Anglers show their bass lines
Round one of the 2017 Lowveld Bass Trail (LBT) was launched at Vygeboom Dam with a record entry of 48 boats.
With heavy rains experienced over the Christmas holidays, and water levels that rose quickly, the anglers were faced with a lot of flooded grass.
By morning they were greeted by warm weather with blue skies with partial cloud cover later that afternoon.
Fishing was extremely tough, with 13 teams blanking and only 16 teams managing to find five fish for weigh-in, compared to last year’s March event at Vygeboom where only two teams blanked.
Also read: Wittus is top LBT team
In total, 124 fish were weighed with a total weight of 66,050 kilograms and an average weight of 0,533 kilograms per fish.
Most of the anglers quickly figured out that the fish were holding shallow and it was Team Venom Lures who made the most of the shallow fish.
First-placed team, Venom Lures with Frank and Ben Gottschalk, focused on shallow banks in the main lake with flooded grass, fishing in less than four feet of water in the morning before eventually pulling back to between six and nine feet later in the day.
All their fish were tricked into biting with weightless flukes.
The biggest bass for the day was weighed in by Graham Whitting of Team Bass Savage, who ended up placing second for the day.
Also read: Ambassadors lead pack in bass trail
A fish of 1,535 kilograms, just slightly larger than the second-biggest bass of 1,420 kilograms, was weighed in by Team Bassinator.
Whitting and Jaundré Koch used their trusted Lowrance fish finders to locate the fish. They got results on spinner baits and flukes with the biggest fish falling for a mojo-rigged white fluke.
Third-placed Team Midas Sport also spent their day in the main lake with cleaner water conditions and located a school of bass. They focused on this school exclusively for hours. Getting results on both spinnerbaits and Leach Watermelon & Junebug senkos.
The LBT will be heading towards Jeppes Reef in March for round two of the season, which will be held at Driekoppies Dam. Currently the dam is 28,3 per cent full and is picking up with recent rain.
Competition times will be from 06:00 and weigh-in at 15:00. Registration will open at 05:00.
• Biggest bass – Team Bass Savage, 1,535kg
• Second biggest bass – Bass Savage, 1,420kg
