Vryheid Luremasters successfully hosted their 16th annual Bivane Winter Bass Challenge from June 13 to 15.
The event was well supported, with a total of 32 boats entering the competition. All the competitors arrived on the Friday, some staying in the chalets and others camping. Chatter and laughter could be heard from all over the place, with many familiar faces and also some first-time entrants. That night, after the captains’ meeting, everyone enjoyed lamb and pig on the spit, with salads, pap and sauce.
Saturday morning at 07:00, all the boats were launched and they were ready to start. As the siren went off, the boats left one by one in search for the big winning fish.
The morning started slow, but Bivane Dam never disappoints and the weigh station started getting busier as time went on. The first 3kg haul of the competition was weighed in at 12:50 by Graig de Sousa. At 17:00, the siren went off again and it was time to get all the fish weighed in and everyone off the water. For Saturday, they weighed in one fish over 3kg and three fish over 2kg. A total of 75 fish were weighed, with a total weight of 69.45kg for the day.
On Saturday evening, there was laughter around the campfires; and plans for Sunday were discussed.
The siren went off again at 07:00 Sunday morning and everyone started a new challenging day. The pressure was on as 64 anglers were still searching for the winning fish. By 13:00, all tags had to be on the board. On Sunday, they weighed in two fish over 3kg and one over 2kg. A total of 56 fish were weighed, with a total weight of 46.39kg.
The prize-giving, which everyone was looking forward to, was at 14:00 at the Bivane Dam conference area. “Congratulations to all our winners, thank you to all our sponsors, and a very big thank you to Bivane Dam for your amazing facilities and very helpful, friendly staff. We are honoured to host this compo at Bivane’s facilities.”
The overall winner was Craig de Sousa with a 3.6kg bass; 2nd biggest bass of 3.37kg – Zane Formo; 3rd place – Le Roux Joubert (16years old) with a catch of 3.3kg.
The biggest bag went to Shane Estran and Jonathan Kirk at 11.53kg. The second biggest bag winners were Zane Formo and Kelvin Bland at 11.26kg.

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The news provided to you in this link comes to you from the editorial staff of the Vryheid Herald, a sold newspaper distributed in the Vryheid area.