It has been several weeks since I got home from South Africa. I spent 21 days there with my wife, Trait, and our media guy Charles Scaroro. We returned with unforgettable memories of fishing for bass and hunting big game animals.
We caught bass up to 10 pounds and saw zebras, giraffes, lions, elephants, hyenas, hippos, crocodiles, wildebeests, springboks, warthogs and some cool looking snakes.
During the 20-hour flight to the African continent, I kept wondering what the bass fishing would be like on the other side of the world. It was fall in the U.S., but springtime in South Africa.
After landing, we checked into a hotel and met our hosts. Among them was a good guy named Jacques, who is the Bass Mafia distributor in South Africa. The locals speak English with kind of a French/Dutch accent.
One thing that stood out to me is how much enthusiasm the local bass fishermen have for the Bassmaster Elite Series. It blew my mind how many bass boats I saw, and that every single boat owner could just about name the entire Elite Series roster.
When I asked them what their favorite TV program or YouTube page was, just about all of them would say Bassmaster LIVE or give me the name of an Elite Series angler.
When you’re grinding for bass and points on the Elite Series, you really don’t think about who’s watching and who we are influencing. My trip to South Africa made me realize the sport of competitive bass fishing extends far beyond California to Florida. It’s worldwide.
Every fisherman I met there reminded me of my friends in Texas, Georgia and Alabama. They were very hospitable and loved to hunt and fish. I felt like I was back home in Texas.
I don’t know exactly how bass came to be in South Africa, but let me tell you, there are many lakes there that hold big bass. We had an opportunity to sample four lakes, and we caught some really nice fish from each one. My biggest was a few ounces shy of 10 pounds.
The lakes we fished remind me of small reservoirs in north Texas that have only one or two arms. I was able to break them down quickly, provided there weren’t any hippos or crocs in the way.
Two of the lakes were 30 to 40 feet deep. The other two resembled shallow Texas fisheries. The cover was primarily Eurasian milfoil and standing timber.
I was surprised to find that forward-facing sonar really hasn’t come on strong yet there. We caught our bass on things like ChatterBaits, swimming jigs, and my favorite, swimbaits. My big one fell for an 8 1/2-inch Bass Mafia swimbait.
Besides the fabulous bass fishing, we went on a truly wild African hunting safari for plains game. We tagged wildebeest and springbok, which they call their equivalent to whitetail deer. We also put down a few nuisance warthogs.
The terrain surprised me. I expected it to be desert plains. In fact, it was mountainous and full of trees.
If you ever have an opportunity to fish and hunt in South Africa, take full advantage of it. You won’t be disappointed. It was truly the trip of a lifetime.
We’re putting together videos of our trip that now being posted on our YouTube Zaldaingerous channel. Be sure to check them out.
