Ups and downs @ Laurentia Lake

WORDS: Hoosein Mahomed IMAGES: Supplied Going into March we opted to fish the first and last weekends at Laurentia Lake on the West Rand, knowing that this would be the last weekend sessions available in March, as we started our fasting period in April. On both sessions we were accompanied by my brother, Hassen with Zaheer 'Bangie' Mohamed and his wife, Kauser Khan; they would be on peg #4 with us on peg #3. Fishing Laurentia has not been the easiest for me and my brother, so after getting advice from one of the venue’s regulars, Hassen decided on a strategy and to stick to it, which would eventually pay off, namely, to prep feeding boilies with added attraction. This consisted of feeding boilies soaked in Robin Red liquid food, fished with the matching Robin Red HNV boilies alongside Robin Gold. Prepping of the feed started in the week leading up to the session by adding liquid food to the feeding boilies and soaking for 24 hours, thereafter, adding additional liquid and coating them with amino powders to hopefully add to our catch rates. In addition, we prepped chilli hemp for the session and Hassen prepped a fresh batch of his ever so trusty Twizzler paste. SESSION #1 Our first session, fished from Friday 4 March to Tuesday 8 March, meant that we had four nights on the bank ahead of us. Getting to Laurentia on Friday afternoon we had set up and placed rigs just before dark. Hassen had opted to fish one rod at 60m straight out at the border of our peg, baiting up with a stack of fake maize covered with the Twizzler paste. Getting approval from dam manager Shanin Weir to fish across into peg #7 waters at around 90m, I opted to try the Robin Red and Robin Gold boilies on this area. Hoosein Mahomed with the first one for the session, a decent fish of 10kg. Hoosein, once again the lucky one, with a fish of 12kg. At around 9pm that Friday evening we had our first fish on the bank with me landing a decent 10kg common on the fake maize paste combo. A short while later my rod on the 90m spot with Robin Red was off, landing a chunky 12kg common. Little did we know that this was the start of a busy weekend with us catching more fish than we could have expected. Rods were reset and it was time for bed. The first run breaking our first night’s sleep was unfortunately a small catfish. Rebaiting my rig with a single 20mm Robin Red boilie and a yellow fake maize, I got my lines back on the spot and around 03:00 we were awakened by another take, again from the 90m spot, this time landing an 11kg common. Given the time, we opted to stay awake till morning prayers and watch the sunrise. As the sun rose, we kept scouting the waters for signs of fish, with most activity occurring on the far margin into pegs #7 and #1. The rest of the day was very quiet with no activity. My brother opted to move his second rod to the far margin and fish the dam’s home brand monster grape berry and grape boilie. Just before sunset his rod was off, landing a smaller common. As we went into our second evening, we set up the additional rods and dropped lines on the opposite margin and into the adjacent swim where we saw a lot of fish activity. I opted to fish a small snowman presentation of a 16mm Twizzler boilie and 12mm Twizzler pop-up, dropping the line just after sunset into the far corner bay of the dam which had solid gravel patches. This time Hassen had some luck with another nice carp that could not resist a grape berry boilie. Not only the men were lucky, here is Kauser also smiling with her first catch of the session. Given the tough session for our friends on peg #3 and knowing it was their last night we offered them the choice to fish on our spots with the additional rods allowed by the dam manager due to other swims being vacant. Kauser reluctantly took the opportunity and fished with the citrus boilies topped with fake maggots, her bait of choice for the weekend. Her rig was baited up and taken across the dam to about 10m from the margin, a decision that paid off early in the evening as she managed to get onto the board with a lovely 8,7kg common saving the blank for her! Hassan’s choice of the Twizzler snowman seemed to be a very rewarding decision as it resulted in three quick fish coming out of the area, and most memorably his first koi, a pearl-white fish named Peaches and Cream. Later that evening, just after midnight Zaheer also got on the board with a beautiful small, stubby, angry 3,4kg common which fell victim to a 10mm pineapple pop-up, saving him the blank on that weekend. At this point Hassen was out-fishing me but I opted to stick to my game plan and at 04:00 on Sunday morning I managed to land my third carp, a smaller 8kg common. As I rowed off into the darkness to drop my rig, I could hear one of our alarms screaming off, I set my rig down and rushed back to help my brother with his next fish. He played the fish superbly until it eventually broke the surface, and soon after a big mirror blessed the back of the net. It was a recapture for my brother with a fish known as Two Tone, which was his first mirror from the venue back in 2019. We were pleased to see that the fish had put on some weight as it weighed in at 11,5kg, 1,5kg heavier than its previous capture. Hassen with this lovely mirror, known by Laurentia regulars as Two Tone. Waking up a bit later like 'normal' people and with no alarms going off, we helped Zaheer and Kauser pack up and saw them off. The rest of the day, as expected, was very quiet so we just managed to get some rest. With two nights remaining we hoped the evenings would see more fish coming in. The third night was not very busy as Hassen failed to land a fish and I managed to bag two additional carp equalling the tally, one of the fish being a recapture for me from our December mini-campaign, and our biggest carp landed at Laurentia at that time, but now weighing in at 13,76kg, slightly bigger than it weighed in December. Checking in with the dam manager this fish was not named so we named it The Brute. Getting up late on the last full day we decided to sit on our hands and not rebait lines as fishing had been close to dead during the days. As we entered into the final night, we rebaited lines and decided to get early to bed. Hoosein with another slab of 13,76kg – now named The Brute. Approaching that 'magical' 9pm time, we started hearing activity on the water and hoped that things would start taking off as we had experienced on the first two nights. We were just about to doze off when the first of the bites started. That night really rounded up an already epic session. Hassen managed to land a couple of fish and also a new common PB fish pushing him over the 30lbs mark, the fish falling to a krill pop-up placed 10m off the reed bed on the opposite margin. His feed that enticed this lump was a mix of boilies coated in fish extract and 5mm pellets. With the sun breaking the morning skies we packed up and headed home, still mesmerised by the session we had just experienced, once again showing that a lot of time on the bank will eventually pay off. This session wrapped up with 17 carp hitting the back of the net weighing in at 164kg. For Hassen it was arguably the best session of his life landing a common PB, a koi PB, the biggest mirror of the venue and a majestic ghosty! Hassen with his majestic ghosty – one fish of arguably the best session of his life! SESSION #2 Given the successful sessions at the start of the month, on our second session on the weekend of 25 to 28 March we planned to start off exactly on the same spot and with the same baits. We again prepped boilies in the week before the session and once again some chilli hemp was prepared. Arriving at the dam a bit later on the Friday afternoon, Zaheer and Kauser were already set up and were getting their last lines in. Unfortunately, we were unable to stick to the same spots this time around as the venue was fully booked. As we socialised, we set up camp and got the lines in just after sunset. We decided to pick three spots on the boundary of the swim, and one closer spot. Going into the first night there was some activity on the water, and we were full of confidence, but as time passed with nothing showing any interest in our rigs it was time to hit the sack. We still had faith in the rigs that were out and not long later were we woken by a one toner, and Hassen managed to land a decent common of 11kg, once again the fake maize and paste combo doing the work. Resetting the lines, we headed back to bed, waking up for morning prayers and, as usual, once again staying up to watch the waters and look for signs of fish. Not long after sunrise, Kauser’s close margin rod was off, and she landed a small common. Given the quiet days we decided not to rebait any lines and would only reset lines again before sunset. That day we managed to land multiple bass on spinners and plastics, and Kauser also managing to land her first bass ever. One of our successful bait combinations: Robin Red (left) and Robin Gold. As we approached the second night, we tweaked our baits and locations a bit while once again monitoring the waters as the sun went down. The waters were very still with not many fish revealing themselves. At this point we knew it would be a slower session and didn't expect much that evening, and around 01:30 I managed to land a small common which would just save the blank for me on this session. Sunday was once again a quiet day and we opted to reset lines only before sunset and to target the far margin, since the dam had emptied out. The move seemed to have paid off as we had two runs before 9pm, but unfortunately both fish managed to elude the back of the net. Going to bed we were confident that we would land a fish or two from the margins, but it was not to be, with only a small catfish landed that evening. One thing that these sessions proved is that you will have some slow sessions and when you least expect it you will have some hot streaks. Just enjoy the ride, fish when you're on a high, and continue to fish through the low as the tides will change. The answer to all the problems is to fish more! https://youtu.be/Huw1OdcRnZo

Ups and downs @ Laurentia Lake

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