Junior anglers fish up a storm at interprovincial
The tournament was a great success and provided a platform for junior development ahead of next year’s junior nationals which will be held at Shelly Beach Ski-boat Club in July 2018.
The Shelly Beach Ski-boat Club hosted the inaugural KwaZulu-Natal Deep Sea Angling Association Junior Interprovincial fishing tournament last weekend.
In total, 11 teams of juniors between 11 and 18 years old were entered for the tournament, with teams coming from Mpumalanga, Zululand, Southern Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.
Day one was delayed due to rough surf and fishing was eventually called off by 11am, leaving Saturday and Sunday for the teams to compete.
Saturday saw far better launch conditions and all teams were on the water by 6am.
The day was eventually extended to allow maximum fishing time for the teams and, with lines up called at 3pm, the anglers made their way to the scales with some impressive catches.
Numerous good-sized yellowfin tuna were weighed as well as Cape yellowtail, amberjack, bonito and dorado.
The most notable catches for the day were a 19.6kg yellowfin tuna caught by Luke Nielsen of the KZN ‘Black’ team, a 14.9kg Cape yellowtail caught by his teammate Jan du Plessis and a 9.6kg dorado caught by Luc Doffay from Zululand.
The weather on day three also allowed all teams to launch safely and the day ran to full time despite a persistent strong north-easterly wind which created cold and choppy conditions.
Fewer fish were caught on day three but teams still managed to weigh in some respectable yellowfin.
At the final prize-giving on Sunday night the junior teams were eager to see the final team placings.
Southern Gauteng ‘Yellow’ received the bronze medal for third overall with 94.9 points, KZN ‘White’ received the silver medal for second overall with 194.3 points and KZN ‘Black’ took the gold medal with a massive 507 points.
The ‘Black’ team comprised captain Luke Nielsen, Rorke Anderson and Jan du Plessis. ‘White’ team comprised Hannah Anderson, Ryan Pellew and Dylan Westoby.
The skippers who played a major part in the success of the tournament also competed for medals and it was Zululand skipper Shaun Aspden who took the bronze medal, local skipper Chris Diedericks took the silver medal and Watt4 skipper PJ Botha took the gold medal overall.
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KZN ‘Black’ team captain Luke Nielsen took the top angler accolade for his 231.2 points.
The tournament was a great success and provided a platform for junior development ahead of next year’s junior nationals which will be held at Shelly Beach Ski-boat Club in July 2018.
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