Farm Dam FLOAT TUBE Bassing In The ‘Breadbasket’
WORDS & IMAGES: George Robey
Expansive farmlands in the Northwest Province that grow food for the masses sometimes provide an attractive byproduct … Bass! Fishing guide Nick Van Zyl (076 821 8294) knows all about it. Nick made plans with farmland property manager Wessel Basson for access to a large Northwest agricultural operation with many bass-filled dams on one of the warmest weeks on record. The heat however was a minor inconvenience considering the numbers of bass we managed to hook into using Venom spinnerbaits and lures and fishing in Bob-A-Long float tubes.
Farm dams that have been stocked tend to grow lots of bass and some big ones too. Most of the dams are too small for a bass boat and too big to cover by foot, so a float tube is called for to get access to all the productive areas. Bank access on the gnarly shoreline vegetation is problematical so fishing off our ‘Bob-A-Long’ float tubes was the ideal solution.
Wessel Basson made available an unoccupied farmhouse for Nick, Ricardo and me. It was a fine week of full days fishing and late-night braais under the stars. We fished various dams, some better than others, and launched our float tubes into a remote river system teeming with bass.
Despite four full days of solid fishing we failed to cover all the available bass water on the farm. A good reason for a return trip!
NOTE: First things first! Make certain before launching a float tube there are no crocs or hippos in the dams and/or water systems that hold bass.
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