were having a company drinking braai ended up driving into my parked trailer causing a lot of damage, so much so that I had to get a new trailer made (thank goodness for insurance!!!)
Bronkies is also a good place to fish. You can launch at KwaManzi. 
Also look at Boksop dam, this is a good starting place to keep the Mrs interested as she should catch a fish there. (but you'll need all your paperwork on entry)

[WalterK]

Hi JfZ

Yes, I launched at the municipal site close to the Suikerbos inflow. I made contact with Eligwe but they will only allow me to launch as a member. To join will cost me in the region or R16 000.00 which is a little steep right now. Yearly fees are affordable though and something that I will consider a little down the line. Abrams Rus is a viable option for me in the short term.

It was a really great experience even though we blanked. I have another boat to test and we will launch a little closer to the Barrage. Again catching a bass will happen, but it is not high on the agenda just yet. Most important is getting the Mrs to bite and so far I am winning.

I also need to fish Bass lake as I believe that it holds some monsters. Petrol motors are not allowed, but I will be using my trawling motor. It is only 48Lb but sufficient to power my boat with comfort. Man, if I can just hook one bass I would die happy.

I am going for my Skippers on May 26, 2018 and will be updating my Flotation. All papers will be in order by the end of the month.

Now these divisionals?
Are they a spectator sport?
I noticed with the world champs that there where spectators on the river, they just needed to keep their distance.
Even if it is not a spectator sport regarding the river, can one attend the weigh in?
No I am not a stalker, I just learn so much but watching and observing.
And I want to feel the atmosphere, see the preparation and understand what makes you guys tick.

[LloydRey]

Loved reading all of this, was well informative

Thank you

Myself and my father in law who is 2 years my junior used to own a Viking, we used to go bass fishing at most of the well known damns, boat used to give issues and cost a small fortune in fuel to use for the day, eventually sold it and gave up fishing......

Great memories from those days even if we were just getting burnt to a crisp in the sun!!!

[Jim_From_Zim]

Hi JfZ

Yes, I launched at the municipal site close to the Suikerbos inflow. I made contact with Eligwe but they will only allow me to launch as a member. To join will cost me in the region or R16 000.00 which is a little steep right now. Yearly fees are affordable though and something that I will consider a little down the line. Abrams Rus is a viable option for me in the short term.

It was a really great experience even though we blanked. I have another boat to test and we will launch a little closer to the Barrage. Again catching a bass will happen, but it is not high on the agenda just yet. Most important is getting the Mrs to bite and so far I am winning.

I also need to fish Bass lake as I believe that it holds some monsters. Petrol motors are not allowed, but I will be using my trawling motor. It is only 48Lb but sufficient to power my boat with comfort. Man, if I can just hook one bass I would die happy.

I am going for my Skippers on May 26, 2018 and will be updating my Flotation. All papers will be in order by the end of the month.

Now these divisionals?  
Are they a spectator sport?
I noticed with the world champs that there where spectators on the river, they just needed to keep their distance.
Even if it is not a spectator sport regarding the river, can one attend the weigh in?
No I am not a stalker, I just learn so much but watching and observing.
And I want to feel the atmosphere, see the preparation and understand what makes you guys tick.

I thought you launched up there. Sorry to say but that area is not the best for every day fishing. 

Holy f*ck - I didnt know Eligwe was so much... I'm sure there are other area's to launch from. Me, I have private facilities so I'm a tad lucky in this instance. 
Try Rapid dawn (its just down from Ahbrams Rus) to see if they allow day visitors. I think they do, call to ask. 

Bass Lake - right now, I wouldn't bother other than to float the boat and wet a line. Best time of the year is September to December. But I could be wrong. 

Divs - sadly its a selfish part of the game. Its only me on the boat that gets to enjoy it (when your catching that is). But you're welcome to potter down the river and watch the guys fishing - just keep 50m distance from them and dont give them info, or pass on their spot to the next chap further up or down. 
You're welcome to the weigh in. This is held at the Emerald Casino on the grass banks section (access can be gain through the gate closest to the NWU facilities, not the main entrance to the casino)
Official weigh in is from 4pm onwards, but most guys start coming in from 15h30 as the tag board closes at 4pm sharp - no one wants to be DQ'd for being late. 
Oh, date's are 21st and 22nd April. 

We typically start around 06h30 or first light, which ever is safer. This could have spectator value if you like watching boats race off into the morning light. Other than that the weigh in station for the whole day is pretty boring to hang around.

---

... and my father in law who is 2 years my junior...

I had a good chuckle at this Lloyd: Either you're very lucky - or very talented