Blue Kurper are schooling fish and in summer you will often see big schools moving into the swallows. The Fishing Experience excellent fly fishing for rainbow trout, brown trout, bass and Mozambique Tilapia (Blue kurper) in two spring fed dams. They can be found from the northern part of Mozambique all the way to the Bushman's River system in the Eastern Cape. The dams are stocked with Bass, Carp, yellow Fish, Blue Kurper and Barbel. Frits landed the first fish (he always did! On a cool but cloudless early autumn day in March 2003, I was on a boat with the legendary kurper boat angler Frits Beumer, way up in one of the inlets of Mpumalanga’s famous recreational fishing water, Loskop Dam. They can be found in brackish, fresh and salt waters and can tolerate water temperatures from as low as 13° C to about 43°C. The maximum size of the Blue Kurper tends to vary based on its geographical location, but specimens of over 4kg have been caught in South Africa. The species is also present in the Vaal Dam, the Vaal Barrage and downstream from Bloemhof Dam. Since then, we have targeted big kurper every year at Loskop during the autumn months, but overfishing has decimated the number of true trophy-sized specimens. Redbreast kurper will bite on fly/lure from October to April. Bass Lodge is truly a bank angler’s paradise. We were experiencing a red-letter day – one of those that anglers the world over dream about – and stopped counting when I boated fish number 45. White my favourite colour to use. Action can be hectic under these conditions and aggressive fishing with a jerk – stop - jerk style will yield good results. Blue Kurper and Red Breast Tilapia may also be used but are not very good bait fish. You came to the right place. Digestion of the plankton is started by grinding the food between two pharyngeal plates. Schools of juvenile Blues can often be seen on concrete slipways and jetties where they feed on the bottom. Blue Kurper for Liam was first. Dwarf kurper: small and medium Sada curlies on size 16 - 22 hooks. Not that we had no plan of action. The female incubates the eggs in her mouth for 11-12 days at which point she ejects her already free swimming offspring into the water. Google Earth World-class bass fishing, but it comes with a cost. Our objective, apart from enjoying a good day’s fishing, was nothing less than to establish a new world record for blue kurper, arguably the most well-known member of the Oreochromis genus. Blue Kurper can be easily caught using earthworm, or with a small curly tail grub or a small spinner. Hi Dirk, usually the first few months after winter are better for catching blue kurper on lure/fly (September/October/November and sometimes even in December). As Of 22nd of March 2019, the main dam is empty due to bad rainfall, out of the 3 smaller dams dam 2 has just dried up, dams 3 and 4 are low and fishing is good. Additionally, the rivers and streams of the country are chock-full of Rainbow and Brown Trout – the fishing … SABASS Magazine is available at tackle shops, Spar, Pick ‘n Pay, C.N.A., Exclusive Books and Builders Warehouse, © Copyright SA Bass Magazine | All Rights Reserved | E&OE | an umsiko design, © Copyright SA Bass Magazine | All Rights Reserved | E&OE | an, Post Spawn - The dull that follows the fun, Two Fool-proof Strategies for the Pre-spawn, Going Sonar Pt.3 - Transducer Installation & Setup. Don’t only match the hatch with the bait you choose but also by the way you fish it and where you fish it. We stayed in Owl’s Nook which is the smaller of the two units at Fish Eagle’s Lair. Apparently blue kurper appeared for the first time in anglers’ catches approximately four years ago. Do you put bait on a lure? The three, well established dams are fountain fed with crystal clear water and stocked with Florida Largemouth Bass, Black Bass, Blue Kurper and Vlei Kurper (Tilapia) which forms a major part of the bass’s diet. Whenever you find a shallow flat and a steep drop off you cannot go wrong throwing a Blue Kurper imitation to catch bass. ), a prime specimen weighing just on 2,6kg. Loads of fun !! The male responds by releasing his milt, which the female also takes into her mouth to fertilize the eggs. Arguably, the best size fish to keep for the braai is one of about 1kg, but that day all the fish were way over 1,5kg. Contact Field Sports writers on 083 235 4775 or [email protected]. The front part of the dorsal fin is the most inconvenient to handle because it has spines on it, and for this reason, like with the Red Breast, bass always hit a Blue from the front and swallows it head first. It is perfect if there is a steep drop off close by to deep water. Remember – a smaller bass is not very fussy, but if you want to trigger a big bite consistently, do everything you can to put the odds in your favour. The popular movie, ”A river runs through it”, indeed presents a fine resemblance of the significance of fishing in many of our lives. I always thought they do this due to a lack of oxygen, but I have seen them do this in water with a high oxygen level. Normal coloration also includes a caudal fin with distinctive stripes, and a dorsal fin with a grey to black margin often suffused with red. Keep your eyes open, especially on windless afternoons and watch for the tell tale signs of schools of juvenile Blues moving close to the surface. We had plumbed the water’s depth and used a slip knot on the line to rest the hook just on the bottom. By noon we had had enough, but true to form, had to have “one more last cast”. Fishing is a lifestyle! Fishing Lake Jozini For Tigers & Kurper – True Bushveld Fishing. The reason is to be found in the kurper's … In most dams they actively start breeding at around 14 cm and this means that when we imitate them, we are not really going to focus on their spawning behaviour. At the end of this period the young form massive schools in shallow water while the female returns to the adult school to find another mate. It’s not good for one’s state of mind to be hurried that early, and after all, a day out on the water is supposed to be relaxing, not taxing! Juvenile Blue Kurper form schools where they feed mostly on the bottom but move to the surface on windless, warm afternoons. Fish hard bottom structures, standing timber and brush, man-made structures and drop offs using Blue Kurper imitations. Also don't forget about fishing with worms, insects, mealies or bread: these all work. For the very best Kurper fishing tips and tricks visit Henkor today! The blue kurper, aka Mozambique tilapia or Oreochromis mossambicus as the scientists know it is a fairly large, deep-bodied, mouthbrooding and very robust cichlid that thrives in southern African waters. This is important as we want to imitate the juveniles that will relate to hard bottom areas. This is a pic of a Blue Kurper I caught in a small dam near Brits. The imitation bouncing of the structure duplicates the Blue’s flash of its trigger points as it takes food off the timber or aggressively scratches parasites off its body. Females and non-breeding males normally have a pale grey to washed-out yellow belly with 3 dark spots on their sides. The highly effective kurper tactic of fishing worms beneath a sliding float on the drift; just cannot be done while fishing bottom rigs for carp and mudfish at anchor. The Blue Kurper (Bloukurper in Afrikaans) can live in fast flowing rivers, stillwater dams and in saltwater, making it one of the more widespread and common of the South African fly fishing target species. I estimate the weight at around 1.5 to 2kg. The Blue Kurper, well known as the Mozambique Tilapia, has always been close to the top of my list as a target freshwater fish species, but up until this day in March 2012, I had not caught a "size" fish. Blue Kurper on fly. The pair will swim in circles before the female first deposits 100-600 eggs onto the nest and then takes them into her mouth. They are often responsible for aggressive bass action as schools of bass feed on schools of Blue Kurper. 4 minutes read. The Blue Kurper is a beautiful fish that rarely grows to more than 3 kilograms in South African waters, although the South African record for this fish is 3,64kg and the IGFA World record is 3,11kg, both caught at Loskop Dam, which is widely regarded as one of the best places in South Africa to fish for trophy size Blue Kurper. When they school in the shallows and feed on the bottom, they also have the tendency to turn and flash, just like the Three Spot Ghielemientjie. Unregistered users will not be allowed to search the forums and will need to undergo authorisation before an user account will be activated. The young can grow as fast as 25-61 mm per month and they usually reach 16-18 cm in 3-5 years. Fine dining and tractor game drives on a Free State farm, The allure of Barkly East’s famous fly-fishing streams, Seven retailers identified for ginger, garlic price gouging, Growing garlic: a golden opportunity for SA farmers, Vegetable farmer’s strategy for synching production with demand, Making lucerne hay while maximising soil health, Broiler producer uses her position to uplift others, African farmers test-drive CASE IH combines, Biofuel production could help revive SA sugar industry, Handling the risks posed by Eskom’s load-shedding, Using allelopathy in a weed management strategy. Frits and I had been fishing Loskop for many years, but he was by far the more experienced. Whatever the reason is, they are the only kurper specie that does this and makes it easy for us to identify them from a distance. In the process, Frits became known in angling circles as the ‘Loskop Legend’. The Blue Kurper (Mozambique Tilapia) have tough and sharp dorsal spines and a hard mouth with fine teeth that it uses to crush and kill it’s prey. The Blue Kurper does not tolerate temperatures below 10°C. The young stay with their mother for 4-8 days during which time they can retreat to the safety of her mouth when a predator approaches. Spawning males have enlarged mouths and blue, thickened upper lips and black bodies but are of no real interest to bass due to their size. Blue Kurper occur in a widely diverse habitat. The Blue Kurper is farmed extensively and many dams, streams, rivers and freshwater lakes serve as a home for this fish species. He then displays in front of the female school convincing a female to follow him back to the nest. Blue Kurper are omnivorous and feed mainly on algae and phytoplankton, but also take some zooplankton, small insects and their larvae, shrimps, earthworms and aquatic macrophytes. This is great place in South Africa for targeting big Barbel, Mudfish, Carp, Blue Kurper Yellowfish and Bass. If the fish ingests the bait and moves off with it, the float is dragged under. Well my luck was about to change. For the purposes of using it as a bass prey fish, we would mainly focus on sizes between 10 and 13 cm (4 and 5 inches). Blue Kurper,also known as: Mozambique Tilapia, Blue Tilapia, Blou Kurper. Moderated by: Enigma, Emperor: New Topic: Reply: Printer Friendly: Blue Kurper on fly: Rate Topic . Abuted by the Cedarberg mountain range. The Blue Kurper is like the Red Breast, but slightly more slender than the Vlei. Whenever you find a sheltered bay, hard bottom, rocks or any man-made structure, you can be sure their will be Blues around. David Thys Louw SEALINE - South African Angling and Boating Community > General Angling Topics > Fly Fishing and Tying > Blue Kurper on fly. 5. Fishing a drop off into deep water from a shallow flat is another key area where you want to utilise a Blue imitation. This is the go to imitation if you fish big bass waters and you see schools of baitfish moving around. The Nandoni Dam supplies water to several places in the region. Luckily lots of fish were caught and some of our newer members managed to catch their first mosquito fish and blue kurper. The Mozambique Tilapia, commonly referred to as the Blue Kurper or just the “Blue”, is one of South Africa's most common inland freshwater fish species. When the water is high enough to cover the jetty by a few centimetres, schools of juvenile Blues will feed on top of the concrete slabs and bass will be waiting underneath for a Blue to venture off the slab into open water. I've also caught a dwarf kurper on a tanago hook I use for mosquito fish. The increased fecundity also results in far too many fish being produced for the food supply, and as the fish compete for this, nature’s rules kick in and the breeding intensity cools. Like most species and dams, Loskop and its blue kurper population has its cycles – a few years in which the dam produces abundant food that in turn produces faster growth rates and increased average weight of the adult fish. An aerial view of Loskop Reservoir in Mpumalanga, South Africa. The Blue Kurper That Shocked Us All - Industrial Tilapia Fishing! The trick is to enhance the trigger by enhancing the contrast in your imitation. The Cape kurper is an adaptable species and occurs in various habitats from rocky, faster flowing streams to more slower, heavily-vegetated waters. “Get the scale, quickly!” he said, sounding quite hoarse with excitement. On light tackle a big Blue can give you a fantastic fight, and there are many anglers that target them as a species. The Loskop Reservoir is home to many native fish species including red breast kurper (tilapia), blue kurper (tilapia), canary kurper (tilapia), largescale yellowfish, river sardine and sharptooth tetra. Martin’s surprise kurper catch. Attachment: IMG00099-20091121-1644.jpg (Downloaded 693 times) The Blue Kurper is quite well distributed in South Africa and can be found from the Kosi Bay region all the way to the Bushman's River system in the Eastern Cape. Landing the biggest ever specimen of this exciting angling fish all those years ago was a memorable event, recalls Eugene Kruger. The Blue Kurper can live as long as 11 years. This cannot be learned from books, only through trial and error, of which we had plenty…. Injured fish will be charged at R100 p/kg. Most freshwater anglers go after Carp, Sharptoothed Catfish, Blue Kurper (known as Tilapia to the rest of the world), Yellowfish, as well as Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass. Kurper is a summer fish, being most active in water of above 20ºC, with the "high season" during late summer and into autumn, starting any time from late February and lasting well into April and, depending on the region, even into May. During the previous three years we had experienced an increase in the average weight – but without passing that magical 3kg mark. Sharing his unique catch. Familiar freshwater targets are trout, salmon, perch, chub, Bream, pike, Walleye, Blue Kurper and Bass. I specifically remember one afternoon watching a 2 kg bass swim sideways in a few centimetres of water over the slab chasing these Blues. Having seen this cycle several times, he knew how to adapt to the changing conditions. If conditions remain the same, a school of Blue Kurper will feed in the same areas as the day before, which can make it easy to locate them again the next time you are on the water. Crimp a splitshot +/- … Please note we are mainly a bass fishing facility however we do stock all the other spieces too. A big bass likes a big meal and a Blue Kurper of over 13 cm is a proper meal. The Blue has certain markings (the white, yellow belly, the blue/ grey back and the 3 distinctive spots) that act as a trigger for bass. An annual fishing event is held here every year to see who can catch the biggest Kurper in the dam and I think this is where South Africa's fishing record originates from. In this episode of This is Africa Outdoors we go after monster Mozambique Tilapia also known as bream or kurpers in South Africa. Blue Kurper are found in depths ranging from 1 - 12m and very often feed on a flat close to a steep drop off to deep water. Our objective, apart from enjoying a good day’s fishing, was nothing less than to establish a new world record for blue kurper, arguably the most well-known member of the Oreochromis genus. Fewer fish mean more food per individual and so the average size increases. What have you caught at Bulshoek Dam? This temperature limits its distributional range. Larger specimens are sometimes caught on crankbaits or soft plastic baits intended for bass. Having bade farewell to the competitive boat angling scene, we had been trying to land the world record for the past three years, but Loskop had steadfastly refused to deliver a fish exceeding 3kg. After this time it is better to target big kurper on worms. He is editor of two angling magazines and South Africa’s representative on the International Game Fish Association. The flash is not as bright but clearly visible on the bottom. The sizes of baitfish that we try and imitate as a bass prey fish is however not sexually mature yet. A baitfish makes sudden movements so try and imitate that. Larger specimens are sometimes caught on crankbaits or soft plastic baits intended for bass. It is endemic to South Africa. The Vlei and Redbreast have bands while the Blues have the 3 dots, which makes it easy to tell them apart. Loskop Dam Nature Reserve is home to Antelope, Leopard, Crocodile and Hippo. But, as always, we knew what needed to be done. The Blue Kurper has a deep, elongated, laterally compressed body and a bluntly pointed snout with a slightly oblique mouth that extends past the outer margins of the eye. This is accomplished by the mucus secreted by the tilapias which traps the plankton. They feed on algae and other plant material but large specimens will feed on insects and invertebrates. The average length of blue kurper that was caught ranged from 15 … Then his bass. Bernard Venter June 17, 2020. This year’s trip never came off, as every planned outing was postponed for one reason or another. A very good example of this is the sunken jetty at Hartbeespoort Dam. As a bass fodder fish these are the Blue Kurper we want to imitate. Another interesting fact is that they seem to like getting into a habit. Their food source includes plankton, aquatic invertebrates and decomposing organic matter. With this method, when a fish takes the bait, the movement of the hook moves the float, warning that a kurper is at work down below. Looking for new spots to fish or just looking for some helpful info on a certain dam. Results 1 to 19 of 19 Thread: ... people come back with bags full of kurper. To target the really big specimens (the intention of most anglers) demands a whole bucket of observation, patience and perseverance, and of course the ability to combine all these elements into a cohesive game plan. A Blue Kurper feeding on the bottom turns its body and displays its sides and dots and stands on its head. Please remember that when we are trying to imitate baitfish we have to move the lure as a baitfish will move. Over the years, this approach had produced good kurper fishing for him, and several wins in the blue kurper cash bonanza tournaments that helped establish Loskop as the country’s premier kurper venue. Most bass fisherman know how a Blue Kurper looks, but have not studied them to understand their behaviour and how we need to fish imitations of them to attract the attentions of trophy bass. The breeding months are mostly from November to March but can be longer in the eastern and northern parts of our country, as well in Zimbabwe and Mozambique. They are extremely successful breeders and make up a large part of a bass’ diet in any water where they occur. It has an average length of around 20cm and can grow to 45cm. Like the Red Breast they also love to enter newly flooded areas and feed on the vegetation and organisms now covered by the water. Spawning occurs when males claim a territory 15-140 cm in diameter and dig a shallow pit for a nest. She can spawn again in 10-30 days. Kids can fish for bluegill and tilapia in the smaller dam. If the fish picks it up, the float rises and lies flat on the surface. We had started our day at about 3.30am. Within an hour of launching the boat, our baits were in the water at a spot known by Loskop boat anglers as ‘Frits’s Bay’. Blue Kurper mature at 14cm in length and can continuously breed in temperatures over 20°C. Regrettably, Loskop’s blue kurpers are now under dire threat from pansteatitis (yellow fat disease), a physiological condition believed to be caused by pollution, in which the body fat becomes inflamed and solidifies to such an extent that it curtails the fish’s mobility so severely that it cannot move or feed and eventually dies. Blue Kurper will migrate to deeper water as cold temperatures set in, but will often move into the shallows on a warm winter’s afternoon to soak up the sun. Do you want to catch big Blue Kurper? Once this process is complete the male chases that female away and begins displaying for another. A baitfish will stand still and then move with a short darting action, or swim around in a school or quickly take cover. A definite big bass method is to find schools of Blues around standing timber and brush and fish your imitation with a jerking action through the structure and letting it bounce off the structure. They are considered filter feeders because they can literally filter plankton out of the water. A little piece of heaven situated between Klersdorp and Wolmaranstad (about 40km either way). After a few years of this phenomenon, the food-to-numbers ratio restores itself and the cycle starts once again. Bass will often relate to the fist drop off into deeper water from these shallow areas where they wait for the Blues to return to deeper water before the sun sets. If you find them fish close to the surface and try and find some sort of structure you can bounce the lure off. We let the scale settle: it indicated more than 3kg, and when we weighed the kurper on shore, it was confirmed as 3,11kg. National and IGFA angling records are over 3 kg and plenty around that size have been caught on bait, lure and fly in South Africa. Bass often herd schools of blues into bays where they aggressively feed on them. But there is a method that allows you to target all three species at the same time, and importantly, while anchored on one spot. Born to fish! The favoured habitat of the Blue Kurper includes standing waters; they thrive and breed profusely in all water types except very fast moving streams and rivers. Scientific Name. Indeed we did. At about 9am, after we had enjoyed a packed breakfast, the fun began. Very surprisingly we caught a blue kurper on a floatie which turned out being a lot of fun because it happened to bite on the small bass rod temporarily converted to a carp rod. When this happens we can clearly see the schools moving around as they make small ripples on the water or stick their head and mouth out as previously mentioned. Ans: In many idea, fishing with lures is akin to angling, while bait fishing is also … Juvenile Blue Kurper are omnivorous and feed largely on detritus. We looked at each other and both of us knew – today could just be ‘The Day’! The value of experience It shows a preference for quieter marginal areas, where it finds shelter among rocks, submerged roots and branches of trees or in aquatic plants. Name. Having bade farewell to the competitive boat angling scene, we had been trying to land the world record for the past three years, but Loskop had steadfastly refused to deliver a fish exceeding 3kg. The pH level of this fish’s stomach is around 2, which bursts the cells of the plankton. 03. Everyone was surprised when the fishing was relatively good as most of the farm dams were pea soup green and smelled bad. Now it will never happen, for Frits passed away in March, just one month before his 70th birthday. Fishing; Kurper Spots - Please Help! If the bass are not that aggressive, or the crankbait bite stops, switch to a heavy Texas rigged soft plastic imitation and bounce it down the edge of the drop off and on the bottom in the deeper water. Spammers be aware! A friend once caught 80+ nice big ones in a day. The Blue Kurper is a food source for bass from the time they are born to the time they reach about 15 – 20 cm, depending of course on the size of the bass in the dam. They are scattered all the way down the east coast past Cape Town and into the west coast region and up into Namibia. 4. Aswell as tiger, there are blue kurper (Oreochromis mossambicus), red-breasted kurper (Tilapia rendalli), huge catfish, yellowfish, red-nosed mudfish, silver and butter barbell, a dozen species of barbs and minnows including the silver robber or dwarf tigerfish (Micralested acutidens). Clanwilliam Dam Clanwilliam Dam is possibly the prime Smallmouth Bass fishing venue in South Africa. Having done so for many years, we knew the value of a structured, early morning launch procedure. Eugene Kruger is a freelance angling journalist and leisure fishing consultant. On light tackle a big Blue can give you a fantastic fight, and there are many anglers that target them as a species. Males are usually found in soft- bottomed areas that are ideal for nest construction, while females and immature fish tend to remain in areas with harder bottoms and more food. Dad took him fishing. Catching large Blues on spinners in late summer is sometimes almost better than bass fishing. The Cape kurper ("Sandelia capensis") is a species of fish in the Anabantidae family, the climbing gouramis or climbing perches. Best Fishing Spots. Description. My float had hardly hit the surface when the line pulled tight and put a serious bend in the rod, and a few minutes later Frits did the honours, netting a kurper that had us momentarily tongue-tied. Kurper by the boatload The world record was ours! When it stops feeding it moves to the next spot and does the same. A bass that sees the combinations of these triggers bouncing on the bottom, or flashing near the surface, or close to vegetation or standing timber, or moving quickly down a drop-off will react aggressively. Kurper rigs are not too complicated – a bunch of earthworms loaded onto a #1 long shank hook and an adjustable slip float threaded onto the line. It thrives in South African freshwater systems and is widely distributed and I don’t know of any bass water in Southern Africa where this bait fish is not present. International Game fish Association to undergo authorisation before an user account will be activated washed-out yellow belly with dark! 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To catch bass Nature Reserve is home to Antelope, Leopard, and! Circles before the female first deposits 100-600 eggs onto the nest 100-600 eggs onto the nest form schools they... Are trying to imitate the juveniles that will relate to hard bottom.... Will not be learned from books, only through trial and error, of which had!