Vaalriver

Baitfish

Finding bait fish on a huge body of water can be a very time consuming task so with this article I will help with showing you some places where they hangout. We will be looking into areas, and what types of species roam in the area. I prefer to call the places where this species hang out "Baitfish Cover" so where you see the term "Baitfish Cover" you will know what the meaning of it is. Let's go over the spots I marked, please note the places I marked as "BF" is short for baitfish

Taaibosspruith

Have you ever gone passed the Taaibosspruit river and it looks like the bank on payday ?? Well lets take a look on why this is such a popular spot. Taaibos is probally this best place for "baitfish" on the Vaalriver, why we don't know but there are littelary hundreds of small species in this river.

Baitfish Cover

Taaibos are mainly a reed river section with the odd grass patch here and there. With the recent introduction of grass carp we have seen a lot of lilies and grass patches disappear. There is a slipway in this river section which acts as a BIG baitfish attractant.

  1. BF1 - S26 45.569 E27 52.495 - This is mainly a reed patch with small breaks in between the reeds. The reed are scattered here thus making it easy for the bass to move into the shallows to feed on them.
  2. BF2 - S26 46.935 E27 53.473 - Reeds with open patches at the back
  3. BF3 - S26 46.283 E27 53.061 - Reeds with open patches at the back
  4. BF4 - S26 46.300 E27 53.366 - The reed are a little more scattered here which are a better spot for the bigger baitfish.
  5. Trees - S26 46.834 E27 53.397 - There is a slipway by this tree's which is a fish magnet. Baitfish will roam up and down on the slipway eating away. We caught some nice bass here in the past. The banks down this stretch used to have some water grass also.
  6. Bridge - S26 47.674 E27 54.444 - This is also a very popular spot for the bait fish to hangout, there are some swallows birds nests on the bridge, species like dwarf kurper and ghielies will eat the droppings from the birds.

Baitfish

The most commonly caught species here are Dwarf Kurper, Vlei Kurper, Mosquito Fish and Ghielies.

Vaalrivier - Ascot Island

Ascot Island

  1. Baitfish Cover BF5 - S26 43.071 E27 53.567 This is a very nice spot for them to hang out, there are some nice shallow water at the back of the Island that is normally covered with grass.
  2. Baitfish Dwarf Kuper and Vlei kuper are mainly being caught here

This was probably one of the first spots where "Baitfish" where caught on the Vaalriver

Vaalrivier - Leeuspruit

This is also a very popular place to locate some of the smaller baitfish species

Baitfish Cover

  1. BF6 - S26 47.264 E27 46.219 - This is a small bay with some awesome back waters, this is a very good spot for Mosquito Fish and Dwarf Kupers
  2. BF7 - S26 47.519 E27 47.013 - Open reed patches with incoming water, some ghielies where being caught here in the past

Baitfish

Mosquito Fish , Dwarf Kuper and Ghielies

Tzaneen Dam Overview

Mile 6 (Cloudy Creek)

This is a fairly sized river arm, one can go up for quite a distance. This section is also full of baitfish.

Baitfish Cover

  1. BF8 - S26 46.273 E27 44.231 - This is a very popular spot for Mosquito fish and Dwarfs, the banks are use to be full of lily pads but now it's just reeds. Look for the isolated patches in the back of the reeds.
  2. Mosquito Fish , Dwarf Kuper

Loch Vaal

This is a fairly sized river arm, one can go up for quite a distance. This section is also full of baitfish.

Baitfish Cover

  1. BF9 - S26 44.279 E27 42.767 - This is a very popular spot because of the big rocks in the water with the reeds covering it. The bridge also has some Shallow nests which like I said is a magnet for small "Baitfish"
  2. Dwarf Kuper, Vlei Kurper and Ghielies

Pictures

This is not true pictures of the Vaal river but got a close resemblance to the places I referred to. If you out on the Vaal fishing or looking for the "Bait fish" make sure that you choose area's that more or less look something like this. Isolated patches of reed, back water's and Big rocky area's are normally good please to find them.

Close

Going to the above place will help you locate some "Baitfish" HOWEVER the spots might have changed within the last year as it's been a while since I visited them. Also please report back on spots where you locate baitfish .. this way we can keep a movement record for them.

Like in the other articles please don't hesitate to contact me if you got any queries or questions

VX70
Bassing.co.za Pro Staff Member

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