On The Bank with Robert Hurn & Hennie (“Snorre”) Coetzee

The men brag with their catches of the day, just look at those beautiful muddies! On the bank at Moolman’s on Vaal Dam, colleague Werner Lubbe and I hosted a winner of the Elite Series Masters, Robert Hurn, and one of the most experienced anglers in the Elite Series semi-finals, Hennie ("Snorre") Coetzee. The purpose of the day's fishing was firstly to target Moolman’s beautiful carp, but more importantly to garner tips and advice from the anglers on how to approach a big tournament event. Robert Hurn's tacklebox - I went snooping a bit. Robert's distance casting weapons for the day. In the morning it was quite cold and cloudy with light rain but as the day wore on the conditions improved. Each angler had his own strategy, and it was especially the different distances that the men targeted that was noticeable. Hennie fished both rods at 90m, Werner had one at 110 and one open reel with a 13ft, and Robert about 120 to 130m. Robert's intentions were very clear from the start, namely to "go big or go home"! However, Hennie's tactics paid off first and he landed a small carp, and shortly afterwards a good muddy. Werner followed with another beautiful muddy while Robert didn't fall far behind and landed a fish or two, but still not that beautiful carp he was targeting. One of Werner's winning combinations of the day, a Gumtree floatie with custard on the ball and a bit of Has Been. Werner's other combination – worms on the hook with a floatie to lift the worms up a bit, and then on the ball Pandemonium and a drop of Sniper. Robert's winning combination was a Gumtree floatie on the hook and a Vampire floatie and a clean ball. He strongly believes in clean fishing. For a long time, Hennie landed fish on a regular basis which made the others doubt themselves for a while, but he then also changed tactics and started fishing with stronger flavours such as TCP. It was gratifying to see that the size of the muddies was around the 2kg mark. Werner also changed tactics and started fishing closer in which quickly landed him a few nice fish, but later when he fished at 110m distance proved once again how important it is to fish on a spot. Robert unfortunately didn't land that heavy carp but made fast with some pretty muddies. The small smallmouth yellowfish also made their appearance as usual but the anglers successfully fished around them. The very experienced Hennie took time off to demonstrate his method of preparing a fish head to attract those big barbel – he does not believe in cutting the head off but breaks it off! After he had prepared and hooked the head, he covered it with a special additive – but oh dear, it stank rotten! The rod was cast at about 50m and set aside. With everyone's hands full of muddies on the line, when the barbel rod whirred away I took the chance and landed the catfish of almost 10kg – it's called being "in the right place at the right time"! It was after all a very successful day with all three anglers landing decent bags. I learned a lot and throughout it kept on asking them for their advice. With big tournaments just around the corner, some secrets were obviously kept, but here is a summary of their advice that will help everyone on their next competitive session. NOTE: Several informative videos are available on the For Anglers platform. INSIDER ADVICE AND TIPS: Hennie "Snorre" Coetzee: About two hours before he starts fishing, he takes chick-chick and soaks it in boiling water; he then mixes it with his usual feed to give it more weight to cast the distance and to form a nice feed carpet on the bottom.On a cold day he likes strong scents such as TCP and Duiwelsdrek on the feed ball.Never try to confuse your opponent, but change tactics such as distances, to make him wonder.If the small yellowfish bothers too much, he believes in using strong scents such as Duiwelsdrek to keep them away. If you use a fish head to land barbel, you should not cut off the head, rather break it off (see online video that explains it clearly). Hennie's chick-chick that he soaks in boiling water – it forms a nice feed carpet ot the bottom of the dam. Hennie's chick-chick is clearly visible in the feeding ball. https://youtu.be/VVAFF49X7dQ Robert Hurn: If there is a wind blowing from the side, he puts a heavier bite indicator on the line on the windward side – this helps to prevent lines from blowing over each other and getting entangled.When he is fishing at a good tempo and the fish are running strongly, he fishes with a brightly coloured line without a bite indicator – this saves time and you see the bite better.When trying for barbel, he still attaches a small feeding ball, which helps to make the bait land softer in the water.For barbel he prefers using flying ants, 10 to 20 on one hook, or a bunch of Kariba worms. Werner Lubbe se “tips”: On such a cool day, dress warmly and make sure you have warm coffee (tongue in cheek).When fishing for barbel, he prefers to put a floatie on the tip of the hook with his worms, as this helps to lift the worms up a bit and makes them more visible.He prefers Maximus on the ball and worms because it attracts the catfish faster and sometimes also the big carp.He uses a longhandled landing net that just makes the landing process much easier.

On The Bank with Robert Hurn & Hennie (“Snorre”) Coetzee

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