RdW Nov 22&23

[Riem]

RdW 22 & 23/11/08

The second Northern Division fish off was held at Rusties the past weekend. Herewith some feedback.

Day 1
I started in the North-western corner of the dam at the power lines (S25 13 13.2 E28 29 22.0). This area is well known for the top water bite but also have some good channels between the grass beds that can be worked with a spinner bait. I got my first bite pitching a texas rigged deadringer into a clump of bullrushes at about 07h30. I was fast asleep and lost the fish after about 10 seconds. My drag was way too loose which allowed the fish to wrap me up in the vegetation. An expensive lesson, I estimated the fish around 2 kg’s. After that I got no action in this area.

At around 11h30 a good friend of mine sent me to a point in the middle of the dam. By this time I had reports of anglers with 3, 4 and 5 fish already! I had zilch to show for my efforts and started to become nervous and a bit dejected at the same time. I took a conscious decision to stay focussed and to slow down my fishing. I worked around the many submerged grass patches and clumps of reeds in this area. My lure of choice was a Stretch 40 and mojo rigged finesse worm. I would cast at any visible vegetation and then used a slow retrieve. Within an hour a managed to catch 3 fish that ranged from 31cm to 33cm in length. Nothing spectacular, but hey I was on the board!

With my nerves now sufficiently calmed I proceeded to work the bank from that point into the river on the western shore of the dam. I was targeting the water’s edge where the grass formed little points and also the isolated patches of reeds along this bank. Again I only used the Stretch 40 and Finesse worm pattern. By 15h00 I managed another 2 keepers which gave me a bag of 2.815 kg for the day.

Day 2
Those that have fished a two day competition will know that the second day is traditionally more difficult than day 1. This session is fished from 06h00 to 12h00 only. The starting order for day 2 was a reverse of day 1, so I started towards the end of the field. My strategy was to see where the other anglers have gone and then find an area with similar vegetation as the one I fished on day 1. Much to my surprise only 3 boats targeted my area of the previous day.

I started at the same point throwing my chartreuse/white spinner bait. Within 20 casts I had 2 keepers of over a kilo each in my live well! This got my tail up and my confidence was at an all time high. I persisted with the spinner bait for another hour without success.

By 08h00 I went back to the same bank I fished on day 1 and used exactly the same pattern as the previous day. I worked the weed line and visible reeds very slowly with a mojo rigged finesse worm. I managed to catch another 5 keepers this way, which actually meant that I culled on day 2. Not something that happens often!

At the end of two hot and frustrating days I managed to take 4th spot overall. Congratulations to Viper who came 2nd! Well done boet...

[Bassboy]

Well done riem thats a great result! :blue-biggrin: :blue-biggrin:

[robfisher]

Good one Ruffy! Excellent result! :blue-cool:

[Bergie]

Awesome ruffnuts!...Good result boet!! :blue-biggrin: :blue-biggrin:

[Hayden]

great!!!! Well done!!!! Keep it up!!! :blue-cool: :blue-biggrin:

[Attie]

Great results....

Fishing the C4C there this weekend, looks like we have our work cut out for us on Saturday.

[Hawkeye]

Thanks for the report back Ruffy, as always the info is usefull as to what is happening on the Dam.. and where..

See you Saturday Attie :blue-biggrin:
I hope we manage as well as what ruffy did :blue-razz: Havnt been fishing for a month :blue-doubt: so cant wait to get back on the water and wet a line

[Attie]

Cant wait to fish rusties on Saturday Hawkeye. Was there for a practice 2 weeks ago, caught 5 keepers and lost a few big ones.