Don’t only match the hatch with the bait you choose but also by the way you fish it and where you fish it. Indeed we did. Catching large Blues on spinners in late summer is sometimes almost better than bass fishing. 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. Do you want to catch big Blue Kurper? This is my PB kurper by a long shot. After a few years of this phenomenon, the food-to-numbers ratio restores itself and the cycle starts once again. 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. Injured fish will be charged at R100 p/kg. Best Fishing Spots. 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. Females and non-breeding males normally have a pale grey to washed-out yellow belly with 3 dark spots on their sides. You came to the right place. The flash is not as bright but clearly visible on the bottom. 5. It is endemic to South Africa. 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. Blue Kurper on fly. 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. Fishing a drop off into deep water from a shallow flat is another key area where you want to utilise a Blue imitation. A big bass likes a big meal and a Blue Kurper of over 13 cm is a proper meal. 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. Fishing is a lifestyle! They are extremely successful breeders and make up a large part of a bass’ diet in any water where they occur. They favour shallow bays with a hardish bottom (the juveniles) where plant cover exists. ), a prime specimen weighing just on 2,6kg. 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. 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. In this episode of This is Africa Outdoors we go after monster Mozambique Tilapia also known as bream or kurpers in South Africa. We let the scale settle: it indicated more than 3kg, and when we weighed the kurper on shore, it was confirmed as 3,11kg. I specifically remember one afternoon watching a 2 kg bass swim sideways in a few centimetres of water over the slab chasing these Blues. The Blue Kurper is farmed extensively and many dams, streams, rivers and freshwater lakes serve as a home for this fish species. By noon we had had enough, but true to form, had to have “one more last cast”. Once this process is complete the male chases that female away and begins displaying for another. Scientific Name. Fishing Lake Jozini For Tigers & Kurper – True Bushveld Fishing. 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. 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). 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. During the previous three years we had experienced an increase in the average weight – but without passing that magical 3kg mark. The male responds by releasing his milt, which the female also takes into her mouth to fertilize the eggs. The dams are stocked with Bass, Carp, yellow Fish, Blue Kurper and Barbel. Luckily lots of fish were caught and some of our newer members managed to catch their first mosquito fish and blue kurper. 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. But, as always, we knew what needed to be done. On light tackle a big Blue can give you a fantastic fight, and there are many anglers that target them as a species. Larger specimens are sometimes caught on crankbaits or soft plastic baits intended for bass. Blue Kurper anglers see them as a nuisance and this species is probably responsible for more missed strikes by bass anglers than any other specie as they aggressively attack plastic lures, but their mouths are too small, in most cases, to become impaled on a bass hook. Also don't forget about fishing with worms, insects, mealies or bread: these all work. 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. Google Earth World-class bass fishing, but it comes with a cost. Blue Kurper at Loskop Dam. If the fish picks it up, the float rises and lies flat on the surface. Description. The dam wall was lifted many years ago by 4m so there is lots of dead trees in the water and the kurper feed off the algea on it. Having done so for many years, we knew the value of a structured, early morning launch procedure. The Blue Kurper is like the Red Breast, but slightly more slender than the Vlei. 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. SEALINE - South African Angling and Boating Community > General Angling Topics > Fly Fishing and Tying > Blue Kurper on fly. They are considered filter feeders because they can literally filter plankton out of the water. But there is a method that allows you to target all three species at the same time, and importantly, while anchored on one spot. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. The Fishing Experience excellent fly fishing for rainbow trout, brown trout, bass and Mozambique Tilapia (Blue kurper) in two spring fed dams. This is great place in South Africa for targeting big Barbel, Mudfish, Carp, Blue Kurper Yellowfish and Bass. Redbreast Kurper (Tilapia rendalli) is more commonly known around Southern Africa as the Redbreast Tilapia or Redbreasted Tilapia/Kurper.They are one of the larger species of Kurper that occur naturally in South Africa, after the Blue Kurper (Mozambique Tilapia).They can attain lengths of 45 centimeters or so, and weigh in at well over 2 kilograms. 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’. At about 9am, after we had enjoyed a packed breakfast, the fun began. Crimp a splitshot +/- … Fishing in the dam attracts tourists, the main species being fished for are Largemouth bass and kurper. 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