Fish at Roodeplaat and Rietvlei dams over fed

For everyone in Pretoria who calls himself or herself a fisherman, is most likely to go Roodeplaat or Rietvlei dams as they are the nearest.

This has resulted in tonnes of bait – especially that for carp – being dumped into the dams, something which may explain why fish have not been biting well at the two dams of late. Most weekends, the two dams are inundated with so-called fishermen, most of whom seem to be much better at boozing than fishing.

I have been fishing at both dams since 2008, and I must point out that both have become pale shadows of what they used to be, prompting me to look for alternative fishing venues, alas much further away from my home in Pretoria.

While the fact that the offloading of bait into the dams each weekend has meant that the fish are always well fed, and has thus contributed to them not biting most of the time, other factors have also contributed – namely poaching and noise.

I was surprised one day when I decided to cross Roodeplat dam in my canoe, to try my luck on the other side of the dam, about 300m from my usual fishing site. Just on my first cast, my line got entangled onto something, and when I went to investigate, I discovered that I had hooked a fishing net. After removing my hook, I decided to follow the line just out of interest, to find out how long it was.

I actually got the shock of my life because the net was incredibly long. In fact, after following it for about 500m, I decided to abandon my investigation after suspecting that the poachers might be watching me from nearby bushes and could hurt me. I immediately rowed back to the other side because I know how dangerous poachers can be if you cross their path, or even if they only suspect you are against their activities.

When I eventually related the encounter to one of my fishing friends who also sometimes fishes from a canoe, he said he had also come across a net and had followed it from one end to another, and estimated it to be about a kilometre long. He said it was actually there permanently, and the poachers just visited it regularly to remove their loot.

That day I also learned something I had not know for years.I had always believed that there are no crocodiles at Roodeplaat dam, only to come across a very big one on that day as I was rowing back to my traditional fishing spot. I immediately remembered what my late father and fishing mentor used to tell me about big water bodies. He always reminded me that I should always suspect that there could be crocodiles in any dam, even if some fishermen told me that there are no crocs, because they might not have seen them as crocs tend to hide from human beings.

The other day when I decided to camp overnight at Roodeplaat dam, I discovered that there are poachers who come in during the evening,pretend to be fishing, but use nets at night, and leave the dam very early in the morning when it is still dark. They obviously do so with the co-operation of security guards because when I reported the matter to the security in the morning, they did not seem too interested.

I have seen this same group of poachers – four of them – at least twice, and they move in a white single cab bakkie. Their favourite poaching spot is by the first gazebo near the river mouth, about 300m from the main gate.

Around 2008 to 2013 I used to prefer Rietvlei dam over Roodeplaat, but I eventually completely abandoned fishing at Rietvlei for security reasons. Twice I had read in the press of incidents when fishermen were robbed of valuables such as cellphones and laptops, at gun point during the night at Rietvlei dam.

Also I was put off by a corrupt and semi-literate security guard who used to demand bribes from fishermen in order to allow them to leave with fish. I say semi-literate because he insisted that it was illegal to take fish home, yet there was a placard near the entrance which said fishermen were encouraged to practice catch and release for conservation purposes. But they were certainly allowed to take fish home if they so desired.

Roodeplaat has generally been safe, and I have heard of only one incident if an attempted robbery. I have slept there many times without incident.