(Mis)Adventure

A few weeks prior to my 75th birthday – on 9 September - I had what at the time seemed to be a brilliant idea to celebrate it, namely to sail and fish for Largemouth Yellowfish all the way from the wall of Vanderkloof Dam to its inflow, passing the nights encamped on its banks. What an absolutely great idea! Arguably the best way ever to celebrate decades of recreational fishing, with the added challenge to better the current South African (and world) record of 22,2kg. But while it did sound attractive, when I broached the idea to the family, my eldest son, Jacques (52 years) was not so keen, pointing out that camping nights on end would entail carrying quite a load of equipment. And of course the physical exertion of having to make camp after a long, tiring day on the water and then breaking camp every morning. He also reminded me of my aches and pains emanating from decades of playing sport and fishing off a boat. He didn’t think the ‘ou toppie’ was quite up to it. So my “great adventure idea” lay cooling off until an office conversation brought up the trophy-size Largemouth Yellows of Koppies Dam in the Free State. Entrance to the Koppies Nature Reserve: R100 for the boat and R100 for the vehicle – a bargain! Well, I vaguely remembered a visit to the dam (in the previous century) to catch carp, mudfish, barbel and the odd yellowfish. It had also never figured on my list of regular venues. Built more than a hundred years ago in the small Renoster River and hit hard by occasional droughts, it had however always managed to recover magnificently. In its favour was also the fact that local bank anglers had in recent times landed a number of trophy-size Largemouth Yellowfish who indicated that they would be happy to act as guides. Koppies increasingly became a viable alternative, and in addition is much nearer to Pretoria (some 280km from home compared to nearly 900km to Vanderkloof); finally the news that to sail to Vanderkloof’s inflow the boat had to have twin outboards, or be accompanied by a second boat, and a satellite telephone system in addition to the waterworthy certificate gave extra weight to my decision to rather tackle Koppies Dam. As for accommodation a telephone enquiry to the Koppies Nature Reserve revealed that only camping was available (quite untrue it turned out as there are no fewer than ten, 3-star timber chalets on its shore!) so alternative self-catering chalet accommodation was sought. Our guide for the three-day excursion advised that we need not have any worries about bait and tackle and so on, but mentioned that weather conditions played a big role on the dam. What was needed for big Largemouth Yellowfish, he maintained, was a heavy wind on the water and it was only worthwhile casting in a line from about 15:00 to just after dusk. Well, that suited me perfectly as it gave me my first opportunity to experience the performance of the All Lion company’s boat, a 19ft Fusion with a 150hp Yamaha on its transom, a state-of-the-art electronically controlled Minn Kota sneaker motor on its bow and a down and side scan Humminbird sonar. Until the time came to start the afternoon’s bank fishing I planned to boat fish, using the successful trolling techniques employed successfully on previous trips to Vanderkloof. Son Jacques and father Eugene Kruger enjoying quality time. A ‘small’ problem of a suitable tow vehicle was solved with a call to Pieter Bouwer, manager of the Lindopark branch of Gys Pitzer Motoring in Pretoria, the company’s vehicle partner, and himself a keen angler, who offered the use of a 3.2 Ford Ranger. Everything at last seemed set for a successful trip. But in the week prior to our departure unexpected work commitments forced our guide to cancel, but with our accommodation booked and paid for Jacques and I reckoned that as seasoned boat anglers we could handle the boat fishing quite well without him. So on the morning of my 75th birthday the alarm woke me at 04:00 and two hours later saw Jacques and me on the road to Koppies Dam with the Fusion tagging happily behind our Ford Ranger loaded with gear and everything else that travelling anglers seem to need. After a comfort break and a typical Wimpy breakfast at the Kroonvaal one-stop, and a R66 toll fee, we turned off the N1 to Koppies. Up ahead we saw a sign “Koppies Dam” turn on the left, but preferred to believe our GPS lady that told of a turn-off to the lodge where we were booked in a few kilometres further on. She of course was spot on and we turned off onto a typical country dirt road and arrived at the gate. A call to reception got the gate opened, and we received a warm, friendly welcome and shown the ins and outs of our chalet. Off loading didn’t take too long and so we arrived at the Reserve’s gate just before noon, paid the R200 fee (R100 for the vehicle and R100 for the boat, plus R60 each for angling licences) and after touring the resort found the launch site. On the cement pad launching was pretty straight forward and in our haste to get fishing the sneaker was engaged (what a pleasure and novelty it was to use the remote to get it into the water!) and five rods put out even before the Humminbird was switched on. Big mistake: the baits ran way too deep and hang-ups came thick and fast. At a little more than only one metre deep the bed was covered with grass. We re-baited with topwaters and shallow running stickbaits and paid careful attention to the Humminbird’s screen, but deeper water was scarce. Way out towards the inlet we did find a channel, most probably the old river bed, with an average depth of 2,3 metres, but very narrow. And no fish showing on the sonar. Indeed over the two days we saw only isolated fish on the sonar, mostly on or just off the bottom. Hang-ups were frequent, so we were kept quite busy changing baits. As for the wind, Koppies evidently does not figure on any weather report as a decidedly fresh westerly blew most of the day, with white horses all around. And so the afternoon wore on, with no strikes save for the hang-ups on the grass. At one stage we wanted to anchor the boat and put a bassing technique to work, namely casting and retrieving the baits just above the grass beds, but discovered that only two instead of the three anchors that were supposed to be on board were loaded. Two anchors in that fresh wind would not work at all so it was left to the Minn Kota and its GPS to maintain position, but fearful of emptying the battery we didn’t persist with this tactic for too long, maybe half an hour - and still fishless. As the sun started dipping in the west we headed back to the launch site, and while trolling just about parallel to the wall rip-rap Jacques’ rod buckled. “Ag no man, not another hang-up!” but then the rod came to life and a minute or so later he had his very first Largemouth Yellowfish in the boat. At about 2kg it was very far from the trophy we had hoped for, but nevertheless a real, live largy! And then not 15 minutes later, adjacent to the wall on our way to trailer the boat, his rod bent once again, and this time he was moved to yell “here’s a big one!” From 1 metre deep to zero within a step – skipper Jacques getting his feet wet to get the Fusion afloat. Well, if it was a yellow it would definitely have been a trophy, but we quite soon realised it was a barbel. At 4,9kg it did give a nice “rev” and we are always appreciative of the fish we catch (no species snobs here!) but can be forgiven for feeling disappointed that it was not a trophy yellow! Back at our chalet we had to eat our boerewors and salad dinner on our laps because there was no table in the room that served as a bed/dining/living room. Well, my 75th day on this earth had started very early so I was quite happy to call it a day soon after dinner. Tomorrow we would fare better – typical of an anglers’s optimism! On Tuesday, at 06:00, just before sunrise, we were at the gate, paid another R200 and launched onto a surface being whipped by a cold easterly wind. So cold we both donned heavy winter jackets, and gloves. While launching I remembered that old fisherman’s saying: “When the wind blows west, the fishing’s best; when the wind blows east, the fishing’s least!” Oh dear! A souvenier of the Free State: another maize stalk leaf! And so it was – it was another day of hang-ups galore, and no matter what baits we tied on, what speeds and distances we trolled, strikes were totally absent. We even managed to run aground up in the inlet section and Jacques, ever the capable skipper, had to get his feet wet to move the boat off the sandbank (which had suddenly appeared in water that was supposedly more than a metre deep). The front line of attack : rods mounted in the rod holders make trolling easy. I did hoever catch me a “souvenir” of the Free State: maize is synonymous with the Free State – such as in: what is a Free State burger? It is two layers of stywepap with slappap in between! So on one troll path my starboard rod started behaving “strangely”, meaning not like as all the other hang-ups, and I really did think that “this was it”! Particularly when the “fish” darted off to one side. But then, there it was was, a leaf of a maize stalk impaled on the bait’s treble! Later on Jacques also had a “stranger than fiction-like” catch: reeling in to change bait he saw that a hook of his bait had hooked into the loop of a broken off bank angling trace! Chances of that happening? How many trillion to one? Jacques with his first ever Largemouth Yellowfish – a change of scenery for him from deep sea and bass waters! We did see quite a number of springbuck and wildebeest on the eastern banks, but noticed that they were pretty nervous and kept a close watch on us. Whie we sat still they would keep on grazing, but the second one of us stood up, off they went. No doubt the cause of poaching – they don’t trust anything! The barbel that gave a good “rev” – note the sore on its flank, most possibly a case of Epizootic Ulcerative Syndrome. By late afternoon we had been on the water for ten hours non-stop; enough sunburn, time to call it a day - and give thanks for the company and quality father and son time, which I reckon was even more valuable as a birthday present! PROMOTIONAL CONSIDERATION: Pieter Bouwer, Gys Pitzer Motoring, Lindopark.Yamaha.Minn Kota.Humminbird.