As anglers get their final preparations in place for the last competition round before heading to the LBT final, they can hardly believe that the past eight months have flown by this quickly.

It was in February the teams lined the shores of Inyaka Dam, all square, with many teams setting high targets and goals. Many have come close, and many have had a season to forget. Nonetheless, there will always be drama.
This coming Saturday the LBT heads to the furthest venue from home, the picturesque De Hoop Dam near Steelpoort.

De Hoop is relatively new compared to other venues that feature on the LBT tour, but the angling field will be well acquainted with this dam. Top LBT teams have also competed in the 2018 SABAA super final hosted by Anglers4Anglers at De Hoop.
This dam offers anglers an abundance of semi- and fully submerged brush as well as a lots of hard timber mixed into the equation. Hard structure is difficult to find isolated from any surrounding brush in a venue where almost 100 per cent of the shoreline is populated with brush.

Pre-fishing reports have come in with one common statement, the fishing was indeed truly tough and water clarity is at an all-time high, with 20-foot visibility in certain regions of the dam.
The dam level has been dropping over the past few months, with the level currently at 81,8 per cent compared to the 2018 level of 86,9 per cent.

Given that the spawn is imminent, a stretch of good warm weather will certainly spice things up, as was shown in 2018 when Wolf Lures delivered a superb bag of 10,84 kilograms to finish almost two kilograms clear of the second-placed team. Their bag included a lunker bucket mouth of 4,19 kilograms.

For teams wanting to make a move and qualify for the 2019 LBT final, a venue with tough fishing that still offers the opportunity of mammoth bag weights will be ideal to make up ground on the log. There will be a lot to fish for, with most of the midfield teams aiming to qualify for the LBT final.

Teams higher up on the log will need to put in another consistent performance to guarantee their spot to represent the LBT at the 2019 SABAA super final.

Other teams will surely just be out to enjoy the good company that the LBT offers and enjoy a weekend in the bushveld.
The road between Stofberg and De Hoop is very bumpy. Please take care in travelling to the dam and allow yourself enough time to get to the venue should you not stay over nearby.

Please take note that the LBT rules state that no pre-fishing is allowed five days in advance of any regular scheduled event.
Pre-fishing is not only limited to lines in the water, but also includes scouting fishing locations, launching of boats on competition waters and graphing lake contours.

Any team found contravening this rule will be disqualified from the event. We have asked locals to keep an eye out for any familiar boats on the day of competition. Please do not disappoint yourself by fishing during this week.

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Entry fee
The entry fee for the competition is R500 per team entry.
There will be no fee to make use of the launching sites or to gain access to the venue. We do, however, encourage a tip to the helpful team that always keep an eye on the vehicles while everyone is on the dam during the day.

Launching process
Please ensure that your boat is ready to launch before entering the launch queue. This includes boat plugs in, boat straps off, covers off, and so on.