DEZLYN Smithwick, captain of the South African U21 fishing team, has just returned from fishing an international rock and surf competition against Namibia near Jeffreys Bay.
Dezlyn, who works at the Tackle Box in Shelly Beach, was one of 90 anglers taking part in the competition.
The first day was fished at a spot called ‘Kabbeljous’ where Dezlyn cleaned up, catching three raggies, weighing 71kg, 103kg and 187kg.
He then went on to catch a blue ray of 12kg and then ended the day with an awesome fish, a bronze whaler of 156.7kg.
Dezlyn also hooked a great white, but as it is a protected species the rules state that the fish must be parted off as soon as it is recognised as a great white.
With the second day being fished at St Francis, very few fish were caught. The last day’s fishing was held at ‘Van der Riets’ where Dezlyn caught a further three blue rays and a sandshark.
The juniors convincingly won their division and ended up fourth overall. Dezlyn was not only top junior angler but top overall angler.
This is a great achievement taking into consideration the quality and experience of some of the more senior anglers.
Next week the focus will be on the four day ski-boat competition held by ourselves (Tackle Box) and hosted at the Shelly Beach Ski-boat Club. It starts on December 18.
The main prize is R30 000 cash for the biggest tuna with other great prizes to be won. A nice boost for Christmas!
So, even if you are not fishing, come down to the ski-boat club and watch the fish being weighed in every afternoon from around 2pm to 6pm.
The prize-giving will be held on the Saturday evening at 7pm and live entertainment will be provided.
Fishing over the last week has been patchy due to the inclement weather, however on the days when the boats have been able to launch some good catches of tuna have been made.
Jaques Lourens fishing on Happy Hooker, skippered by Craig Treherne, had an awesome fish of 26kg. One week too early for the comp as this fish would definitely have been in the running.
Some dorado are still around, but reports from Cape Vidal and Sodwana are that they are wild there at the moment so it should not be long before these fish move down with the current into our waters.
Reports from Port Edward are that yellowtail are still being caught on the Wreck when conditions allow, so hopefully with the good weather predicted from Friday some great fishing can be had.
Rock and surf anglers are ‘puzzling’ for fish at the moment, but reports of some great kob fishing with paddletails at the mouth of the Mtamvuna (The Pont at Port Edward) have been received.
These fish will move in and out of the estuaries so don’t be surprised to catch decent sized kob in the river.
Shad bave been reported early in the mornings at most of the popular spots with Hibberdene proving to be a hot spot.
Check out the insert Totally Hooked for advice and ‘hot spots’ to fish and baits to use. Hopefully this will help you land that fish to make your holiday.
