Breakwaters hook Angling Professional League title

The curtain closed on the Angling Professional League (APL) season with the hosting of the Grand Challenge at Richgate Park on May 22.
A week earlier at the same venue, Challengers Angling Club put an end to the dominance of Breakwaters who were already crowned as the VME League Champions.
They pulled out all the stops to capture the Transnat Knock Out Trophy by a solitary point – the score line reading 10 points to 9 points in favour of Challengers. At that stage, it was one trophy apiece for Breakwaters and Challengers with the Grand Challenge to follow.
Smarting from their narrow defeat, Breakwaters were bent on avenging their defeat and came out all guns blazing. Tension-filled faces were noticeable at the start of the competition and at the weigh in. Ebrahim Mia of Challengers was the top angler of the day, finishing with 17 points, receiving the “orange cap’ which is an outright trophy and R200 for his efforts. Breakwaters Angling Club emerged victors and crowned the Grand Challenge Champions, beating Challengers, 49 points to 35 points. Stillwaters scored 23 points.
This was the inaugural season where fully fledged clubs had participated against each other and the keen rivalry between Challengers and Breakwaters was clearly reminiscent of their seasons when they were affiliates of the Association.
Stillwaters, made up of many junior and social anglers, showed remarkable improvement towards the latter part of the season.
After a gruelling season, Kaveer Singh (Breakwaters) emerged as the “Angler of Year” finishing on 110 points, followed by Ebrahim Mia (Challengers) on 91 points and hotly pursued by Shane Mangaroo (Breakwaters) on 89 points. The top three anglers of the season will receive prizes in the form of branded name fishing tackle such as rods, reels, keep nets, etc.
The title holders for the APL for the season include Terrence Chetty of Breakwaters (heaviest scaled fish, a carp of 3.650kg and heaviest non-scaled fish, a barbel of 9,005kg); Kameshin Govender of Challengers (Junior Angler of Year); Talia Boodhoo of Stillwaters (Lady Angler of Year).
The top five anglers for Breakwaters and Stillwaters for the Grand Challenge were Sikhander Amod (13 pts); Shakeel Sheik (6 pts); Shane Mangaroo (6 pts); Vicky Dass (6 pts) and Martinus Truter (5 pts).
The Executive of the APL expresses their sincere appreciation and gratitude to their officials; members, the major sponsors, VME and Transnat, families, supporters, the media, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife and all who contributed towards the success of the APL. The new season will commence on August 1. Those wishing to join the APL can collect membership forms at Mohamed Midas Spares.