a most enjoyable session albeit it with only 5 fish to account for our efforts. It was winter after all and frankly the fishing banter between my fishing partner and I on the 2-hour drive through the frosty Highveld dawn was enough for starters. We launched the HMS Knotalot to an eerie silence with only one other boat joining us the entire day. Our once trusty Mercury 15 was as responsive as a sleeping teenager after student night and it reminded me of my days as a trouper in the defence force where one was often referred to as being, “sommer U.S.” Or Un-Serviceable!
We decided to approach the far bank on sneaker power, leaving the horses to sun out a while before applying more whip. This seemed the appropriate decision with both of our arms week from numerous attempts at starting her up, an obvious option too since neither of us has the technical know- how beyond the mechanical mantra of prime –pull- and pray!
It was now 7am with the sun only just up and that feeling of freedom abounding. We entered the first bay and started to throw wacky Senkos to no avail. The conversation was flowing till about 8:30 when I felt the slightest resistance and noticed the familiar side tacking of my line. It had of course been an eternity since my fight or flight reflexes had been tested to this extent and so in response to my most limp wristed of strikes, the fish nonchalantly spat out the presentation as if to say, “Do you have that in man sizes!”
We then managed to persuade the sleeping outboard to play along and ran to the island where we peppered the trees with everything from crank-baits to surface lures with absolutely no interest. We decided to drift along the outside edge of the weed, down scaling to 8lb Nanofil and drop shot rigs which at last produced a small but strong fighting largemouth. The Pressure was definitely on the drop as the forecast had predicted and as if like clockwork we began to develop a pattern, with fish slowly being picked up.
Article & Images by Graham Weakley
Bass Digest/August, 2014