Spring has sprung

Great time to go fishing again then? The winter is over, the days are longer, warmer and sunnier, and the nights are becoming shorter. Shades of green popping up all over the fields. Sure, signs that the winter is over. Great time to go fishing again then? We hoped so! We ventured into the unknown, to a hidden yet public lake in Jo’burg. A small jewel kept secret by locals in an attempt to protect the beautiful specimens lurking in the deep. Sometimes very challenging waters, as we were told by locals. The weekend looked promising upon our arrival. The wind was calm, lovely sunshine and the water showed activities of beasts, waiting for our baits. We set up the rods, camp and all things necessary then sat back and waited for the all familiar sound of an alarm, while enjoying the crackling fire and burgers. Then all of a sudden, a wind came rushing in and blew our hoodies off our heads, so we decided to take refuge in the tent and to discusse our tactics for the next few days. Many fellow anglers gave us advice and tips on the behaviour, habits and bait preferences of the specimens in the lake. The carp normally take baits only during the day. Particles are good; but boilies tend to be the favourite. Very rarely a catfish will take bait. Having so much faith in my newest favourite bait, the Scarecrow, obviously I would use that first. The banana tigernut topped with a halved banana popup, flat side facing upward. My ‘go to’ rig lately, pairing it with a few fruit boilies and 2 small handfuls of cooked particles, consisting mostly of hempseed and tigernuts with a bit of maize proved to be a good choice. Hannes decided to go in the opposite direction and used boilies topped with fake maize as bait and scattered a few boilies with each rod. We thought we would have a good night’s rest and wake up with a run early morning, but just like Molli’s luck would have it, about midnight my alarm gave a good bite indication. We got up to inspect, and I landed a beautiful Common just shy of 11kg. We had a quick photo session and released the carp safely, hurrying back to the tent to hide from the wind slicing through our hot suits like pins and needles. No time for coffee or a fire, just back to the warm bed! Usually I never mind getting wet or cold for a catch, but that weekend it was a different story. Probably the age catching up with me, but the radical drop in temperatures got the better of me. It was freezing! And typically, all my catches ended up being after midnight. Midnight special of 11kg. After we finally reached respectable body temperatures, my other alarm indicated a decent run. Down we go again at 02:00! After a fair battle of giving and taking line, a beauty just shy of 10kg was landed, so - 2-0 in Molli’s favour! Yes, we are slightly competitive. A few quick photographs and the catch was released safely. The icy wind was ruthless! We headed back to bed in an effort to regain some of the feeling in our hands. Purple with cold! Gloves don’t even help! Hitler, our faithful fishing partner, snuggled with us and he is truly a heater on his own, heating the bed very quickly. About 04:00 Hannes’ one rod gave a good run with a feisty fish with no intention of coming to the bank. Finally, after tiring, the 9kg common graced us with her beauty. With the wind still blowing us sideways, we returned to bed. Not being able to redo the rods due to the wind, we in any event decided to cast in just in case we might catch a carp. We waited for dawn to redo the rods properly and continued to discuss our strategy. 4am early bird catch of 9kg. The sunshine never really arrived - the morning was grey, dull, heavy with mist and very cold. Luckily the wind settled down, so we got up, made a fire and had coffee. While enjoying a second cup I set out to capture the ice on basically everything. The back leads, unhooking mat, wood and the frozen water in the cradle! Just as we started to reel the baited lines in and get the rigs ready to redo the rods, the last rod standing took off. A hefty little ball gave Hannes quite a fight - up and down and into snags. Luckily patience ensured the lively 10kg ball of a Common was landed safely. Ball of a full 10kg special. The day turned out to be miserable - cloudy, heavy mist with occasional icy gusts. We spent the day keeping the fire going, building rigs, experimenting with baits and strategizing. Inspecting the water and scouting to find Carp locations to drop baits. The carp were shy, no bites for the rest of the afternoon. We continued to experiment and rebaited the rods for the night in new locations we discovered during our scouting expedition earlier during the day. As the sun set, the temperatures dropped rapidly. The wind picked up and we hid in the tent once again. Just like Murphy’s Law... once we were settled and warm, my alarm gave a good indication. Upon inspection the spool of the reel turned very slowly, one click at a time, so slow that the alarm did not indicate any further line movement. Then the slow turning of the spool gradually became quicker until my swinger touched the rod and the backlead lifted off the bottom. Fish on! While playing this fish, I couldn’t help but think back to a session where young carp were constantly taking bait. On that session we joked and theorised a scenario where the fish were so small that after taking the bait and swimming away the weight would stop the fish and it would just be pulled back to the weight - similar to a Yoyo! Moving the weight so slightly that the alarm indicated only once. In theory this was not really possible as the weight should drop off the line. Although after watching many underwater videos of carp taking bait but not being hooked, this “Yoyo” scenario seems more and more possible. Joking of the ‘guppy’ at the end of the line, not dropping the weight, we laughed, and I continued to reel in the catch or weight, not being sure what it was. This catch was either small, lazy or just the weight playing tricks on my mind. Luckily, and to my amazement it was a beautiful common of 10kg with a lovely golden tail. Lazy, no hassles, no fighting, just landing in the net, as if it gets paid to do it! My Scarecrow bait doing the magic! Not long after, my second rod produced a lovely 12kg Common. Then just before we returned to bed, one of Hannes’ rods suddenly had a significant amount of slack in the line and a few minutes later it took off! After a quick fight a lovely 10kg greeted us in the net. Suited up against the cold, we endured the icy temperatures for a few more hours and rebaited the 3 rods. We waited, hopeful for another run, but by 03:00 decided to call it a night and get some sleep. Early morning Hannes lost a beautiful specimen eagerly fighting due to snags. We ended the weekend with positivity knowing that we had enjoyed a great 48-hour session despite the terrible weather conditions. Trusting our strategies and knowing it would pay off in new waters is a great reassurance. Always trust your instincts. Know what works for you and not just for the venue. Keep experimenting and landing beautiful catches! Spring is here!