Klipkoppie Dam fishing (attempt)

After a very successful fishing weekend at Da Gama we headed just south to Klipkoppie Dam for some bigger bass and perhaps one of the monster carp they have there.
Sadly we blanked there completely on both bass and carp, it's apparently not the easiest water but very rewarding when you do catch. Luckily we were able to catch a few at the place we were staying at where they have their own private dam. Link to our accommodation below...
Klipkopje Guest House
www.airbnb.co.za/rooms/22962769
Read more about this venue:
www.anglinks.co.za/2021/06/kl...
#anglinks #fishing #bassfishing #carpfishing
Visit us on social media for more info, pics etc.:
Blog: www.anglinks.co.za
Instagram: / anglinks_fishing
Facebook: / anglinksblog

[@mohammedaqeebyusuf7811]

Awesome stuff👌🐠

[@Anglinks]

Thanks Mohammed, as always :-)

[@lourensjoubert8652]

Awesome ! Liked the "mandatory Arty shot"... 😁

[@Anglinks]

Haha, thanks :-)

[@tigerfishw7717]

Nice vid guys , those places are very finicky, fished Hulala a few times over the years, got my pb there but most of the time is a blank, fished a lot of the surrounding dams with no results , even blanked at pine lake a few months ago, caught more bass in central jhb lol

[@Anglinks]

Oh ok, thanks a lot, that makes us feel a lot better :-) We still want to go to Pine Lake (Longemere Dam) and then maybe Kwena as well. But yes, we catch a lot more in places like Witbank and Bronkies and Rusties but you just can't beat the beauty of that area :-)

[@antjar8545]

I’m admittedly not into papgooi nor bass fishing but enjoyed watching your vids through winter. At the moment I fish exclusively for cats on fly, the two of you should definitely check out Bloemhof dam now in the summer. Any papgooi or barbell angler should do at least one trip to the freshwater Mecca a year 😂 Other SA freshwater trips to add to your bucket list are Sterkfontein via Qwantani (although realistically you need a boat) and the Orange river through someone like Kalahari Outventures...but give Bloemhof a bash this summer if you haven’t been. Anyway enjoy your content on the different venues, keep it up 👍🏻 Anthony

[@Anglinks]

Thanks a lot Anthony, always feels great to hear someone enjoys our content 😁 So Bloemhof has also been on our bucket list for a while now. It's just out of range for a weekend trip, we'll have to go there when we have more a week or so, maybe combine it with Vanderkloof Dam or something like that. But we have always wondered where would be a good place to stay? There are about 10 places just below the dam wall but at the dam itself it seems you can only camp. Do you maybe know of any chalets on the dam?

[@antjar8545]

@@Anglinks we do the run from the Sandton at least once a month during summer. Leave home at 2pm and get there just after 5pm in time to set up tents before dark, it’s around 330km from William Nicol on-ramp. There are two options for the dam, either Bloemhof Nature Reserve which falls under NW parks board or Sandveld which is the Free state side of the dam. The entrance to either is a couple of Km’s from each other so that’s not a factor. We have always camped on the Nature reserve side (no reason other than it was the first area we tried and have found our “spots” now). There used to be log cabins in the Nature Reserve but they’re completely run down. They do have a “Hunting Camp” that’s a private boma and chalet type setup about 500m from the waters edge that you could maybe consider. I’ve recently also spotted another area with what looks like chalets from Google earth but still need to find out more info when we visit again. If anything that’s possibly the biggest frustration with either park is that it’s extremely difficult to get info on the accommodation and bookings etc. Sandveld is also mostly camping, but again I’ve spotted some structures near the waters edge, will need to go do a recce next time and find out more. We only fly fish, so we actually prefer to isolate ourselves as far as possible from the crowds and noise and camp quite deep within the park. Having said all of that, it’s really worthwhile h the effort and roughing it for a couple of nights. The dam really fish’s well, our average session for the last season was 30 cats each a day (my worst day was 18). We had a few days in the 50s and then a single session in the 80s so when it’s on fire there are very few others venues in SA that come close. Goal for this season is to get a century of cats in a single day. I’ve only stayed once below the dam wall, there are a few nice houses on the banks but your fishing area is then obviously restricted to your property. I would say the avg river frontage for the property’s are around 10-15m and a few between 15-30m at most. There is also a camp site directly below the dam wall called Die Hoek, but would rather then camp at the dam. I suppose an option could be to book a river front property, then fish either of the reserves during the day. At night you can still wet a line from your garden while you braai. One last thing that has caught out many visitors to Bloemhof is the wind, at times it can blow at 30-40knots, you don’t want to be sand blasted by that lol. So always try and check Windguru in the week leading up to your trip, bit more difficult when you need to book accommodation and leave in advance but at least you can be prepared. If you stay at a house in the river, it’s approx 7kms to Nature Reserve and 10km to Sandveld (day visitors have to be out by 6pm). Let me know if there’s anything else, I’ll probably do a trip in Sep as soon as these cold fronts clear up

[@Anglinks]

Hi Anthony, I forgot to thank you for all this valuable information. Since reading this we're officially planning a trip to Bloemhof, you've convinced us. As suggested we'll probably book a river spot and then travel to the dam during the day, we're just not geared enough for the winds etc. when camping. I wanted to ask as what you use to catch cats on fly? We've always fished for yellowfish on fly in the Vaal but never for barbel. I'm guessing you wade in the dam? Also do you ever use these poppers to target barbel? I see a lot of people using them, even at Bloemhof Dam. Thanks again for all the info, we're quite excited about the trip actually :-)

[@antjar8545]

@@Anglinks awesome, I’m going through this weekend for a quick scout to see if the winter cats have woken up yet. I see you have an insta page, I’ll follow you and send you a DM with the info. Quicker and easier to reply, but for anyone reading here we use the BBB and Carp Tugger flys rigged NZ style and call the catfish by splashing. The poppers have become extremely popular method to target them, and would say it’s by far the most popular way as it’s not as technical as Fly but just as deadly. You can also throw the popper a lot further than the fly, especially when the he wind picks up. In Jan we ended up camping next to a group that were only fishing poppers and they did extremely well. There’s a SA Company called Big Cat Popper that sells them, check their insta page. Basically you cast it out, give two or three quick pops and then leave it for 10 seconds or so, then pop again and rinse and repeat until you get pattern that they like. The one mistake that I think people make is to try and pop it all the way to the bank. I would rather cast, pop 3 times, rest, pop again and if no action wind in and cast again on the exact same spot. It makes it easier for the cats to zone on on the area. Cheers Ant

[@Anglinks]

Thanks again Anthony, that's very good advice. We've heard that before, keeping the popper in the same spot. Best case scenario is to cast it downstream in a river and just popping it in the same spot over and over as the current keeps it there. And thanks for the flies, we had a look online and will try and find those at our local shop. But please let us know how the weekend went on Instagram, we'd really love to see how you guys did at Bloemhof. Any photos would be awesome as well 😃

[@WhatacatchAlex]

Spot no 2 used to be my best spot but sadly 3 years ago the dam had a vegetation die off and suffered a drought , but used to catch on average 20 -30 fish in a single session but lately your lucky to get one or 2 if you know what your doing

[@Anglinks]

Ok thanks, that makes us feel a lot better :-)

[@pkthegoldz23113]

was that the best u could do 😂

[@tinkiewinkie4391]

What a legendary fishing spot.

[@Anglinks]

Yeah it's pretty great, hopefully we'll be able to go there again in future under better conditions 😀