Fishing For Bass In Paradise | Hoedspruit, Mpumalanga

The members of the Hoedspruit Artlure Angling Club were invited to join anglers from Nelspruit Bassmasters and Mpumalanga Fisheries to conduct a fish impact study on Blyde Dam over the weekend of April 20 to 22, 2007. There were 13 boats in total. The aim was to catch fish, remove all alien bass species for study by fisheries, record and release all other species.The Blyde Dam is not only situated in the most beautiful surroundings but it hosts the speedsters of the bass species namely the “small mouth bass”.

Noel Kloppers says, “We were surprised at the water clarity, the depth of the dam, beautiful structures and drop-offs. We were also surprised at the amount of “babers” and “rooibors-kurpers” that attacked our lures that we threw for the bass. But most of all we were surprised at the amount of quality small-mouth bass that we caught. We even saw a couple of large yellow fish following our lures.”“Our boat landed 35 small mouth bass, one large mouth bass, 10 ‘baber’ and four ‘rooibors kurper’. A couple of bass coughed up small ‘kurper’ during their fight to the boat. Most bass had eaten small fish, crabs and insects. To our surprise we saw the last bass we caught on Sunday spit out a piece of a large millipede.”

Worldwide fish have been introduced into water for both their sport and cuisine qualities, which has unfortunately led to the introduction of many alien species, including the small as well as large mouth bass species. The latter was introduced by the Rand Piscatorial Society in 1928, and small mouth bass in 1937.One of the best ways to distinguish between the two bass species is by the maxillary bone or upper lip of the bass. In the small mouth bass this bone extends up to the vertical line drawn through the centre of the eye. The bone does not extend beyond this line.

In the largemouth bass the bone extends beyond the vertical line drawn through the centre of the eye. As the name indicates, the mouth of the largemouth bass is larger than that of the small mouth bass.“The fact that we could help in a project that conserves our nature and the learning experience to see what the diet of the small mouth bass is, combined to make this a once in a life-time experience. We want to thank Hannes Marais for the privilege to fish the most sought-after dam in South Africa.