Here we go again.....!
Please remember that a fisherman never “blanks”, he just runs out of time!
How do you approach a fishing venue even if you were there before.
· Early in the morning fish is normally shallower, especially in summer.
During winter months the fish move to deeper water.
And during the day as the water warms-up the fish will move to shallower water.
· Wind, if the windblows that creates more oxygen in the water and the fish are more active and feeding.
Wind direction towards you, in general fish will the face towards the shore.
Wind direction from your back, in general the fish will face the other way from the bank.
Then also if the wind blows, you can use more ball-dip because there is more movement in the water, the opposite again for a little breeze or quite conditions are true you don’t want to over saturate the water column with too many flavours.
· Look at the contour of the bank does it gradually slopes towards the dam then you know the dan slope gradual to deeper water, but if there is a steep graduate on the bank then the water gets deeper quite quicker.
· But the best test is to walk in and the advantage of this is you can feel how quickly it goes deeper and secondly what the bottom is like, muddy, vegetation or sandy as you walk in.
This can then also help you plan which hook bait to use, that does not lie in the mud or vegetation, then I will only use floaties to lift the hook bait out of the mud and vegetation or a sandy bottom then I will consider a mielie, or heavier hook bait.
As mentioned under traces vairy your trace to suite the conditions.
Fish move in lanes along the shoreline and that is also true of the size of the fish. The reason for this is that fish have a bladder and for them to move 15m or swallower or deeper requires them to equalize their bladder so they do not move rapidly into deeper water or swallower water. So, it is important that in the beginning of the fishing session you find out where they are at what distance from the shore do the following:
· Measure out your lines, one rod for example at 65m and the other one at 85m.
· If you do not get a byte, do not let your line lye there for to long 20-30minutes max.
· When you get a fish at a certain distance, through a few mielie-bomb on that distance.
· And very important, each cast must be in the same spot, I cannot emphasis this enough it is extremely important, this creates a feeding area and it keeps the fish in the area.
· Think on your feet, play around with your hook bait and dips.
One of the tactics that is used is when the fish is not feeding and you cannot pin-point their depth (distance), decide on a distance where you see other fisherman are catching fish and adjust your distance but keep to that distance and then on regular intervals cast a new bait ball, and more than likely that spot will come alive and produce good fish as the day progresses.
Do not cast all over the dam to catch or to find a fish!
