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It was a bitterly cold and early start to the inaugural KZN Fishing Winter Showdown held at Warner Beach on the KZN South Coast. As this was a pre-registered event, only the completion of indemnity forms and handing out of score cards delayed the excitement. We had many first time entrants, which was great to see and they were accordingly given a warm welcome into the KZN Fishing Family. Guys were quickly down to the water and Jace was beckoned by an entrant was to measure the first fish, however when looking at the time it was a case of premature entry into the competition as it was 6.59 am and it was one minute before lines in. This was to be a prelude of what was to follow. Lines were called in at 7am and most of the anglers were now in the shad mood.
Anglers that were targeting the big fish soon had their live baits in the water. However most of the action was on the rocks with shad frenzy at full go. Soon guys were catching 4 shad at a time and bringing them in to be measured. As this was becoming difficult to control a decision was made that only one fish would be measured at a time. Soon there were guys queuing up to get their fish measured. This queue’s resembled the ones at the FIFA ticketing centers. As the day progressed we had a very large audience that had gathered. We often think angling cannot be a spectator sport but both the facts that there was a continuous stream of fish being caught and that every fish was being released the number of spectators grew, and so did their interest and curiosity. A large percentage of the spectators were World Cup Tourists and they soon started to engage in conversations on the history of our organization and about what our aims were. In-between measuring fish and trying not to ignore the interest of our visitor’s time went by very quickly. For some of the anglers this frenzy was proving to be costly. As fast as the fish were coming out there was a steady flow of anglers going to their tackle box for more traces, as the spot was becoming a grave-yard of note. Comments like “that shad cost me R70.00” continued, for most of the day. Anglers were losing traces and spoons at every turn. However there is nothing that could stop the shad frenzy. There were few of the anglers that were also bitten by shad. Even bleeding fingers did not halt the fun. Of they went with new spoons and new traces. Every kind of shad trace was used to increase the odds. For the first time in the History of KZN Fishing Competitions or Socials many of the Anglers had filled in the first line of their Score Card. A large percentage of them were on the second line. This was a very good start for our Inaugural Winter Showdown. You might notice that this report does not mention any names. That is because it was difficult to keep track on who was doing what. Who caught the first fish? Who caught the largest shad? All we can report that every angler that targeted shad caught more that he hoped for. The other Anglers who were targeting larger fish were not rewarded with any hook ups. Nearly 200 shad were caught and released. The largest shad was 34cm. The average size was 29cm. Lines in was called at 1.00pm, to the great relief of the measurement officials. The scores were tallied according to SASAA weight point conversion system. Before the presentation was done, the Trinidad Raffle Sheet was documented then cut into strips, and placed into the raffle bag. The presentation commenced with a vote of thanks from Ronald. A special thanks to our generous Corporate Sponsor as well as Cheapest Fishing Tackle and High Tide Fishing Tackle. Also thanks was afforded to all the members that took part. We are also grateful to the contribution of our management team. 
A young lad (Abubaker from Phoenix) who had his right hand in a cast was asked to do the draw for the Trinidad 30 Raffle. The Winner of the Raffle was announced and it was Luke. Well done to Luke, may you land many a Monster on this prize, courtesy of KZN Fishing. 
Abubaker doing the Trinidad 30 Draw - Winner Luke The Winners of the Winter Showdown 2010 were announced and they were as follows: 1St Devon 15 points 2nd Shaan 12 points 3rd Nischal 11 points 
1st - Devon, 2nd - Shaan, 3rd - Nischal
With the great number of shad caught and with too many fish with the same measurement it was decided by everyone present that a normal draw for the Torium 20 was held, with all entrants having an equal chance. Emmanuel, our tiniest KZN Fishing member was asked to do the draw and amazingly, Little Emmanuel drew the card that belonged to his father (David). So the winner of the Torium 20 was David.
Winner of the Torium 20 - David Well done to all the winners and if you missed it, you missed out on another great KZN Fishing Event. |
