Teams contest for the ultimate catch

According to the season schedule, the tournament was expected to take place at Driekoppies Dam, but due to unforeseen circumstances, they were forced to change the venue less than a week before the event. Needless to say, this unexpected change levelled the playing field as the teams which spent valuable time and money fishing at Driekoppies Dam prior to the event, were left in the same boat as those who hadn’t.

Without a lot of information and data to work from, the 43 teams expected a rather tough time on the water. A huge factor which had to be taken into account was temperature and how this would influence the bass’ behaviour. Driekoppies’ average midday temperature in June is 23,5°C. Vygeboom’s is 18,8°C.

At the end of the day the 86 competing anglers managed to piece a bit of the puzzle together and 91 bass were weighed in with a combined weight of 63,54 kilograms.

The average weight of 0,698 kilograms was an improvement on the 0,515 kilograms average at the same venue in April this year. The largest bag of bass were caught by Herman Geldenhuys of team Thermocline with a fish of 1,655 kilograms and a bag of 5,2 kilograms.

Adriaan Bam and Johan Coetzee of team Mitsubishi, caught a five-bass limit weighing 4,26 kilograms to finish second, bumping them up the overall log from 25th to 17th out of 68 teams, keeping them in contention to compete in the final at Injaka Dam in October.

When the mercury drops to its frigid winter norm, most anglers immediately suppose that bass don’t feed a lot and that you have to focus on fishing deep-water structures to have any success. In the past at Vygeboom many teams, however, demonstrated that it was still possible to find fish that were shallow and aggressive this time of year, but this was not one of those days.

The top-three teams got most of their fish on deeper finesse presentations ranging from drop shots, mojo Senkos to texas rigged soft plastic jerkbaits.

Newcomers to the LBT, Team Fischen, had special praise for a particular bait that helped them bring 4,025 kilograms to the scales and finish on the podium in their first event of the season. Joniel Marks and Charl de Villiers boasted several good-quality fish on ZMan FattyZ rigged on a drop shot.

The next competition will take place at Driekoppies on July 11 and will begin at 07:00. Don’t forget your R80 per boat entry fee at the gate.

The LBT are well into the third quarter of the season, and they’d like to once again thank all the regular sponsors who had made this season a success so far. Thanks to Rencor Construction, Cardinals Mitsubishi Nelspruit, Subaru Nelspruit, OppiDam, Total Super Motors, Jock Pub & Grill, Lowveld Agrochem Nelspruit, Sakata Seed, John Dory’s Nelspruit, Midas Nelspruit, Angling & Outdoor World, Strike King Lures, Venom Lures, Big Bite Baits and Wittus Angling.

Here’s how the top-10 teams got on:
1. Thermocline (12,2 points) – R5 000 cash from Rencor Construction
2. Mitsubishi (11,26) – R3 000 cash from Mitsubishi Lowveld and Venom Lures
3. Fischen (11,025) – R2 000 cash from Subaru Nelspruit and LBT
4. Hazyview Midas (10,45) – Angling & Outdoor World voucher, Strike King hamper, Total Super Motors fuel voucher (value R1 800)
5. Frogz (10,27) – Oppikoppi voucher, Total Super Motors Fuel voucher (value R1 600)
6. Pumba (10,235) – Big Bite Baits hamper, Total Super Motors fuel voucher (value R1 300)
7. Bass (10,060) – Wizard Tackle Box, two Shade Sails (Midas), Jock voucher (value R1 050)
8. Wittus ( 9,920) – two Sun Shelters (Midas), Jock voucher (value R950)
9. Stokstyf (9,855) – two Gamakatsu Caps, two Shade Sails (Midas), Jock Voucher (value R850)
10. Angling & Outdoor World (9,740) – Gas-braai cover, Shade Sail (Midas), Jock voucher (value R750).

First and second prizes:
• Biggest bass – Thermocline, 1,655 kilograms – R1 000 cash from John Dory’s and a R500 voucher from Wittus Angling
• Second biggest bass – Titanic, 1,385 kilograms – R500 Sakata Seed Hamper and a Total Super Motors fuel voucher of R300.