SA Bass Magazine - "Whopping 1.59 kg LMB on Fly"

[mariusjonker]

Hi, Read the article on page 44 in the latest SA Bass (Jan 07) and walked away feeling a bit peed off. Record fish for SA Bass of 1.59 kg ON THE FLY.

It gives the impression that one cannot catch big bass on the fly.

I have been actively hunting bass in East Griqualand for the last three years and have proven all the local sceptics wrong that (1) you not suppose to catch bass on a fly, and (2) that our winters is to cold to catch bass during that period (water about 6 degrees) , and (3) only big flies work.

Result is I have caught bass every month of the year, a number over 2kg and my most sucessfull fly? White fritz tied on a # 10 hook, Personal best at 2.7 kg and hunting 3 kg.

Maybe we must start collecting photos of real bass on a fly and send it the bass guys to show them what can be done...

[gkieser]

Hi Marius,

Sorry to change the subject, but what retrieve do you find works best for bass when fishing with your fritzes?

Cheers
Grant.

[mariusjonker]

Grant,

I like fast retrieves and in summer one can motor , for bass I use a variation of a strip/pause and a twitch - trying to imitate a minow looking for trouble. Idea is that Mr LMB is following and on on the stop/pause he must either go around or eat me. The twitch is for those nosy ones that does not bliksem the fly immediately.

Winter a completely different ballgame - deep, slow with a twitch-twitch..

Works for me.

[Chris Shelton]

A few years back, large mouth bass of 3kgs plus were regularly being caught at Teewaterskloof in the Cape. My dad has a mounted head of one on his wall that he caught on fly. You can literally put your fist in it's mouth. That fish was 8 pounds! Seems that with the introduction of sharptooth catfish and subsequent demise of bass in these once prime bass fisheries, the record slate has been cleared. 1.59kgs is not very big at all by previous standards.

[tye2]

I've got 4 Bass over 3kg's on fly , I find them a quite easy species to catch on fly

those guys at SA Bass Magazine should catch a wakeup

[Chris Shelton]

I've got 4 Bass over 3kg's on fly , I find them a quite easy species to catch on fly

those guys at SA Bass Magazine should catch a wakeup

No, rather let them carry on sleeping. Means more for us

[honda2]

I agree with Chris - no need to wake them up to the potential of catching large bass and eventually also moving over to other kinds of fish such as yellows and mountain trout - the rivers seem to get more and more crowded as it is. From the guys up near the vaal I'm sure we can find out how the popularity of yellow fly fishing is impacting on the fish during spawning etc.

[izak]

I have been actively hunting bass in East Griqualand for the last three years and have proven all the local sceptics wrong that (1) you not suppose to catch bass on a fly, and (2) that our winters is to cold to catch bass during that period (water about 6 degrees) , and (3) only big flies work.

Ja, goto love the look on conventional bass fishermen's faces when I catch more fish using my stupid "fancy" fly-fishing. Thats how I stared fly-fishing, I saw how many bass my friend was catching with fly-fishing.

Now I spread doubt in the hearts of all conventional bass fisherman when we share a fishing spot.

[Herman Jooste]

I agree, let sleeping dogs lie and dream on...... The pressure on the Vaal is however leading to a lot of blokes prospecting for other yellow waters, which I feel is a good thing.

[izak]

Something that I have been thinking about. On bass spots that is normally targeted by your conventional bass fisherman, dont the bass get wise or used to the lures they use? I have always felt that if a venue is not often fly-fished but targeted by conventional bass fisherman, the bass take the fly more readily that it would your conventional lure. This obviously gives us an advantage.

So, SA Bass is doing us a favor by giving the impression that you cant catch big bass on fly.

Thank you SA Bass.