By KAREN KEMP
Twenty three anglers brave and optimistic anglers awoke to tackle what was going to be a very blustery day on the beach at Fish River Sun Resort at the end of last month
We arrived on the beach at roughly 5.30am in the morning and began walking to scout out the area that we were fishing. At 6.20am we started the preparations as we waited for lines-in at 7am. As the clock hit lines-in time, as far as the eye could see anglers lines started going into the water looking for the prize fish that were on offer that day.
Anthony Bowdler in his first ever Rock and Surf Super Pro League (RASSPL) Competition drew first blood in our group, landing a blacktail of 31cm, Warren Bowdler coming soon after with a shy shark. There was a lot of movement on the point to our right where Edward Butler and co had stopped, anglers running back and forth with buckets. But due to limited signal and bad eye sight, we could not see what was being caught. It was later established that Edward had landed a very Nice Bronze Bream and co David Taylor a nice Stone Bream.
The wind started to pick up as predicted and conditions became considerably more difficult with surging seas and strong gusts and the dropping tide forcing anglers to venture onto the rocks and out of shelter.
Anthony Bowdler struck again, landing an Eagle ray of 55cm, 2.9kg, the only ray landed for the day.
As the day drew to a close, anglers moved off to the 19th hole at Fish River Resort for a well-deserved Burger and Chips supplied by the Fish River Resort and began to swap stories.
Deon Marais had landed an elusive Banded Galjoen, Melissa Du Randt had caught a Striped Mullet and John Tarr had landed a Nice Dusky Cob on 79cm – 5.1kg.
There were also some of the weigh cards of Andrew Coetzee and Lenny Clark which definitely looked like they had succumbed to the conditions of the day after almost being washed away.
Fish River Resort provided the lucky draw prize of a two-night midweek getaway won by Warren Bowdler.
A total of 107 fish were caught with 18 different species being recorded and all safely released to swim another day, by 23 anglers on the beach.
Silver barbel 5 Banded Galjoen 1 Smooth Gully 29
Black Barbel 4 Dusky Cob 8 Shy Shark 31
Blacktail 10 Striped Mullet 1 White Steenbras 3
Bronze Bream 3 White Musselcracker 1 Zebra 1
Stone Bream 1 Eagle Ray 1
Striped Catshark 1 Lesser Sand Shark 5
Spotted CatShark 1 Smooth Hound 1
Results for the day.
1st Heaviest Edible – John Tarr – Dusky Cob – 79cm: 5.1Kg
2nd Heaviest Edible – Dave Kemp – White Musselcracker – 55cm: 3.7kg
3rd Heaviest Edible – Edward Butler – Bronze Bream – 47cm: 3Kg
4th Heaviest Edible – David Taylor – Stone Bream – 39.2cm: 1.3kg
5th Heaviest Edible – Melissa Du Randt – Blacktail – 34cm: 1.1kg
6th Heaviest Edible – Len Clark – White Steenbras – 39.5cm: 1kg
Heaviest Shark – Deon Marais – Smooth Hound – 109cm: 4.9kg
Heaviest Ray – Anthony Bowdler – Eagle ray – 55cm: 2.9kg
Top Master: Deon Marais
Top Lady: Melissa Du Randt
1 st Angler Most Points – Deon Marais: 572.94
2 nd Angler Most Points – John Tarr: 292.85
3 rd Angler Most Points – Melissa Du Randt: 274.85
Mombakkie Prize winner: Jakoletter Thiart.
Next Competition is Riet River on 14th September 2019.
