THE EBASS TRIAL – Witbank Dam 2017

Historically Witbank Dam has been a popular EBASS winter venue since its inception and 2017 was no exception.

Mpumalanga dams are notorious for their early morning fog during the winter months and for this year’s event, we were reminded of this phenomenon in no uncertain terms. The event could only get going at about 08h30 and to further complicate fishing conditions, a frontal system move through, with a cold wind, threatening clouds and even a few drops of rain!

PRIZE MONEY

The total prize money on offer for the event was once again a fantastic R 15 500

 

FISHING

Witbank Dam was just about 100% full for the event, with an abundance of healthy shoreline vegetation, which featured a definite grass line in some places up to 16 feet deep!

The river turned out not to be really productive, with the main dam area the best option and producing the biggest bags. The most successful patterns was definitely working plastics just off the weed lines with the winning bag coming out on a similar pattern of working plastics outside the weed line in 17 – 21 feet of water.

The fish caught were really healthy and in a great condition, but the most surprising factor was the water temperature of nearly 60 degrees F. The relatively mild winter experienced so far this year in this area, was obviously the reason behind these relatively high mid-winter water temperatures, which could possibly be an indication of an early spawning season for 2017 for the northern provinces.

 

RESULTS

Congratulations to the following top 5 competitors – for weighing some good winter bags:

  1. Team Axiom                            Bruce McKinnley           Gary Hagemann                4.91kg
  2. Team Repala VMC                 Hennie du Preez             Barry Grove                        4.75kg
  3. Crackleback 2                         Peter Quadling                Dean Barker                       4.30kg
  4. Bru Force / Hatfield VW        Craig Ninaber                  Neels Botha                       4.21kg
  5. About Time                              Vince Simson                  Brett Pretorius                  4.13kg

 

SPONSORS

The Ebass committee would once again like to extend a big thank you the following sponsors – without their fantastic support this great tournament trail would not be possible: F1 Grand Prix Tours, Viper Doors, Bark Unlimited, The Gearbox Company, Escape Boating, Hooked on Bass, Climbing Kilimanjaro and Netspace Internet Solutions.

Please support these sponsors to show that we do indeed appreciate their efforts.

 

NEXT EVENT AND DAY ENTRIES

The next EBASS event will take place at Bronkhorstspruit Dam on the 05 Aug 2017

EBASS will once again accept day entries at R 600 per team. Please complete the day entry form on our website (www.ebass.co.za) or contact the EBASS committee for further event details.

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