Mike Laubscher

We were fishing for Bass at the 2009 Albert Falls Classic as Team Fishing Adventures. This is a big fish tournament and there was 136 boats fishing this year, which is sad, compared to the usual over 300 boats, but shows the strain on the economy at present.

It was post front conditions which made for tough fishing conditions, the water temperature started out at around 14deg C in the mornings and went up to around 17deg C in the afternoons. Both days were clear sunny skies and absolutely no wind, which always makes for tough fishing.

We went with finesse style fishing using light mojo rigs and 4" finesse worms. Day 1 was very tough for us and we only landed 1 fish of 565gr (1 ¼ lbs). Mentally this is very tough, but you have to keep yourself going. On day 2 we did much better and landed 10 fish with the largest being around 1.15Kg (2 ½ lbs).

The competition was eventually won by Gordon Brown of Ranger Boats with a fine fish of 3.1Kg (6 ¾ lbs) which was caught on crank bait, and a remarkable achievement with a clear win head and shoulders above any other fish caught. Well done Gordon.

This is still a relatively small fish for the Albert Falls Classic and we were expecting a fish of around 4.8Kg (10 ½ lbs) to win, but with the post frontal conditions this was not to be.

Fish Species: Large Mouth Bass
Bait Used: 4
Tackle Used: Light Spinning Tackle
Method Used: Mojo Rig
Water Depth: 6 - 10m
Water Temperature: 14 deg C - 17 deg C
Wind Direction:
Wind Speed: No Wind

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Mike Laubscher

About The Author: Mike Laubscher

Company: Blue Water Charters - Durban

Area Reporting: Durban. KwaZulu Natal, South Africa

Bio: I have been fishing since I was 5 years old in Durban and have fished many places around the world and in South Africa, but Durban is my home waters. I fished competitive for many years and I have been running my own charters since 2008 with 2 companies and 2 boats, fish a variety of styles and target a variety of fish species in both Salt and Fresh water, have many published articles in several magazines on fishing. Love nature and outdoors, Am very conservation minded and have a passion for birds. I am crazy about big Tuna, Marlin Fishing and Game Fishing, and also love light tackle spinning, am a total lure junkie. Represented my province in fly fishing for many years and am also pro staff for Rapala/Shimano. I want to write a book on fishing one day. 3 items left on my fishing bucket list, guess then a new bucket list will be in order. As a writer I have my own quote: \"I love taking people fishing because it releases their inner child, and in doing so keeps my inner child alive.\"

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