Mpumalanga casts its name on 2025 SA Surf Angling Championships trophy
The Mpumalanga team, managed by Lowvelder Theo Potgieter, hooked the biggest prize in South African surf angling.
Mpumalanga won the recent South African Surf Casting Championships.
The championships were held in Langebaan in the Western Cape from January 15 to 18. Anglers from various provinces competed for team and individual titles, and for places in the various Protea teams.
The Mpumalanga team consisted of the manager, Theo Potgieter, and five anglers, Viloshan Naicker, André Mudaly, Ashwin Singh, Andrew Nairansamy and Rajen Ramnanan, and was also accompanied by Riana and Jan Vermaak, who competed in the tournament as individuals.
Day one started off with great success for the teams. The 36 anglers caught a total of 672 fish in the four-hour competition time. The angling got more difficult as the competition progressed over the next three days.
Surf casting is a tactical sport in which each angler is allocated a 25m wide pegged area in which he or she may fish only. This tests their skills of what traces need to be used with what specific fishing rod, as well as what bait to use and how to present it to the fish to be able to get the bites. Each fish must be over 15cm long to count for points. An angler is awarded 10 points for the fish and an additional one point per centimetre over the 15cm.
So the sport of surf casting is about work rate. Anglers need to catch as many fish as possible and be prepared ahead of time, preparing multiple traces and being baited up to give them a faster action and to make sure they have the bait in the water for as long as possible.
The Mpumalanga Shore Angling team dominated from day one right through till the last day on which all the representatives tried their best for their spot on the Protea teams. The Mpumalanga team won gold. Free State was second and KwaZulu-Natal third.
Mudaly ended up third overall in the men’s division, and Riana finished second place in the ladies’.
All eight anglers who represented Mpumalanga at the South African Surf Casting Championships were selected for the Protea teams that will represent South Africa in various world championships in 2026.
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Potgieter, from Mbombela, was one of the selectors. He will manage the Protea masters men’s team at the 2026 world championships in Italy. He is the secretary of the Mpumalanga Shore Angling Association and has been working on youth development to grow the sport of fishing. He offers talks to local schools, as well as demonstration days.
The provincial team has a five-year plan to get the local youth involved in this angling discipline and grow the sport of surf casting. “Surf angling is an expensive but very exciting sport for the youth. The Mpumalanga Shore Angling Association needs to raise funds to support their struggle to get the youth down to the ocean with the right tackle and gear, to be able to learn and be part of the selected few who can achieve their Protea colours and represent South Africa the junior world championships,” said Potgieter.
If you would like to contribute in any way for the future youth of this sport, contact Potgieter on 079 682 2450 or email him at mpshoreangling@gmail.com.
