“It was an absolute blessing to have a field of 16 anglers commit to this event on short notice. Entrance to the event included a couple of nonperishable food items that will be distributed to a charity in the area in due time,” says Clint Ferreira, one of the organisers. “Most of the anglers made a full weekend out of the event, and tents were pitched, and fires were lit on Friday afternoon already.
“On Saturday morning we were woken by lions roaring and hyenas laughing not too far from the dam. Always a blessing to wake up in the Bushveld. We started setting up our boats and kayaks. Some of the local anglers joined us and by 06:30 we blasted off and all the anglers went their own directions,” says Ferreira. “The day on the water was quite awesome as all the anglers managed to get the five-fish limit quite early in the morning.
The fish were biting everywhere, and some guys caught some early morning kickers as well. By 11:00 the sun was already sitting high, and the temperatures were reaching the high thirties. This didn’t damper the spirit of the anglers at all. Nearly all the competitors fished until the last minute, still trying to upgrade their bags,” says Ferreira. The top three anglers for the day were in third place Logan van Zyl, second was Clinton Ferreira and first place went to Derick de Bruyn.
Also read: Catch the big one for charity on September 2
The longest fish for the day was a mammoth of a fish, measuring 52.5cm caught by Adriaan Joubert. The team competition was won by the team of Adriaan Joubert, Derick de Bruyn, Logan van Zyl and Leon Grobler. Every angler who ended in the top 10 for the 2023 season, received a trophy and a small gift as an appreciation for their dedication throughout the year. The final prize of the evening was a Van Hunks Shad Kayak to the value of R14 000 sponsored by one of the anglers, Henko Austin.
The kayak was raffled between the top 5 fishermen of the season and the lucky winner Follow Henko’s YouTube channel, “Feel Good Fishing” for all the content of the 2023 season. The organisers thanked the sponsors for their support. The 2024 season will kick off in February 2024. Contact them on Facebook (Northern Small Craft League Limpopo) or call Derick de Bruyn at 083 605 5612, Clinton Ferreira at 076 859 1576, Adriaan Joubert at 076 736 8547 to join the league next year. It was an amazing season, and we are extremely happy with how all the events were supported by the anglers, but especially our sponsors.
