River Comp – October 2011

• Firstly, special thanks to our sponsors for this competition:
  • Pick ‘n Pay
  • Palms Video
  • D&A Timbers
  • Mr Water Yamaha
  • Kingsley Tyres
  • Aerosat
  • Nicola Smith

  Leo Du Preez

• John Gie

Please make an effort to support our sponsors. Our sponsors support us and therefore deserve our support in return.

Thanks must also be given to the following people and organizations who help make these competitions possible.

• Mark and Marizka Burgess
• Patrick and Leo Du Preez
• Nicola Smith
• Graeme Kelbrick and the Port Alfred River and Ski-Boat Club

GREAT WEATHER POOR FISHING

WOW, what a contrast between this competition and the last couple of outings. For the last couple of fishing competitions this year, the weather has been lousy and the fishing has been good. It seems Mr “Murphy” has joined us and has gotten involved with this event now. The reason, “Murphy’s Law”, is that weather was incredible and the fishing was poor. It was the complete opposite of the last couple of months. I supposed we can’t have it all. It seems to be either good fishing or good weather. Well I’m just going to be greedy and hope for both on the 5^th November 2011, as that is when our next event is going to take place.

There was not a great improvement in the amount of angers who took part over the weekend, but there was a nice showing of juniors and ladies. 17 Anglers took part, including 5 Juniors and 2 Ladies. It was also great to see some of the old faces back and also some new ones, for example: Garry Willows, Carol Mitchley, Graham and Steven Clarke, just to name a few. It was great having them and all the others participate. With summer here, I know that we will have a bumper event next month. I also have to mention that the Juniors gave the rest of us a bit of a hiding. Cullen Willows who is a junior angler, caught the biggest fish of the competition and also the biggest bag of the competition. Well Done Cullen. When I say that Cullen beat everyone, that included his dad who fished with him. To give Garry credit, he was just glad that his son had done well and had had some fun.

As mentioned it was a fantastic evening with most anglers wearing shorts and T-Shirts into the late hours of the night. This made the outing on the river a lot more pleasant and more accommodating for some of the juniors and ladies. As usual there were a lot of undersized fish caught and released during the night. Unfortunately, there were a lot less than normal, which lead to some boring stretches through the night. One the positive side, a couple of anglers reported catching and releasing undersized Kob, which have not been around in a while.

The most interesting catch of the night, was made by Deon Schmidt, who caught a Ragged Tooth Shark up the river. Deon was after that all elusive Kowie Kob, and put out a nice fillet bait. I can only imagine that when the Raggie took off, he thought that he was in with a massive of a Kob. Unfortunately, “Murphy” got involved again and changed that Kob in to a Shark, somewhere between the bottom of the river and the boat. The water temperature was also much higher than in previous events, which is a good sign. The river temperature stayed around 19 Degrees Celsius for most of the night.

The other interesting thing that happened during the night was that at about 4am in the morning, 4 boats all reached the small boat harbor at the same time. We had all given up by then, as the tide had just turned and most of us had not gotten a bite in hours. It was actually quite fun as we all arrived at the same time and then started talking about what had happened that night. The guys who monitor the security cameras for the small boat harbor must have thought that we were all nuts, as they would have seen us walking around on the jetties inspecting each other’s fish. It must have been a strange sight to see at 4am. After I chickened out and went home at about 4:30am, Leo DuPreez, my fishing companion decided to stay and fish off the back of the boat in the harbor. This paid off as he caught his biggest fish for the night there.

Most of us were not in the best of moods during the prize giving, as we had all watched the SA game before weigh-in. Some anglers phoned me later to apologize for not being at the weigh-in and prize giving. They said that they had watched the game and did not want to be around people after seeing the game. I knew what they meant. In the end, the prize giving was still fun due to Graeme Kelbrick who organized us a fantastic breakfast. The juniors also had a great time, with every junior that weighed a fish getting a prize. Also every single attending angler won something at the lucky draw. Even if the SA Rugby Team could not win, the Port Alfred River anglers all did.

Well Done to all the guys and gals who keep coming back to show their support by participating in this wonderful monthly event.

Statistics from the competition:

• 17 anglers participated, including 5 Juniors and 2 Ladies
• A total of 12 Qualifying fish were caught with a total weight of 13.321 Kgs
• The weather was spectacular
• Water Temperature was mostly around the 19 Degrees Celsius Mark

This Competitions Results

No.

	First Name	Surname	Fish	Weight Kgs	Total Weight	Prize
1	Cullen	Willows	Spotty	1.628		Spotty Heavest 1st (junior)
2	Cullen	Willows	Spotty	1.305
					2.933	Heaviest Bag 1st (junior)
3	Mark	Burgess	Spotty	0.989
4	Mark	Burgess	Spotty	1.135
					2.124	Heaviest Bag 1st
5	Leo	DuPreez	Spotty	1.169		Spotty Heavest 3rd
6	Leo	DuPreez	Spotty	0.711
					1.880
7	Hannes	Roodt	Spotty	1.519		Spotty Heavest 1st
					1.519
8	Deon	Schmidt	Spotty	1.358		Spotty Heavest 2nd
					1.358
9	Joshua	Burgess	Spotty	1.198		Spotty Heavest 2nd (junior)
					1.198
10	Garry	Willows	Spotty	0.895
					0.895
11	Bruce	Gie	Spotty	0.741
					0.741
12	Richard	Dorrington	Spotty	0.673		Spotty Heavest 3rd (junior)
					0.673

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Standings for the Year

 

No.	NAME	Surname	Total Kgs	Total No.
MEN’S
1	Deon	Schmidt	29.409	20
2	Bruce	Gie	24.366	22
3	Mark	Burgess	17.235	16
4	Garry	Willows	9.427	6
5	Patrick	Du Preez	9.019	6
6	Hannes	Roodt	7.006	3
7	Deon	Marias	6.997	4
8	Peter	Mitchley	6.979	8
9	Shaun	Tessendorf	6.286	5
10	Peter	McLean	2.894	1
11	Leo	Du Preez	2.587	3
12	Kevin	Marbee	1.590	1
13	Edwin	Taylor	1.081	1
14	Clint	Roestoff	0.980	1
LADIES
1	Brenda	Lear	0.850	1
JUNIORS
1	Cullen	Willows	2.933	2
2	Joden	Roestoff	2.290	2
3	Melisa	DuRandt	1.543	2
4	Joshua	Burgess	1.198	1
5	Richard	Dorrington	0.673	1
TOTALS			135.343	106

Please remember that this monthly get-together is about having FUN and is NOT about serious competition. We get together so that we can all enjoy a lovely afternoon and night on the river. It is the perfect opportunity to introduce people to angling and for family outings on the river. We are always keen to have new people join us, so remember to pass on the word to anyone who may be interested. You know our motto, “The More The Merrier.” If everyone that participated can introduce one more angler to our next monthly outing, that would be great.

Important Notes:

The NEXT COMPETITION is on the 5^th November 2011

Regarding Club Membership, nearly all the anglers taking part are members of the Port Alfred River and Ski Boat Club, or are family of club members. The Port Alfred River and Ski Boat Club is a fantastic club and well worth joining, so for those of you who are not members, please consider joining as this entitles you to the use of all the clubs facilities. If you would like some more information please feel free to visit or contact Graeme Kelbrick at the Port Alfred River and Ski-Boat Club. The number is 046 624 4532 or e-mail to parsc@telkomsa.net .

Also, a reminder that those anglers who would like to bring live fish to the scale may do so. We have anglers that bring live fish to the scale and release them after the weigh-in. So if you do not want to keep your fish to eat, you may bring them live to the scale and then release them. This event is more about the outing and fun, than about prizes and anything else, so some anglers even release fish of size, if they do not want to bring them to the scale.

Yours in Fishing

Bruce Gie