THE EBASS TRAIL – Mokolo Dam
Report by Ben Alborough.
Mokolo dam is one of the few pristine dams we get to fish on the trail, and we knew it was going to be a bit more difficult than normal to get good size bags with the water levels being as low as they were. Having a camera handy to capture structure not previously visible at normal water levels can also give you a serious competitive advantage when the water levels rise again.
Water temperatures were in the mid to high twenties, and with clear skies, hardly any wind, and peak summer air temperatures, the day became uncomfortably hot for a lot of competitors. Loads of sunscreen and drinking plenty of water was the order of the day.
Fishing was very tough for many of the teams, with an unusual amount of very small fish being caught. 200 to 300 gram fish were very common, and getting any keeper sized bass was difficult. However, there are always a few teams who have the opposite experience in every competition, and those teams caught their bags early.
The river once again proved dangerous for some, with some boats getting some serious bruises from submerged rocks, but it was also the area that some big fish were caught.
The main dam and the river held the biggest fish, and with one fish of just over 3kg and one just under 3kgs, Team mercury Quantum had enough kickers to take the win comfortably.
The results were :
1st Team Mercury Quantum – Shandon Hawman and Izak de Beer 9.80 kg
2nd Team Afri Storage/Strike King – Michael Matthee and Glen Naude 6.79 kg
3rd Team Bark Unlimited Organics – Jan Lubbinge and Christie Lubbinge 5.92 kg
4th Team Cube Design Innovations – Hennie Schoeman and Ruan Wahl 5.68 kg
5th Team F1 Grand Prix Tours 2 – Ben Alborough and Adriana Alborough 4.64kg
See the website www.ebass.co.za for the complete logs and our facebook page as well.