Got a mail from one of the boys over at BassBoys Bass Angling Blog , so I checked out what they have to offer. Nice blog! Check it out. They run some competitions and share bass fishing knowledge with all who care to take the time to learn.
In short, they're doing everything we should be doing, but do not find time for :-(
Tight lines, Bass Boys!
If you fancy yourself a bit of a trout fisherman, or would simply like to get away with the missus for a romantic weekend like something out of a story book, why not give Coolin Trout Lodge a call?
Coolin Trout Lodge is situated roughly 14 km's from Hogsback, and features beautiful scenery, as well as a trout dam almost right on your stoep.
From the Lodge's business card:
Bed and breakfast - dinner on request
Private trout fishing - dam and river
Walks, hikes and biking
Bird watching
Horse riding by arrangement
4X4 trail nearby
Private airstrip: 900m. Alt: 4500ft
Contact details
You can give the owners, Ron and Elizabeth Kidson, a call on +27 45 962 1040, or email them at coolinlodge@lantic.net. Alternatively, give them a call on their cellphone, 082 476 9886.
You can also visit their web site at Coolin Estates .
I went to Hogsback over the weekend to visit a friend of mine, Anton Pretorius, and his wonderful family. Anton is a magistrate in Middeldrift, and lives in a beautiful little home in Hogsback.
Now, I didn't particularly pay attention to what I packed, so I left the fishing gear at home. HOW STUPID COULD I BE!!! I could not believe what I missed out on! Who knew Hogsback offers at least two dams with abundant fish stocks? Certainly not I. So, there I was, fishing gear-less and hungry for bass fishing. What to do, what to do! Not much you can do if you don't remember your fishing gear.
Improvise
I did what any good boertjie would do under the circumstances. I made my own lure. I used an old Castle bottle cap that I found in the grass (I prefer Miller though), and knocked together something remotely resembling a spinner. It worked OK when I tested it.
Where's the fish then?
Unfortunately, even though I had this hi-tech spinner at my disposal, I could not manage to get even a single bass interested in it. We tried good ol' erdwurm as well, but we had no fish to show at the end of the day. I know, it's pathetic. Next time I'll be prepared though.
Some pics of the dams
Disclaimer: Apologies for the terrible quality of the images. I'm still getting to grips with my new camera.
We visited two dams in the Hogsback vicinity. The one, Sandile dam, is approximately 30km's from Hogsback, while the other, Binfield, is probably about 10km's from this magical little place.
Sandile dam
Binfield dam
Breathtaking scenery
I drove to Cathcart from Hogsback to see what the place has to offer, and took some pics along the way. Go ahead and drool.
Location . Manie's fishing hole is situated just outside of Jeffreys Bay. It is a beautiful little pond (as the Americans would call it), but do not be deceived. The dam contains a large stock of both bass and bream, the latter which seem to grow exceptionally large in this dam.
How to use the map . The map can be moved around inside the window. You can also zoom in and out. The strange blue form marks the location of the dam.
View Larger Map
Fish . The dam is stocked with largemouth bass, and they love to bite most of the time.
Size . The largest I've personally caught in this little dam was a 2.2kg's bass. The fish went for one of our own spinnerbaits (which we used to manufacture).
Images . Unfortunately I seem to have lost all of my pics taken of fish caught at the dam. I do however have the pic of the 2.2kg fish.
Accessing the dam . This dam cannot be accessed by just anyone, unfortunately. If you'd like to fish here, call me at 082 5772 570 to arrange something. No guarantee though. The farm is private property and I respect that.
We've decided to call it quits on the spinnerbaits. I recently took a full-time consultancy position with a London-based web development firm, which specialises in online marketing , and this is now top priority.
The site, spinnerbaits.co.za , will still exist as is, minus the products. We feel that it is too valuable a resource to just kill.
In the meantime, a sideline for us is africanbass.co.za, a site we're hoping to develop into a free South African bass fishing community, where you'll have the option of creating an account, posting pics, and meeting new people. This project is taking off slowly, due to other more important issues, but watch this space. I'll point to the new site when it's up.
The company I currently work for, Direct Traffic Media , is looking to extend their services to the rest of the world, and hopefully we'll have a network going in South Africa soon.
