Zone6, SA champions, report from Brenden

Post date: 17-Sep-2014 12:19:35

Hi Guys, as promised a report back.

Four of us left cape town on Friday morning at 3h30 and arrived at Nick Dubber's parents place on the Vaal River to a wonderful braai and a few cold ones after a long day on the road.

Saterday morning we were on the road again to complete the journey to a little town called Carolina where we were joined by the rest of the team and our manager Martin Ferreira. After watching the rugby and having a little span bou we settled down and after a lekker Sirloin steak braai, compliments of Karan Beef and a whole lot of straf doppe we hit the local hangout. What a night that turned out to be with our manager and captain herding us out like school boys at some ridiculous hour, but all in good humour (what happens on tour stays on tour

) Sunday morning and most of us holding our heads we moved on to Maguga dam in Swaziland. Maguga dam is a beautiful venue with crystal clear water and in some places one can see down as deep as 15 to 20ft. The lodge is awesome and the accommodation is top class. That afternoon we were all gathered and the opening ceremony took place with a few delegates and ministers attending.

The rules of the tournament were made clear and we were all briefed accordingly.

Let me explain the scoring system, the team with the lowest points at the end of the tournament is declared the winner, so the boat that wins the day only gets one point and second boat two points etc. its a reverse Grand prix system which forces teamwork and does not favour individualism.

Zone 6 comprises of the following countries.

Swaziland (host nation), South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Zambia and Namibia.

Monday was first practice day and hell there were lots of bites but mostly small fish and trying not to pin too many we thought the fishing would be better than expected and one of our boats found some very big fish cruising the shallows.

Tuesday the same thing and the big fish were still around the same area.

After our team meeting and strategizing we had a game plan and we had all our boats on the right spots on day one Wednesday. One of our boats landed a 4.35kg fish in the first half hour and another 4.49 a little later in the day and one of our other boats also getting a 4.3kg fish.

The fishing was extremely tough for the rest of the tournament and keeper fish were very hard to come by and we would catch 20 to 30 fish per day with maybe only a few making the 30cm mark. To give you all an idea how tough it was I think and stand under correction, but there were only 4 or 5 limits of five fish caught between 36 boats for the entire three days. The Dam really needs some help and it became very obvious that at least 3 spawns had failed and the numbers of Keepers were very low.

At weigh in on the first day we had all six boats with at least one keeper in the boat or more ranging from 300g to 4.49kg. We had one limit, 2 boats with three, two with 2 and one boat with one fish. Our manager then informed us that all the other teams had at least one boat blank. At dinner the scores were announced and to our surprise we were 60 points in the lead.

Day two was a horrible day with four of our six boats blanking and team Swaziland gaining on us leaving us with a 2 point lead and Zimbabwe right behind them. (shjoe the pressure was on).

Day three we had two boats with fish until 3pm and it became a pressure test as Zimbabwe was running fish in and we were battling big time, But the object is to not have a boat blank and with fantastic teamwork one of our boats found some keepers in the back of a bay and called in the rest and in the last ten minutes our guys managed to get five of the six boats to catch one keeper and at the weigh in as the boats rolled by we realised that Swaziland had three blanks and Zimbabwe two. We had one boat with 3, one with 2 and three boats with 1 fish. We then knew we had a good chance of taking it. this was confirmed at the prize giving where we were announced as the Zone 6 champions with a lead of 41 points ahead of Zimbabwe 2nd, Swaziland 3rd, Zambia 4th, Mozambique 5th and Namibia 6th.

Without good teamwork and determination this would not have happened and I can really say that I am very proud to be a protea angler and be part of a group of anglers that represented SA this past week. Everyone in that team is a stand up chap and what was most important for me was the fact that although we knew of each other through Nationals some of us met as complete strangers but parted on Saturday morning as very good friends. To come home winners after such tough fishing conditions made the win so much more pleasurable, You all deserve a pat on the back guys. Our manager was on top of it all and our captain did an outstanding job. Here are the 2014 Zone 6 champions.

Martin Ferreira (Team Manager)

Mike de Wet (Captain)

Japie Botha

Kobus Retief

Colin Till

Ruan Wahl

Justin Karan

Brendon Van Zuydam

Marc Bywater (bassrat)

Shane Estran

Wayne Louw

Nick Dubber

Brenden Gravenor

Thanks for an awesome experience and helping me make my angling dream come true. To represent SA was an Honour and a wonderful experience even with the tough fishing.

To all you okes that routed for us and supported us I say thanks a stack.

Zone 6 Win

Zone 6 Team