1. Always invest in the future of our sport, “Our Youth”
2. Enjoy the wonders of Nature and our outdoor lifestyles available to us here in South Africa.
3. Nature is full of surprises as Nico finds out, relayed in an Article kindly received from Stephan Brits.

Stephan, I must commend you on firstly taking a youngster fishing and exposing him to experiences to often lost to our current generation of children.

Nico, I know now that we have another aspiring Junior Protea angler in the making and we are proud to have you affiliated to S.A.B.A.A.

Tight Lines,
Craig Fraser.
(Evinrude, Rapala VMC Pro Team)

“Smallie King”

Catching Smallmouth Bass isn’t just fun, it’s a passion. Especially when u get one of those, found north of Piekanierskloof in the Olifantsriver valley, fighting like he was the last Bronzie on earth. U can let them intimidate u by snapping u up, throwing your crank or just make your rod bend like it has no backbone at all. Or u can retie and set your drag, sharpen your hooks and hold on for dear life!

That is what we had in mind when I and Nico Retief left Robertson on Friday afternoon to met up with friends at the Smallmouth capital, Clanwilliam Dam. It all started three weeks prior when I promised the little chap of 12 years old to take him smallie fishing for the long weekend. A promise is a promise and it was to be kept. Now for myself and Nico living next to the Breede River all our lives we are familiar with these one of a kind fighting machines.  We were loaded with sweets and goodies for the rest of the year thanks to Chrislene and his caring sisters. ‘It’s only because I’m leaving for the whole weekend’ Nico said. We didn’t complain, we would be fishing every weekend to keep the love flowing! ‘The brownies are the best in the world’ he said. We were not yet in 5th gear and the top layer as gone. From hunger or excitement, he was at least quiet for that moment because after that the questions started again…’what time are we getting up, what rod should I use ,what lure should I use, how big is the dam, how far is it still?’

Driving along the dirt road next to the dam he could only get a glimpse of the ‘holy water’ I’ve been telling him about for the last 2 and a half hours. As the stars made small little dots on some parts of the dam others were jumping up and down as a lite breeze made ripples on the surface. Lebanon citrus farm was our home for the next three days and on arrival we met our friends at the nice wooden cottage on the edge of the water. Soon everything was set for the next days fishing and we could enjoy some lekka Van Loveren wine Nico provided us with.

Four thirty and I was awaked with a loud doef followed by a few smaller doef-doefs only to find Nico knocking on my door after we agreed to get up at five o’clock. It was still pitch dark and freezing outside but to hell with that ‘we’ had to get on the water because ‘we’ are wasting time hanging around! At quarter to six there was just enough light to idle of in the direction of the Island. After ten or so minutes I set the Rebel on plane and off we went cruising at 70k’s an hour watching Nico with his head between his legs trying to escape the cold that was eating my eyes out! Clanwilliam has every rock structure u can think of, from ledges to drop-offs from rock piles to gravel from old roads to islands and the list can go on and on. We were loaded with cranks in all shapes and sizes from DT’s to Rattle Traps. From previous visits I have build some really good confidence in cranks on Clan and leaving them at home would be a big mistake. Plastics such as stretch 40’s and flukes are also good baits when the reaction strike dies down. Dragging theses baits in 10-15ft of water on a mojo and Carolina rig u could be in for a big surprise.

It was not long before tapping down on the last corner before entering the river section of the dam that is not bigger than a rugby field. The Minn Kota slowly sneaked forward while we were rubbing hands just to get the blood flowing to open our fingers and pick up a rod to start fishing. I was fishing my Shimano 7 ft medium action Compre rod with a 3.8.1 Curado baitcaster spooled with 11lb Double X  mono.
I was done with my 20th cast when I decided to move about 10 meters forward to fish the palmiet on the riverbank. By now Nico had already changed to one of my other crank rods also armed with a Curado but a Clarus medium heavy rod and spooled with 13lb test fluorocarbon. He was now fishing my old spot with a Rapala DT10 in crawdad color and myself a DLN in goldust. I was just turning the boat to drift back again when Nico gave a short strike and the rod bending like he had a good rock at the end of his line. Then after about 2 seconds the rock made it’s appearance which turned out to be the first smallie of the morning and a good one as well for it did not clear the water on the first and only jump. I knew it was a decent fish guessing it around 2.5 to 2.8 at the most, but not more for my PB is 2.8 caught at the very same place. He started making all kinds of sounds and movements every time the fish came to the surface; I on the other hand thought it would be nice filming him on his first Clan smallie. Little did we knew, I knew, what we were dealing with here so on the 4th or 5th turn the fish made and Nico break dancing at the back by now I decided to pick up the landing net and put the fish in the boat. There she laid in front of me still guessing her around 2.8kg’s not more, it can’t be! So he puts her in the live well cause we want to have more of this fun that has just started. If we could get 4 good fish then this would make a very nice picture of the two of us, wouldn’t it? A couple of cast later we both had 2 fish but not the same size as Misses Smallie that was accommodating the whole of the second  livewell. The more we looked at her the bigger she was getting. The other three fish was all in the regent of 1,7kg’s and was getting smaller by the minute. Luckily for us there was another boat in the river and a second arriving so we didn’t have to run all the way back to Rondegat to get our picture taken .Little did we know by chatting to these folks it would be the last of the mornings fishing. First we weighed the fish on their scale…3,55kg’s…this can’t be right. ‘That’s a new record’ I heard the one guy say. I was stunned, Nico… well now he was break dancing! He was just smiles all over. I took out my Rapala digital scale and the numbers appeared…3,60kg’s. this was not official but it was sure to come.

Back at Rondegat at about nine thirty we started loading the boat back on the trailer to leave for Clanwilliam Spar to get the beauty weighed officially. After 15km of bad gravel road we were entering a busy Saturday morning in town. Luckily for us there was enough place for us to park both the boat and bakkie in front of the Spar. Now was this a process to get that fish to be still on the scale for one second just to push the print button! After a few times on the floor and once in the donuts and éclairs we had it three times weighed and printed. 3,526kg, and it was caught of my boat!... Sorry! 3,526kg Smallmouth Bass caught by Nico Retief and he caught it of my boat!

Thanks to Craig Fraser, Billy Miller and the two gents on the Raker for helping us forfill a dream come true so early in a bass career. Nico and I will definitely be back cranking those Shimano reels for the best in the west. Then just maybe she will decide to come out and play again and this time I will be ready with a DT10!