Anglers reel in the catch at ITEC Free Spool Open
At 8am on Saturday, the eager anglers cast their lines and engaged the “patience” button. The competition consisted of four two-hour “skins” sessions, which started on Saturday at 9am and ended at 5pm.
Never has the sun set on such an awesome weekend as on the ITEC Free Spool Open Angling Competition held at Chelmsford Dam on March 29 and 30.
To the relief of the organisers, the overcast weather of the week leading up to the event cleared up, giving anglers perfect blue skies and minimal wind.
Eager fishermen parked their vehicles in the line outside the resort as early as Tuesday before the competition, hoping to clinch their favourite spots and ultimately reel in the winning catch.
At 8am on Saturday, the eager anglers cast their lines and engaged the “patience” button. The competition consisted of four two-hour “skins” sessions, which started on Saturday at 9am and ended at 5pm. The first fish was weighed at 9.09am but, unfortunately, it was not big enough to win the first skin.
The eventual prize winners in the scaled category of the skins were Dan Govender 2.740kg, Neil Boltman 3.000kg, Keegan Naidoo 3.320kg and Mohammed Asmal 3.690kg, each winning R1 000.
The non-scaled skins winners were Rafiq Iqbal 2.620kg, Sizwele Hlatshwayo 2.550kg, Schalk van Rooyen 3.920kg and Krishen Moodley 4.080kg, all winning R500 each.
The grand prize winners in the scaled category were Vikram Ragoobeer with a carp of 4.080kg, winning R15 000, followed by Sasheel Mahabeer with 3.960kg who won R8 000 and Jai Raghbeer with 3.860kg who walked away with R4 000.
The winners in the non-scaled category were Anwar Cassim with a catch of 14.570kg, winning R5 000, Ashvir Ramnarain with 6.180kg won R3 000 and Dinesh Singh with 4.270kg won R1 000. There were an additional 27 prizes in each category which gave everybody a chance to be a winner on the day.
All the fish that were caught during this event were again released after they had been weighed.
Special prizes were given for youngest female, 8-year-old Shirniel Boltman, the youngest male, 4-year-old Jaydon Peter. The first woman to weigh a fish was Mrs Singh, and most interesting mode of transport went to Alvin Pillay who came with a scooter.
The club also ran a raffle for a 210L deep freezer and a “tata box”. The deep freezer was won by Imtiaaz Ismail of Glencoe and the “tata box” by Shivesh Krishanlall of Newcastle.
Anglers praised the organisers for the professional manner in which the competition was run. The ITEC Free Spool Angling Club would like to thank staff of Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, the generous sponsors, people who assisted with ticket sales, as well as media, and patrons who participated in the event.
“I would like to convey a special word of thanks to the committee members who worked tirelessly over the weekend of the competition and the months leading up to the comp,” said Robson Clifford. “Your commitment was unwavering and is much appreciated.”
