Bass Digest/May, 2014
The next 4 seasons of competing in the BFSA Money Trail was a great learning experience fishing with my regular partners Roy de Wet, Quinton Venter and Malcolm Shirley.
Roy taught me pitching and deep cranking. With Quinton I learned never to give up until weigh-in. Malcolm can claim responsibility for teaching me the finer tactics of weightless and finesse fishing.
I was also fortunate enough to compete with my youngest daughter Misha and witness her catch a largemouth personal best (PB) of 1.82kg during a BFSA Money Trail event.
Fishing off a smaller boat
Here in the Western Cape we have to contend with very high winds and a Southeaster that can turn a dam quickly into a very unsafe and hazardous environment. Not to forget about any winds with a “W” in the direction. Those are good days to stay home and play with your tackle or do maintenance on your
boat.
I was at the receiving side of such a day while
fishing a BFSA Money Trial event at Brandvlei
Dam. Conditions were a little borderline but as
keen bass fishermen we decided to brave the
high winds and try and fish the quieter bays
and protected areas. The competition was
called off earlier than usual and on the run
back into a northeaster my boat developed
engine trouble. It only took three of four big
waves to fill the boat up with water which
caused my pride and joy to flip over Quinton
and I testing the effectiveness of our life jackets.
We were very lucky to escape the ordeal due
to very quick action by the emergency
services guys at Brandvlei. Apart from
bruised egos only the engine needed work
and our boat came through the ordeal
relatively unscathed.
It emphasized the fact that the buoyancy requirements are there for a reason and that
life jackets should be worn at all times when
an outboard engine is running. I also realised
that a high output automatic bilge pump is a
must on smaller boats.
This past 2013-2014 season Quinton and I
managed a 6th place in the BFSA Outdoors 365 Money Trail which goes to show that a team can be competitive on a smaller boat. I would seriously recommend buying a smaller boat to serious bass anglers on a budget. Our performance this past season shows that one can compete with the bigger budget boats out there.
Fishing at the highest level
During 2013 I applied with Blue Water Gear and was over the moon when I was accepted as part of their senior pro-staffer group in the Western Cape. With the backing of a sponsor I signed up with the highest echelon of bass fishing in the Western Cape, the WCBAA Divisional and Elite Series as part of Tygerberg Bass Anglers and have just completed my first season.