Thousands of Rands earned at grand fishing competition
The bumper competition was lauded by many who attended as a resounding success.
All praises are due to Almighty God for blessing the anglers with excellent weather and an incident-free competition. Endumeni Angling Club’s Open competition was held at Chelmsford on April 1-2. The bumper competition was lauded by many who attended as a resounding success.
Anglers from around the country started queuing outside Chelmsford Dam’s main gate from Sunday prior to the competition. By Friday night, the queue was 85 cars long and while many were enjoying themselves, others were eagerly waiting for the gates to open on Saturday morning at 5am.
More than 400 anglers participated in this grand fish-off, each one hoping to take home the grand prize of R20 000.
The sirens went off at 8am for the first cast of the day; meanwhile more anglers queued to enter the competition area. The first skins competition, sponsored by Neeraj Autotech of Newcastle, kicked off at 9am but by midday only eight fish had been weighed. The biggest was a barbel of 1,86kg, awarding Labeeb Adam a cash prize of R1 000. Labeeb also took fourth pace in the non-scale category winning himself a DEFY microwave sponsored by Active Sound and Sales of Dundee. The second skins competition, sponsored by Vuka Truck and Bus of Newcastle, ended at 3pm with only six fish being weighed.
The biggest, a carp weighing 3,77kg, gave Aiden Praag not only a cash prize of R1 000, but also the second heaviest in the scale category which won him another R10 000. The final skins sponsored by J&S Freight Haulers of Newcastle, ended at 6pm with only nine fish being weighed. The heaviest fish was a 3,11kg carp caught by Tony Singh of Ladysmith awarding him a cash prize of R1 000 and also fourth place in the scale category. This earned Tony a microwave sponsored by Active Sound and Sales of Dundee.
While many anglers struggled in a 100% full dam with stuck lines and broke traces, many of the top ten fish came from Zone A and Zone B. Only 47 fish were brought to the scales, ranging from the biggest barbel of 10,12kg to the smallest barbel, weighing 39g. V Pooni caught his 10,12kg barbel in Zone B at around 7pm, by using a small carp head, earning him R10 000 cash. Paul Rosenel won R5 000 cash (sponsored by Dreykon Klus Civils) in second position for his barbel weighing 7,05kg and Taahir Sheikh won R2 500 cash (sponsored by Docrats Hardware) in third position for his barbel weighing 3,35kg. The third prize of R 5000 (sponsored by VME) in the scale category was won by Rahul Rajlall with a carp weighing 3,58kg.
The winner of R20 000 in the scale category with a carp weighing 3,84kg was Ronald Moonsamy of Pietermaritzburg. Speaking at the presentation, Ronald applauded E.A.C for hosting a well-organised event and mentioned that he fished in Zone E and used a bleeding banana floatie to catch his winning fish. In total the Endumeni Angling Club gave away over R70 000 in prizes, which included R55 000 in cash plus 26 other prizes for the scale and non-scale categories. The live raffle drawn was done in the presence of the chairman of the NFWAA, Clifford Robson, who verified Zubair Ismail of Glencoe the winner of the 55″ UHD smart TV, valued at R10 000.
Endumeni Angling Club thanks all sponsors: Vees Micro Enterprises (VME), Dreykon Klus Civils, Dentatek, Docrats Hardware, TRIVS Ambulance, Seedats Cycle Store, Cassims Butchery, Deans Motors, Kallies Transport, Neeraj AutoTech, J&S Freight Haulers, Paruks Hardware, Bosco Meats, Siyaya Hardware, OK Foods, Kwa Elias, Medcare Healthcare, BZ Electrical, Economics Store, Highveld Toshiba, MS Ismail and Assoc., Mohamed Ismail Plumbing, Asmal Optometrists, Vuka Truck and Bus, SSS Motors and Fuel Station, Bennys Auto, Mr. Pantsula, Mohammeds Midas, Linen and General, Umzinyathi Business Solutions, Endumeni Dental Lab, Ebees Express, Hi-way Driving School, Hollywood Bollywood, Ismails Trading, Saverite GCB, Braytons, Gordon Kathan, Dr Buthelezi and Streetwire.
Thanks to Sam Mtshali of Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife for ensuring the venue was ready for hosting such a huge event. Finally a special thanks to Shabir Ismail who, through his vast experience in organising such events, gave his valuable assistance.
