With cloudy and rainy conditions predicted by the weatherman for Saturday, October 31, it was an ideal day for getting lines into the water.

An early start to the morning had local fishermen Bradey Ramdin, Akshay Ramdayal and Saish Motheram waking up way before sunrise at around 3am.

The tackle box and rods were packed into the back of the bakkie, and it was time to put ‘pedal to the metal’ to get out to the dam as early as possible. The earlier the better, so you can lay claim to all the ‘juicy’ spots where you suspect the fish will be biting.

A quick sign-in at the Spioenkop Dam gate and we were inside, ready to get the bait in the water. After making about five or six casts at our first spot of choice, the rain came down in bucket-loads, forcing us to get back into our vehicle and ride out the weather.

At that point, we were drenched and just wanted to head back home. However, with our minds still set on a good day of fishing, we waited out the heavy rain, which lasted about an hour… and moved to our second spot, which was our home for the entire day. Thankfully, some of the clouds moved away and sunlight shone down on us for the first time.

Our target species on the day was largemouth bass.

We also had two rods to fish for carp, which were put in first. Before we knew it, while we were setting up, one of the drags on the carp rods was screaming and the rod was bending towards the water. After the hook was set, a decent-size carp was pulled out, which got everyone into the mood, knowing there was more to come.

Thereafter, with intermittent showers from the heavens throughout the day, we relocated to the banks to look for those ‘largies’ in the clear water.

We all spilt up in different directions and checked in with each other after a few minutes to see if anyone had any bites… But everything was slow until we heard ‘screams’ coming from the other side of the bank – landing net, landing net, fish on. It was the first bass caught for the day!

After a few pictures were snapped, it was back in the water and safely released. With rain coming down, it was fish on after every half an hour or so; the biting was slow. With our hands tired from all the casting, our shoes covered in mud, and great photos and memories of our catches, it was time to pack up and head on home.

Over the past few weeks, countless anglers from Ladysmith have made their way to our local dams to get their hands on largemouth bass; many of them taking all their catches home.

Remember that, yes, it’s fun to catch them, but if they don’t get the chance to reproduce, there will be nothing left in the years to come.

Let’s protect our fish species by practicing ‘catch and release’ to always keep our stocks up. 

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