Lowveld Bass Trail takes on Driekoppies Dam
Report & Images: William Myers
Matthew Douglas with the biggest fish of the day, a kicker of 3,71kg.
Round 6 of the LBT was hosted at the famous (infamous?) Driekoppies Dam located next to the Jeppe’s Reef South Africa/Swaziland border post. Expectations were high for teams coming into the event after some very good pre-fishing was reported and bags in excess of 9kg were caught quite easily. The passing cold front did however pose a risk to many teams’ strategy.
Nevertheless, 44 teams lined the shores of Driekoppies with many teams only wanting to put in a solid performance and cementing their place in the 2019 LBT final. The weather on the day was quite pleasant and the wind calmed down after the preceding cold front. The fishing however did take a turn for the worse as many teams targeted the shallows early morning in the hope that early spawning fish were to be caught. The majority of the shallow fish only consisted of small males and the females seemed to have pulled back to slightly deeper water.
All but 3 teams managed to weigh a limit of fish, but the weight was the problematic aspect. Teams that targeted staging locations in a wide depth range from 10 to 40ft deep found larger fish, relating to any rocky structure that retained heat. The post frontal conditions did however lift throughout the day and the bite turned back on. On the day 205 fish were weighed in with a total weight of 169,59 kg and an average per fish weight of 0,827kg, only slightly less than the previous competition held on Vygeboom dam.
Front (L-R): Matthew Douglas and Joniel Marks.
Winning Patterns
Team Bucket Mouth of Joniel Marks and Matthew Douglas placed first with a near 2kg lead over runners up. They filled out their limit during the morning around grass lines and resorted to targeting the 15ft depth range to cull their bag up to 10,41kg. Admitting that the biggest fish of their bag, and for the day was pure luck, stumbling across a 3,71kg kicker while drifting with the wind.
2nd placed team Dominate of Jacko Kannemeyer and Niel Deysel located fish in 30ft and targeted them with Texas-rigged flukes and senkos. They reported that a very slow presentation was required to get these reluctant fish to bite.
Team Thermocline of Herman Geldenhuys and William Myers placed 3rd on the day with 8,53kg. They targeted any large isolated structure in water depths between 20 and 50ft, which included trees, rock piles, bluff banks and ledges. Managing to get bit with a finesse drop shot worm and Texas rigged curl tail worms. Fish found during their pre-fish had moved off their prime areas and transitioned back to deep water, hugging the bottom contours.
The Top-10 from Driekoppies and what they took home thanks to our generous sponsors:
1. Bucket Mouth – R6500 Cash (Subaru Nelspruit – R2500, Nelspruit Ford – R2000, Melelane Toyota – R2000), Wittus Angling Voucher, Arkansas Spur Vouchers, Ilanga Mugg n Bean Vouchers.
2. Dominate – R4500 Cash (Extreme Fishing Tackle – R1000, Alan Hudson – R1000, Laeveld Agrochem – R2000, Instrulec – R500), Angling & Outdoor World Voucher, Tripwired Voucher, Arkansas Spur Vouchers, Ilanga Mugg n Bean Vouchers.
3. Thermocline – R3000 Cash (LBT), Extreme Fishing Tackle Voucher, Arkansas Spur Vouchers, Ilanga Mugg n Bean Vouchers.
4. Wittus Angling – R2500 Cash (LBT), Solly’s Voucher, Arkansas Spur Vouchers, Ilanga Mugg n Bean Vouchers.
5. Extreme Fishing Tackle – R2000 Cash (LBT), Solly’s Voucher, Clean a Carpet Voucher, Arkansas Spur Vouchers, Ilanga Mugg n Bean Vouchers.
6. Supa Fly –R1000 Cash (LBT), Sakata Seed Hamper, Tripwired Voucher, Arkansas Spur Vouchers, Ilanga Mugg n Bean Vouchers.
7. Imbongolo –Fridge Factory Hamper, Arkansas Spur Vouchers, Ilanga Mugg n Bean Vouchers.
8. Griffen – Midas Hamper, Arkansas Spur Vouchers, Ilanga Mugg n Bean Vouchers.
9. Venom Lures Lowveld –Nelspruit Ford Hamper, Rudamans Voucher, Arkansas Spur Vouchers, Ilanga Mugg n Bean Vouchers.
10. Legend –BeliTelo Hamper, Tripwired Voucher, Midas Hamper, Arkansas Spur Vouchers, Ilanga Mugg n Bean Vouchers.
Biggest Bass: Bucket Mouth – 3,71kg – Woodlands Weekend Voucher (R4140), Nichols Lures Hamper.
2nd Biggest Bass: Supa Fly – 3,27kg – Induna Zipline Adventure, Nelspruit Trailer Parts Voucher, Midas Hamper.
3rd Biggest Bass: Dominate – 2,805kg – Rudamans Voucher (R1200), Nelspruit Ford Hamper.
The ever consistent team Thermocline is still topping the log and have extended their lead to 9.355 points over the 2nd placed team Extreme Fishing Tackle. This lead is surely about to shrink as teams’ worst scores are about to be thrown out with the next event taking place.
Teams on the up include team Bucket Mouth that jumped from 5th to 3rd with their 1st place finish, Imbongolo jumping 5 places into the top 10 and Supa Fly taking a gigantic 11 place leap into the top 20 and sitting in 19th.
Teams dropping down on the log include Salmo and Nichols dropping to 7th place, Pumba dropping out of the top 10 to 14th and 5 Limit and Bent Rods dropping out of the top 20 into 24th and 22nd place respectively.
AUGUST 2019 Round 7 – Inyaka Dam
After having kicked off the 2019 season at Inyaka dam, the LBT returns to this unpredictable fishery for the penultimate round. Inyaka dam is really not well known to be any good during colder months, but history has shown that the spawning phase at Inyaka can produce 10kg+ bags. The question will be however whether the dam will kick into action before the LBT arrives on 3 August.
A word of thanks to our Round 6 sponsors:
Alan Hudson Motors, Angling & Outdoor World, Arkansas Spur, The Bass Angler, BeliTelo, Clean a Carpet, Extreme Fishing Tackle, Fridge Factory, Hazyview Midas, Induna Adventures, Instru Lec, Laeveld Agrochem, Malelane Toyota, Mugg n Bean, Nelspruit Ford, Nelspruit Trailer Parts, Nichols Lures, Numbi Hotel, Rudamans, Sakata Seed, Solly’s, Subaru Nelspruit, Tripwired, Wittus Angling.
Interested in competing on the Lowveld Bass Trail? Check out their Facebook page here.
