Anglers battle it out in 26-hour endurance competition at Aston Lake

A strong group of 80 anglers turned up for the Battle of the Dips 26-hour fishing challenge at Aston Lake this past weekend.

The competition started early on Saturday morning and ended at 10am on Sunday, and included competitors from afar as Pretoria and Heidelberg.

For organisers KB Baits, the turnout was a cherry on top as this was the first competition of this kind they had organised.

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“We decided on the 26 hours to give the guys more time to fish and spend time with their families.

“For us, that is what fishing is about.

“It’s a family sport and it’s just brought everyone closer to have fun,” says FG Lourens, a member of the organising committee.

For the anglers, the challenge was a patience game as some started catching fish early whereas others were not so lucky.

One of the younger competitors was a 14-year-old Joshua Müller who did well and caught a 5.1kg barbel and 30 carps.

“It was my first time competing for this side and I’m really happy.

“Although I only started catching at 7pm on Saturday evening, in total, my bag was 36kg,” says Müller.

Other anglers such as Christa Fraser also achieved their personal best with a 4.kg carp.

“I stayed up till midnight on Saturday evening and was back at it at 7am this morning.

“This was my third competition and I had fun,” says Fraser.

The organisers hope this will be the first of many fishing competitions at Aston Lake.

“There’s always room for us to grow and we’re aiming for our next competition to have over 100 anglers,” says Lourens.

The winners for the various categories are:

Heaviest bag

• Rudi Coetzee with 44.7kg

Heaviest barbel

• Seun Duvenhage with an impressive 8.4kg

Heaviest carpel

• Sarel Erasmus caught a 10.5kg monster

Best ladies angler

• Chrisita Erasmus had the heaviest bag and carpel.

Best childern’s angler

• Joshua Müller.