Kurt is king at Albert Falls Classic

The recent Albert Falls Bass Classic, which attracted 350 anglers, proved to be a fantastic for Kurt Hoffman and his father Thys.

Conditions were good on the first of the two days, with plenty good-sized bass being landed and bag weights looking good.

The father-son duo, of the South Coast Bass Association, entered with high hopes of winning first prize – a 4,6m Crackleback bass boat with 80hp Mercury motor, fully equipped with fish-finder, sneaker motor, rod, reel and more, to the value of about R350 000.

In preparation, Kurt spent hours researching the conditions of the dam.

Despite this, the Friday (day one) was disappointing for them – they only caught one fish which died before being weighed.

Thick mist on the Saturday morning delayed the launch by about three hours.

They eventually got out onto the water, but still could not pick up the pattern of the fish biting and by midday were ready to pack up and go home.

However, Kurt said they should make a few last casts in some shallow water.

The engine got caught up in a carp fisherman’s line and while Thys was trying to untangle the mess he looked round and thought Kurt had got hooked up by a log.

Lo and behold, he had hooked a monster fish and was fighting it for dear life.

Thys’s first attempt to scoop the fish into the net failed and, after some serious words had flown around, Kurt brought the fish up and landed it.

The fish weighed in at 4,48kg. They were told that other big fish had been weighed in but they should attend the prize-giving in the evening as they could be in line for a prize.

Thys and Kurt had to wait in suspense until the very end of the prize-giving when the biggest fish was announced.

Second place went to an angler with a fish of 4,3kg leaving a delighted Kurt being crowned winner of the fantastic boat prize.

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