Last Day in Africa
Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2014 10:44 am
I have had a wonderful trip to Africa. There have been many experiences and while the fishing hasn't been particularly good - I have shown a few fisherman that "Yes!, Spoonplugging does work in Africa". AND that fish in South Africa do in fact eat Spoonplugs and Blades quite readily.
My personal goal was to test myself and my Spoonplugging knowledge. Quite honestly, even though I rarely fish reserviors - the different reservoirs are not even an issue. Of the three I've fished - the last one has been the most difficult.
Clear, 14' weedlines, not really cold at 56 degrees but very cold for Africa. I knew when I saw the conditions we needed to work the weeds pitching and flipping but my boat doesnt allow for any control for this presentation (no electric trolling motor). So we've done what I could and have gotten 1 little fish in 2 days.
I found many fish in the 22-25 foot depths but nothing I have done has worked. Oh well we have had some reasonable days on other lakes and on 1 day we caught 9 fish that averaged 5 pounds. So while i havent broken any size or numbers records - the guidelines made fishing a different country on the otherside of the planet a non-issue.
I can't post any pictures. We took a bunch but Ive had an equipment failure and i may not be able to recover them. This is especially painful because i may have lost all my animal photos. This is a real tradgedy because the 3 days of Game Viewing were the highlight of the trip.
Despite having my camera system on board, we never got a fish on tape. This is really disappointing.
Anyway, I leave for home tomorrow. Will have a 25 hour stop in Amsterdam wednsday and if i can i will post a more detailed description of the fishing situations and pictures then. I will be home on thursday sometime.
Morning
Fran
My personal goal was to test myself and my Spoonplugging knowledge. Quite honestly, even though I rarely fish reserviors - the different reservoirs are not even an issue. Of the three I've fished - the last one has been the most difficult.
Clear, 14' weedlines, not really cold at 56 degrees but very cold for Africa. I knew when I saw the conditions we needed to work the weeds pitching and flipping but my boat doesnt allow for any control for this presentation (no electric trolling motor). So we've done what I could and have gotten 1 little fish in 2 days.
I found many fish in the 22-25 foot depths but nothing I have done has worked. Oh well we have had some reasonable days on other lakes and on 1 day we caught 9 fish that averaged 5 pounds. So while i havent broken any size or numbers records - the guidelines made fishing a different country on the otherside of the planet a non-issue.
I can't post any pictures. We took a bunch but Ive had an equipment failure and i may not be able to recover them. This is especially painful because i may have lost all my animal photos. This is a real tradgedy because the 3 days of Game Viewing were the highlight of the trip.
Despite having my camera system on board, we never got a fish on tape. This is really disappointing.
Anyway, I leave for home tomorrow. Will have a 25 hour stop in Amsterdam wednsday and if i can i will post a more detailed description of the fishing situations and pictures then. I will be home on thursday sometime.
Morning
Fran