Hazelmere Bass Anglers

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A lot of anglers try top water fishing with hollow bodied frogs because they hear how effective they are, particularly in natal, and specifically from the spawn till around feb. What some people do not know is that a full sized hollow bodied frog needs to be fished with a medium heavy or heavy action rod, paired with heavy line. I use 40lb/50lb braid, no leader. It is also acceptable to use monofilament of 15lb up to 20lb, but definitely not fluorocarbon due to the fact that it sinks, which results in the nose of your frog constantly trying to dive with each twitch.

For those who do not have a dedicated frogging outfit, there are smaller hollow bodied frogs available that are far easier to use on a multi purpose outfit, with anything from 10lb line up to 15lb line. These smaller frogs enable the angler to still benefit from using a hollow bodied frog, and still set the hook with light line/rods.

In the photos below, you can clearly see the difference between a full sized hollow bodied and the smaller size, which can be used on lighter outfits. ( Both sizes are the Kingfisher Super frogs, available at all of the kingfisher branches)

Got to try out the latest Daiwa Tatula offerings over the last few days, and I can honestly say that the 7'3" baitcasting rod is the best, most versatile rod I've ever used. The high speed baitcaster(7.1:1 as opposed to the usual 6.3:1), even at quite a hefty price, is nothing short of Incredible, worth every cent in my opinion. I needed to test the outfit with a variety of presentations as I wasn't able to take my boat out, I had limited space to carry tackle in my vehicle. I opted to fill the reel with my favourite braid, the J-braid dark green, in a 30lb for this particular application, which did the trick pretty darn well. I used hollow bodied frogs, 6.5" swimbaits( Seen in photos below, used on 5/0 h***y toad hooks) weightless soft plastics, chatterbaits /bladed jigs, spinner baits and even a small crankbait which I didn't expect to cast far, but the reel seemed to make easy work of it. (The TWS feature on this model as well as the previous model I own seems to make casting smaller baits quite easy). All in all, 10/10 for the new Tatula range.

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Decided to head to the dam for an afternoon shot. Wind was unpleasantly cold, fish were slow to bite, and their size was lacking. Ended off with 5 fish all the size of the one in the pictures for the 2 hour session, 4 caught on a Suspending jerk bait and one caught on a senko. Missed a big top water bite that happened at my feet whilst reeling in quickly to make another cast.

Just a note to the guys who haven't been to the dam in a while, the roads are in a disgusting state. I have never seen the pot holes this bad. Keep an eye out for the deep holes on the uphill just after the bridge over the river on the way to the dam, those are the worst.