Smooth ‘moo-ve’ for fisherman Alan
The popular annual fishing compo was certainly a crowd pleaser.
DEEP sea anglers from all over South Africa descended on Shelly Beach Ski-boat Club for the annual Shelly Beach Ski-boat Festival that ran from last week Wednesday and concluded on Saturday.
The popular fish-off coincided with the best fishing tides and the annual sardine run which brings in the best fish.
As this was a gamefish competition, anglers had to get their game plan together in order to win the grand prize of a R100 000 cash.
Due to changes in the major sponsors, the traditional first prize of a Mallards ski boat with two Mercury motors was replaced by this magnificent cash prize for the overall heaviest gamefish.
In the past years, fishermen have seen some excellent catches coming in, having caught yellowfin tuna, king mackerel, couta and a wide assortment of gamefish and this year was no different.
There was an excellent turnout for registration on Tuesday last week. Close to 50 boats signed up to brave the big seas and try to capture the main prize.
PHOTO BY JUSTIN KLUSENER
The weather played its part on the first three days of the competition with safe launching conditions at all of the launch sites from Port Edward through to Durban.
However, it was Shelly Beach Ski-boat Club that featured as the preferred launch site with the majority of boats launching there to go in search of yellowfin tuna and amberjack.
Fishing was slow on day one with very few reports of decent fish caught.
It was a pleasant surprise for the large crowd gathered in the tent at the weigh station on day one when a very respectable 32,5kg yellowfin tuna came to the scales caught by Roy Jackson on the boat ‘Thunderchild,’ just off Umkomaas.
Roy and his fishing mate Simon Colley were winners of the tournament in 2014.
When the weigh-in closed at 4pm on Saturday, Joshua Rodwell and Alan ‘Moo’ Fraser’s 34.8kg amberjack was declared the winner.
Roy came second with his catch, taking home prizes to the value of R47 400.
PHOTO BY JUSTIN KLUSENER
Third place went to Shaun Posthumus fishing off Master Tom with his catch of a 31.3kg yellowfin tuna.
The top three juniors anglers were Cameron Palmer (first), Pietie Bodenstein (second) and Reydon Basson (third), all of Shelly Beach.
Another great result was the top woman angler, Megan du Plessis.
With such fabulous prizes and some of the best fishing in the world, anglers and spectators were delighted with the four day programme, including the entertainment for the whole family.
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