Catching a five-fish limit shouldn’t be much of a problem for the 45 two-angler teams that will participate in the 19th Black Bass World Championship this week at Arabie Dam in South Africa. The competition will come down to which duos can connect with a couple of 5-pound-plus bag-boosters on each of the three days.
Arabie, also known as Flag Boshielo Dam, is teeming with largemouth in the 1- to 2 1/2-pound class that can be caught virtually at will by the highly skilled anglers from 15 nations who’ll be on the water Thursday through Saturday. Fish weighing 3 to 4 pounds are extremely scarce, but there’s a fair number of 5- to 6-pounders.
Specimens in the latter class will determine which teams stand atop the medals podium after Day 3.
“It’s a really cool reservoir that’s got quite a few things to offer, but the fish population is a little bit wonky,” said Drew Gill, one of the six anglers who’ll fish for Team USA. “There’s a blue million of the smaller-class fish, but bites over 2 3/4 pounds are really difficult.
“It seems like there’s a window of 3- and 4-pounders that simply doesn’t exist, but we’ve caught a few over 5 and a couple 6s – it’s just hard to generate those bites.”
Arabie, a 3,200-acre impoundment on the Olifants River, is in Limpopo, the northernmost of South Africa’s nine provinces. It’s springtime in the Southern Hemisphere and the air and water temperatures are warming. WeatherChannel.com predicts mostly sunny skies for the competition days, with temps in the high 80s to low 90s and moderate winds rarely exceeding 10 mph.
In addition to Team USA and the host South Africans, other participating nations are Canada, Mexico, Australia, Spain, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Serbia, Croatia, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Eswatini.
The hammer-laden Team USA squad, coached by Kevin VanDam, will feature pairings of Gill/Ott DeFoe, Jacob Wheeler/Kyle Welcher and Scott Martin/Logan Parks.
Wheeler, who recently wrapped up his fourth Bass Pro Tour Angler of the Year title in the past five campaigns with his 10th career BPT victory at Saginaw Bay in Michigan, said Arabie reminds him of some lakes in Texas, but with a bit more steepness to its shoreline. With some fish still in the prespawn phase, some on the beds and others having completed the annual reproduction ritual, he says adjustments will be required throughout the event.
“Fish can be caught from 1 foot (of water depth) down to 20,” he said. “There’s a major warming trend going on and you don’t know what the next day’s going to bring. There’s a full moon on the way and you could have the ultimate wave of spawners move up.
“We’ll see how it plays out, but I think 16 to 20 pounds will be a solid bag. It could be super volatile, though, because guys could do good one day and then struggle the next just because they don’t catch the big ones. A lot will change before the end of the tournament.”
Martin, a veteran of numerous international competitions, said the three American boats could each be employing different tactics at any given time during the event.
“I don’t know if it’s just because things are different in the Southern Hemisphere, but it seems like the (bigger) fish should be doing certain things that they’re not and it’s been a little more challenging than I’d expected,” he said. “Drew’s ability to find the offshore fish and Wheeler finding the sneaky stuff like he always does will be important, so I think it’s great that our team is really diverse.”
Added Gill: “Our confidence level at this place right now is kind of hard to quantify, but our commitment level is high. We’ve got a good grasp of what we need to do as a whole, but knowing it and going out and doing it are two different things.
“Each boat will get between zero and six opportunities a day to catch a fish that’ll make a difference. If you get six, you could catch a mega-bag, but zero or one will make it look like you have no idea what you’re doing at all.”