Schools captain says Benoni is a hunting ground for top-class anglers

The South African schools captain and veteran angler, Hennie Knoetze said Benoni is blessed with outstanding anglers who are contributing positively to the sport in the country.

Knoetze complemented local schools for embracing the sport when an angling league was introduced in 2016.

The Benoni High School (BHS) teacher said angling has grown tremendously in the community, adding the town has become a good feeder for the Protea national team.

“We started with a few English schools and it has grown as more schools joined. During this time and as we saw the league’s growth, we decided to select an SA schools team that fishes with other national teams.”

“Benoni has good anglers. Hoërskool Hans Moore has three Protea anglers. We only have six Protea anglers in the country and three are from Benoni. It’s a good feeding scheme for the country,” he said.

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As passionate as ever about angling, Knoetze expressed his delight after he was selected to lead the SA schools team for the third consecutive year.

The softly-spoken 44-year old engineering, graphics and design teacher is a master angler. He finished sixth at last year’s champ of champions competition, which pitted 12 top-ranked anglers from each province.

“As captain, besides leading the team, I come up with the game plans for competitions. I’ve fished for the South Africa C and B teams and has been to national trials many times,” he said.

Knoetze explained the professional fishing bug bit coincidentally when he saw angling photos in the office of the deputy-principal of a school they were touring while a rugby coach.

“I asked the deputy headmaster if they were doing it as a sport. He said yes and they had a league. So we decided to start a league in Gauteng in 2016. We started with three schools. The league has grown to more than 20 schools,” said Knoetze.

According to the angler, hard-work, concentration and accuracy are the foremost requirements needed to succeed in angling.

“You need to improvise all the time. You can’t throw the rod like a social angler and sit back. You must be vigilant and always change your distance and place. There are many aspects of the sports that many don’t know about.”

Additionally, there sport requires research and thorough planning, which influences a team’s strategy and approach going into a competition.

“You need to research your venue before and find out what kind of species you are targeting. Are you targeting quantities or weight? We get 10 points per fish and 10 per kg which determines your overall score at the end of the competition.

“Before the competition, we do research and come up with a game plan and improvise if our main plan doesn’t work.”

Knoetze added the sport plays a crucial role in teaching valuable life lessons such as patience, discipline and commitment.

“It teaches one to not be over-eager (give the fish time to eat), sticking to the plan and endurance to handle unforeseen circumstances like bad weather.”

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