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Hi!
The BEST day to go fishing is any day that ends with a "Y"!
Have you noticed?
This site has been up and running since 24
October 2001.
It would
be great if more of you visitors signed the
Guestbook! Thanks to all those who
have done so ... Any suggestions or constructive
criticism (!) would be much appreciated.
I do hope you like the site, find it interesting and
informative and visit again soon!
Why this site?
Bass fishing, and especially tournament or
competition bass fishing, has grown over the the past
few years in South Africa.
While this is all great if you are inclined to fishing
competitively, it is evident that the trophy Bass
angler, the specimen hunter, the casual Basser, the
"loner" and the angler who would rather worship God on
Sundays (when most tournaments unfortunately seem to be
scheduled) than participate in a fishing tournament, are
not specifically being catered for. Some very proficient
Bassers who love the sport have also grown tired of the
"politics" and pettiness sometimes found in competitive
Bassing circles ...
This site will therefore be geared to augment the Bass
fishing experience of this more loosely-knit group
(probably the silent majority) of non-competitive
Bassers, although the tournament anglers or "Bassmasters"
would presumably find many points of interest on this
site.
Contrary to recent developments in respect of SA-based
fishing-related sites, this site will remain a free site
with all info accessible to anyone who visits the site.
For an excellent article on
Tournament Bass Fishing v Trophy Bass Fishing,
by "Fish Chris" Wolfgram,
click on the link.
"Fish Chris" has a great site
at
www.trophybassonly.com
- I visit it almost as often as I check my e-mail! You
can see photos of more 10lb plus Bass here than anywhere
else on the web and learn a lot in the process.
Bass anglers in the USA have a wealth of great sites to
choose from. Sadly, there are few South African websites
dedicated to Bass fishing. These are some that have some Bass fishing info:
www.sabaa.co.za:
the official website of the South African Bass
Chapter Federation is probably the best of
the bunch in SA at the moment, but mainly competition
oriented. This site will update you on tournament info
and results and, in addition, has details of Bass
clubs all over the country if you are interested in
competition or tournament angling or want to contact
or join a Bass club.
The SA BASS Magazine
website!
caters for fishing generally, but
it has a Bass fishing section too - well worth a
visit!
Please use the Big Bass Forum!
Everyone is invited to participate, contribute and
to use the
Big Bass Forum! Each one of us most likely has
something positive to share with others to contribute to
our enjoyment of Bass fishing. Questions, comments and
observations are most welcome, actually imperative, if
this facility is to function at all! So, let's make it
work for us - it can be a source of valuable information
and inspiration.
If you
have any questions, instead of e-mailing me directly,
post your question on the Forum and you will have the
benefit of a far wider range of inputs and answers from
Bassers around the world!
ALL links are operational ...
Please click and check each link in the column on
the left of the page!
New information will be posted as it comes in and as
time allows. Hey, not all of us can be professional Bass
fishermen or webmasters! Tell us what you would like to
see on the site, and while you are about it, please sign
the
Guestbook.
It would be nice to know who is visiting ... and what
you think of the site!
The
Fishing Spots
section also includes links to Bass Fishing
Guide Services operating in Southern
Africa. Obviously this Fishing Spots
section will take a lot of time and effort to "grow" and
will probably never be totally complete. What this
section ultimately looks like will, of course, be
dependent upon appropriate responses from Bassers in the
various areas. So, please send in that info about
your favourite Bass Fishing Spots!
Malangani Fishing
Lodge in Zimbabwe is worth
a visit!
A new venue at Lake
Manyame is
Hideaway Fishing
Camp.
A new
addition to the
Fishing
Spots section is a list of Top Trophy Bass
Waters in South Africa scroll right down to
the bottom of that page to check it out.
Photos and articles
See photos of Bass not only from Southern Africa, but also Bass photos from
the USA, Mexico and
Japan in the
Photos
section!
Anyone can send in photos and
articles for possible posting on this site. As
this is a site focusing on trophy Bass,
let's concentrate on Big Bass! I'm not
going to place a formal cut-off (yet!) on the size of
Bass to be featured on this site, but please don't send
in photos of Bass under 3kg unless the circumstances
surrounding the capture of the fish were unusual or
noteworthy or the lure or bait used was something out of
the ordinary.
Notice that I do not mind if you catch your bass on
natural baits or artificial lures as long as you release
your catch, except perhaps for what you would consider
to be your trophy of a lifetime and some smaller Bass
under 2kg as part of a proper management programme in
waters overpopulated with small or stunted Bass.
Catch and Release
Please
practise "Catch and Release" with the Bass you
are privileged to catch! Read these great articles:
Don't "needle" Deep Caught Bass in an attempt to deflate
their swim bladders - there's a better way!
Go
here to find out.
If
you want to check out a great "Catch and Release"
sequence pic (Rob
"Swimbait" Belloni releasing a
12lb11oz beauty),
go
here.
Newsflash 1!
The most
expensive
Bass lures in the world?
$250-00!
Click on the
pic to find out more.
$300-00!
Click on the
pic to find out more.
Must see
VIDEO Clips
You just have to see these
Video clips
(click
on the pic and then
on the Butch Brown links)
of big Bass taken on the
Huddleston
Deluxe Swimbait!
To read about the
history of this lure, click on the link.
Newsflash 2!
The Japanese Record Bass!
19.15lb!
Click on the
pic to find out what lure and technique
accounted for this monster Bass!
Another Biggie from Japan!
18.66lb!
The pic is courtesy of "Capt"
Greg Vella.
This monster was caught at
Biwako, Japan, on 6 April 2008.
Check out that girth in
relation to the length! So now you know why you just
cannot trust those popular length/weight tables,
especially when it comes to big Bass!
A big Bass from Mexico!
18.3lb!
This magnificent 18.3lb
Bass was caught by Mike Hutcherson of
Plainview, Texas, while fishing Lake Baccarac in Mexico
on the afternoon of 13 February 2005. The Bass
took an 8" watermelon Lizard in 14ft of water.
Rene Salazar
(a local guide and lodge owner) is holding this fish for
Mike.
Click on the
pic
for a link to Lake Baccarac where the lake record Bass
is 19.1lb!
Recent big Bass catches from the USA!
Inspiring Bass catches from the USA, the
original home of the Bass
19.3lb!
The now famous Butch
Brown with possibly the biggest Bass taken
with the whole fight
captured on video!
Butch caught this
19.3lb beauty early in 2008 (at Castaic Lagoon,
California) on a Huddleston Deluxe Trout.
Go to
www.huddlestondeluxe.com to see a video clip of
this action.
Butch nearly loses
the big Bass right at the net - you just have to see the
vid!
19.02lb!
Mike
Long with a PIG of 19.02lb caught on 23 April
2005 at Lake Mission Viejo, California
on an 8"
Huddleston Deluxe Swimbait.
Click on
the
pic to read the whole story.
Using Swimbaits and
Jigs are great Big Bass techniques which have
paid off for Mike in the past.
14.2lb!
Rob
Belloni with a beaut of 14.2lb recently
caught somewhere in California
on a 5"
Big Hammer Swimbait.
Click on
the
pic to visit
Rob's excellent website.
17.75lb!
There's
hope for flyfishers!
Joe
Shelby got this beauty of 17.15lb on a fly
(!!!) in the California Delta on 2 March 2005 while
targeting Striped Bass.
Click on
the
pic for the full story.
21.7lb!
Jed Dickerson of Carlsbad (Carlsbad
Bassers seem to be exceptionally blessed - see pic
directly below!) pulled this absolute dream Bass from
Lake Dixon in Southern California - the weight, an
amazing 21.7lb! This monster was taken on
the morning of 2 June 2003. Dickerson, a
30-year-old fanatical big-bass fisherman, caught and
released this Bass, the fourth-heaviest on record in the
world, the third-largest in the State of California and
the heaviest ever in San Diego County's rich
bass-fishing history. "Way to go, Jed!". The lure
was apparently a
Mission Fish
Swimbait! Click on the pic above to
find out more - this Bass could have been caught before
in 2001 by Mike Long! An amazing example of "Catch
and Release" working! Also click
here.
19.7lb!
Mac
Weakley of Carlsbad landed of one of the largest
bass ever caught in Southern California, a huge
19.7lb beauty taken on 20 May 2003 from Lake Dixon.
The lure: an 8"
Mission Fish
Swimbait! To find out more about this lure,
click
here.
18.4lb!
Totally
phenomenal! "Fish Chris" Wolfgram
does it yet again! His most recent personal best of -
wait for it - 18.4lb! Click on the pic to
read about this most amazing catch taken on 10 April
2003 at Rancho Seco, California, USA. By the way, this
Bass is the new Rancho Seco lake record! Congrats,
Buddy!
OK, so
now you most probably want to know what lure this
monster was caught on ... Click
here to find out! It is a relatively new (and rather
small!) lure.
16.5lb!
Fish Chris Wolfgram with a massive
16.5lb San Pablo Dam, California, monster taken on
14 November 2002 on the now famous Castaic
Trout. This guy catches more trophy Bass on a consistent basis
than any other angler I know of! Click on the pic
to read the whole story about this awesome catch. Click
here to read how "Fish Chris"
fishes the Castaic Trout.
17.1lb!
Fish Chris of
www.trophybassonly.com
just keeps reeling them in!
Here's a a 17.1lber
taken (and released, of course!) somewhere in
California, during the March/ April 2008 pre-spawn.
The lure used was the new
6" model Huddleston Trout (www.huddlestondeluxe.com).
A Double Digit Double!
Capt Greg
Vella and fishing buddy Dave were fishing at
Casitas (California, USA) in 2007 when Dave
got this "double digit double" on a 10 inch
jointed swimbait!
As "Capt" Greg
says: "Lipping one double digit
is not a problem, but two is tricky ...".
I'll say!
Newsflash 3!
Recent big Bass catches from Southern Africa!
2004 delivered new record Bass for both SA and Zimbabwe!
With Florida strain Bass becoming more widespread,
chances are good that something major will happen in the
next few years.
The big Bass photos from the USA shown above are the
result of the stocking of Florida strain Bass into
California waters in the 1960's and 1970's! Before that
California had only some northern strain Bass and
catches were nothing to get too excited about. Really
big Bass started appearing regularly in California only about
10 - 12 years after the introduction of the Florida
strain.
Good catches (indicating the increased presence of
Florida strain genes) have been reported in SA recently.
(Click
here
to find out where to get Florida strain fingerlings in
SA. Please do your part to contribute to spreading
Florida strain genes in SA to ensure bigger and better
Bass in our country!)
If you ever wondered
how the Florida strain Bass ended up in Africa, click
here.
An 18lb4oz Bass was
taken in Zimbabwe on 25 July 2004! This is the new
Zimbabwe record Bass.
The sad thing about this great catch is that
it is obvious that the Bass was not released!
18.26lb!
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Maxwell Mashandure
caught this 8,3kg (18.26lb) Bass on
25 July 2004
("pre-spawn" season in
Southern Africa!) on a Junebug
Zoom
Super Fluke
at Lake Manyame (Darwendale Dam)
in Zimbabwe
Another report, however, states that the lure was a 6" Junebug
Senko.
Maxwell, a 42-year old Harare
electrician, says that he has caught bigger Bass than
this one
(!)
and it was only at the urging of Clive Harris at the
Master Angler Tackle Shop in Harare that he learned the
value of officially weighing trophy bass. Maxwell
reportedly explained he was fishing a lightly weighted
Senko on 25lb test line in 4 to 6 feet of water
using the "deadstick" method putting the worm on a
likely spot and leaving it ... and the rest is history!
A new venue at Lake
Manyame is
Hideaway Fishing Camp.
And here is the
new South African Record Bass of
6,29kg
(13.84lb) caught (and released!) by Julian van
Zuydam in Midmar Dam,
KwaZulu-Natal on Friday 24 September 2004!
13.84lb!
Congrats, Julian!
For the full story of this
great catch, click
here.
It is rumoured that an
even larger Bass of around 7kg was taken in Midmar
shortly after the record catch. (Midmar has Florida
strain Bass, Northern strain, Spotted Bass and
Smallmouth Bass.)
It was also reported
that a brace of Bass, one over 6kg and the other of
7,5kg was taken earlier in 2004 in Florida Lake, Roodepoort,
South Africa, by a subsistence fisherman on livebait. Sadly these Bass were not released
and there are no photos to back up the report!
If you have pics of noteworthy big Bass catches,
please e-mail
me so I can put them up on the site for all to enjoy and
also to show USA Bassers visiting this site the size of
our Bass in Southern Africa!
***
12.94lb!
Shane Redman
with the current official Goedertrouw Dam (Lake Phobane),
KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa, lake record Bass
of 5,88kg (12.94lb) taken on 8 September 2007 on
a green pumpkin Zoom Super Fluke in 4ft of water. The
magnificent Bass was, of course, released.
"Congrats to you,
Shane, keep on catching (and releasing!) those big ones!"
Newsflash 4!
Bass under attack in South Africa!
We know that Bass as
a species is on the "hit list" of the national and
provincial governments in South Africa being regarded as
an "alien" and "invasive" species.
We do need to protect and
conserve indigenous fish stocks and recognise that
certain river systems (mainly in the upper reaches of
those systems) are sensitive, but Largemouth Bass
(both the Northern and Florida strains)
and trout, which are now being branded as "undesirable
aliens" do have a legitimate place in many waters in
South Africa, especially dams and impoundments.
Click
here
for more on this subject ...
Newsflash 5!
If you
don't yet know, South Africa has a few Bass Fishing Guide
Services ...
One of the best which I
can personally recommend, is
Welman Bass Fishing Guide
Service.
Welman Bass Fishing Guide Service operates from
Kempton Park, Gauteng and arranges Bassing trips to various venues
in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
Contact
father and son team, Eddie and
Greg
Welman (tel. (011) 975-2477 or 083-233-4922)
for details.
Heres proof!
Eddie
Welman with a beautiful 4,2kg (9.24lb) Bass
taken at
Malangani Ranch,
Zimbabwe.
Click on the pic
for more info.
So, what
are you waiting for? Give Eddie and Greg a
call!
Click
here
and scroll right down on that page for more information
on guide services.
Newsflash 6!
Do you
want to build a Dam or Pond suitable for Bass? Click
here
for a wealth of info and tips from Bob Lusk
of Pond Boss and Ray Scott
who started B.A.S.S in the USA.
If you
want to do the job properly, you may need some outside
help! Contact these construction companies which have
experience in dam building and construction, but
make sure they will build in the features and structure
you desire!
For
smaller dams or ponds, an earthmoving contractor would
do, but make sure he does not scoop and scour the
intended bottom of your dam or pond entirely clean
thereby removing all structure. Usually someone who does
not fish for Bass themselves cannot understand the
necessity of having "structure".
Once your Dam or Pond is
built, make sure you
stock and manage
it properly, first creating the appropriate
food chain
for Bass.
Newsflash 7!
Rob
"Swimbait" Belloni continues to do
great work on his excellent website
www.calfishing.com. Any Basser interested in
improving his chances of connecting with the trophy Bass
of a lifetime just has to visit this site!
There has, in the past few months been a proliferation
of "big baits" and "swimbaits" which have been
successfully used to entice monster Bass.
To quote
Rob:
"The momentum behind big bait
fishing has built slowly over the years, but now it's
boiling over in 2004 as more and more anglers decide
they are after the fish of a lifetime, willing to make
1000 casts to get one bite. Willing to fish lures up
to 16" long. Willing to spend 100 dollars for the
ultimate trout hardbait. Willing to put long hours
firing out 8oz baits. All of this in pursuit of GIANT
BASS. Your time on the water is worth more than
anything."
Central to your success in using the "big baits" is
finding one that suits your style of fishing, the waters
you fish and your pocket! A lure you will have
confidence in to keep casting ...
To assist you in making an informed choice, Rob
designed the most comprehensive
guide you can find anywhere. You just have to
see it!
At my
last count, 24 soft plastic/ rubber swimbaits from Castaic, 3:16 Lure Co,
Osprey, Jerry Rago and Storm), and
21 hardbaits (including models from Jerry Rago,
Castaic, MS Slammer and Alan Cole
imitating trout, bluegill, baby bass, shad and rats!)
were listed for review ...
The legendary Mike
Long with a big Bass taken on the
Rago Bluegill.
After all said and done ...
I would recommend the following Swimbaits
which would cover most situations and definitely produce
results:
-
Jig-type Swimbaits:
The
3:16 Lure Co
Mission Fish weedless range from
4" - 9"
-
Soft Plastic Trout-type
Swimbaits: The 8"
Huddleston
Deluxe Swimbait (in ROF 5 and 12)
For a great way to rig
your Hudd with a double Frog Hook
for a belly hook, go
here
and scroll right down to "Alternative
Rigging methods for some popular
Swimbaits". To read about the
history of this lure, click on the link.
-
Hardbait Trout-type
Swimbaits: The 9"
MS Slammer
The above Swimbaits are
quality products - they are not cheap ($35-00 US and
under), but are not ridiculously expensive either (Swimbaits
can cost up to $300-00 US!).
A cheap Trout-type
Swimbait which will work is the 8"
Megabait Charlie Sr.
Bluegill and baby
Bass-type Swimbaits are:
This is only my opinion
(from reports and reviews gleaned from many different
sources and from what I have seen, heard, read and
experienced) about what would probably be the best to
start out with, but it may be a good point of departure
if you are really confused by the volume and variety out
there!
... And here's where you can get these lures:
BUT what if the waters you fish
do not have trout ? ...
This is not much of a factor except,
perhaps, in relation to your confidence level!
"Fish Chris"
Wolfgram has caught big Bass on Trout-type
Swimbaits in waters which do not contain trout and
Rob
"Swimbait" Belloni says:
"Bass are bass, they like to
eat other large fish no matter where they live ...".
Most of Rob's Bass that have been caught on
Swimbaits in waters which do not have Trout, have been
on the 9" MS Slammer or the 5" Big Hammer.
The 5"
Mattlures Bluegill and the 5"
Mattlures Baby Bass are also the
confidence lures of choice for waters which do not have
Trout.
But it is important not to limit yourself in
terms of what you feel confident with ... Fishing is by
no means an exact science and there are no fixed rules.
Some more advice from Rob
"Swimbait" Belloni:
"The
most important thing is to not think in terms of
limitations. If you think something may work, go and try
it. And expect that the bigger the lure you use,
the longer you will go between bites. Throwing a
big bait on any lake (trout or not) for one day is
rarely an indication of the potential. Throwing a big
bait for 5 or 10 trips will give you the real
clues about what the possibilities are.".
Newsflash 8!
Trolling for Bass?
Check this out:
Not your usual Bass Angler (Jerry Rago),
with not your usual Bass caught on not your
usual Bass lure from not your usual Bass boat
using not your usual Bass technique!
To find out more, click
on the pic!
Newsflash 9!
To repair soft plastics such as worms
and swimbaits, get a small butane
torch or go to
www.cabelas.com and check out the
Pro Weld plastics welder
(just type the phrase into the search
engine on the
Cabela's site), a nifty battery
operated tool! This heat welding seems
to work better than the superglues which
are generally used ...
Newsflash 10!
Every serious Bass angler knows about USA-made
AC Delco Voyager
Deep Cycle Marine batteries to run
electric trolling motors and fishfinders.
The following (deep cycle marine) models are available:
M30 HMF (115 A/H);
M27 MF (105 A/H) and
M24 MF (80 A/H).
These are the batteries used in all the Bassmaster
tournaments in the USA and they have a formidable
reputation for reliability and longevity - much better
than the usual Raylite, Willard,
Exide and Deltec "Leisure" type batteries.
If you have trouble locating these AC Delco
imported batteries locally, contact
Richard Rovelli
(tel.: (011) 394-1725/9 or 082-851-7019) of
PROBE for a
good deal (also on any other AC Delco battery for cars
and trucks)!
Tell him Jacques from the
Big Bass
website sent you.
Newsflash 11!
You may like to visit
SurfMaster, the website for
Saltwater Surfcasting with
a South African perspective.
Newsflash 12!
Some Useful PC Tools
Free
Office Suite
www.OpenOffice.org is both an office suite and
an open-source project. Compatible with all other major office suites
and word processing programmes, the product is free to download, use, and
distribute. Many uses, for example: opens any file
format, converts MS Word
documents into PDF format, etc. ...
Free
Internet Telephony using your PC or LapTop!
Skype is
free Internet telephony that works
Skype is for calling other people
(those who have also downloaded Skype for free)
on their computers or phones. Download Skype and
start calling for free all over the world.
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Get to know a bit more
Call
ordinary phones from Skype with SkypeOut
Top up on SkypeOut credit and use the
Skype programme to call ordinary phones all over the world
(to talk to people who have not yet downloaded Skype).
In this mode, you can call anyone anywhere in the world at
local rates. Not free, but cheaper
than international call rates!
Buy
SkypeOut Credit | Support
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"The
idea is simple. Its a globe that sits inside your PC. You point and zoom to
any place on the planet that you want to explore.
3D Satellite images and local facts zoom into
view. Tap into Google search to show local points of interest and facts. Zoom
to a specific address to check out an apartment or hotel. View driving
directions and even fly along your route. Try it...".
FIREFOX - the best
alternative to Internet Explorer! FIREFOX
is faster, better,
safer ... and its FREE!
***
REMEMBER YOU HEARD IT (AND SAW IT!) ON THE
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