Freshwater Spartans AC host highly anticipated overnight bank angling competition

The much-anticipated overnight bank angling competition, hosted by Freshwater Spartans Angling Club at Chelmsford Dam, drew a crowd of over 500 anglers from the length and breadth of the country, with some anglers camped outside the main gate more than a week prior to the competition.

With the cooperation of Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, the gates opened at 05:00 to allow participants enough time to prepare themselves for the cast-off at 10:00.

On the fishing front, Chelmsford Dam lived up to its notorious reputation of being a “very difficult dam”.

For the duration of the competition, the weather held out; however, the catches were few and far between, as most anglers failed to land decent-sized fish.

The competition incorporated the traditional open competition with the ‘skins’.

The anglers within the fold of the Angling Professional League (APL) put their angling prowess to the test and featured prominently on the roll of honour.

Rishi Durgadin of the APL pocketed R30 00 after landing the heaviest carp of the competition, that tipped the scale at 4,102 kg.

Cameron Murugan of Breakwaters AC landed a carp of 3,984kg to earn himself R20 000, while Breakwaters captain, Ashvir Singh, clinched third spot with a carp of 3,764 kg, winning himself R10 000.

In the non-scaled category, Shaylin Praag landed a monstrous barbel of 13,822 kg, winning himself the ultimate prize of R20 000; Moshin Tadwala’s (of Stillwaters AC) barbel of 8,924 kg, earned him R15 000 while Randhir Dheenadayal clinched third spot, catching a barbel of 6,822kg and to earn R10 000 for his outstanding catch.

APL President, Matthew Shunmugam, addressed anglers on the developments done at Chelmsford Dam through the efforts of the KZN Liaison Committee, especially in respect of the roads.

However, much work needs to be done to promote ecotourism at the venue.

“There are plans afoot to repair the toilets at Zone B; these improvements would certainly contribute towards the hosting of future open competitions as well as the fixtures hosted by the various user groups of the KZN Liaison Committee,” he said.

He also complimented the club on their many achievements in their first year of existence, including hosting the open competition, conducting clinics, purchasing outfits, their Facebook page posting, personalized keep-nets, raffle competitions, etc.

“Freshwater Spartans AC expresses its sincere appreciation to the donors and patrons for their support and cooperation throughout the competition,” he concluded.

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