Lowveld Bass Trails end season with show stopping finale

Eight months of tournament angling concluded last weekend with the Lowveld Bass Trail Final. The two-day event was hosted at the picturesque Injaka Dam.

The show-stopping finale culminated in 18 hours of fishing for the 20 teams. Aside from the overall prize purse, which totalled more than R190 000, glory was up for grabs.

It went to Herman Geldenhuys and Jannie Stander from Team Thermocline who earned 17,775 points. Like the winners, the other top-five finishers each caught 10 fish overall.

Mitsubishi’s Johan Coetzee and Adriaan Bam came in second with 17,685 points, followed by Morné Strauss and Dian Pretorius for Team Alligators with 16,765. Imbongolo’s 16,745 points earned them fourth place, and Frogz finished fifth with 16,59.

“The fishing really wasn’t easy and teams struggled to put any sort of meaningful pattern together,” says Michael Cronjé of Angling & Outdoor World. “The general accounts from the anglers described difficult sessions on the water with most teams boating just two or three fish a day.”

He adds that the low water levels – the dam was at 83 per cent in the weeks leading up to the final – played a significant role as it made the vertical drop two metres lower than full capacity.

Coupled with the light mist hanging over the dam on the first day, the anglers’ spirits weren’t very good, but only two teams did not bag the limit of five bass on the day.

Cronjé adds it was the first time in the history of Lowveld Bass Trail (LBT) that two teams were tied for first place after the first day’s fishing: Alligators and Just That were tied on 6,05 kilograms. Mitsubishi, Angling & Outdoor World and Imbongolo rounded out the top five.

Unfortunately, Just That was later disqualified for disembarking from their vessel in an undesignated area.

“It was regrettable that this had to happen, and it was probably the only negative incident of the entire event,” Cronjé explains.

Day two again delivered fairly good catches. Ninety-eight bass were weighed with an average weight of 0,494 kilograms.

Frogz were the standout team with their bag of 5,265 kilograms lifting them from 16th to fourth position overall.

Thermocline’s bass of 2,37 kilograms from day one went on to win them the Biggest Bass cheque.

Alligators’ 2,33-kilogram bag earned them second biggest catch. Mitsubishi’s 2,285-kilogram bag was third largest.

Overall, with nine fish, Bass Wizard’s finished sixth with 16,06 points. Ambassadors, with 10 bass, scored 15,22 points to end seventh.

Hazyview Midas’s 15,13 points placed them eighth overall. Angling & Outdoor World finished ninth with 14,975 and Brayshaw Filtration rounded out the top 10 with 14,86.

LBT chairman, Adriaan Bam said it was the dedication and enthusiasm showed by everyone who was involved that made the season a massive success.

The 2016 season kicks off in February, so keep an eye on LBT’s Facebook page.