So the Artlure nationals have come and gone so quick and what a time we all had.
Up until the middle of last month I was giving this years nationals a skip with the new business and all the other things going on in my life well I just did not have thetime and I had actually accepted work over that period too. But this work fell through just 2 weeks before nationals to say that the freelance work I had done had fallen through. I gave my Artlure club a call - Natal Artlure angling Club a bell and asked them if they needed any assistance for nationals and they mentioned that they were short skippers for the juniors and this would qualify me to fish trials.
I Skippered two new juniors to the sport Ross and Luke (AKA LanglynLuke as he was very inept at casting spinners into just about every tree in sight.......) I must say that I have never skipped new juniors and it was a privledge especially putting young Ross into the second barbel of his life not to mention all the other species that were firsts for them - they did very well and I was very proud of them for attaining a Bronze in the team events and doing well in the junior trials guys keep up the work you guys are meant to be up there in the team soon..
As for me I fished with the juniors for 3 days not picking up a rod was somewhat frustrating but such is the way the cookie crumbles.
Day 1 of trials.
I managed 10 species and was amongst the top 7 anglers.
Day 2
The juniors had a big party the night before and managed to kick my battery charger off my batteries so I started the day with flat batteries - to make matters worse my 6 monthold fish finder also gave up the ghost and I had a massive hole in the hull of my boat.
Weather was terrible wind howling and very wet and cold. I managed 8 species I started my day hunting barbel I managed to land one - the hook pulled from the mouth and ended up in the flank and our rules dictate the fish has to be landed with the hook infront of the eyes I dropped another 3 barbel on different trees and this was not to meant to be my day however when I came to weigh in my Glassie had suddenly dissappeared (To this day I have no idea where) so this took me down in points and where I could have finished in the top 12 I was pulled down to 16th place - such is life and rules are rules so what is good for one is good for all.
So now my national ranking has slip from 6th down to 12th but watch this space next year......
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Natal Artlure for allowing me to compete with them - it is a privledge to be part of a team where fishing comes first and Politics are way down at the bottom of the list - this has been a refreshing experince and I look forward to representing NATAL at next years nationals again. Special thanks to all the NAtal boys that attended.
Special note of thanks to the Boland guys (Gertjie & Co) and to the chaps from Limpopo (Atch).
To the organisers - Mpumalanga - you guys had a hard job with some pretty extreme weather condtions - thanks for all the hard work that went into the organisation and running of the event.
Linda from Aloe Matlala park - thanks your resort is reaaly starting to take shape - see you again in December.
Species that were caught total
Makriel
Barbel
Papermouth
Yellows (Undersize)
Carp
Rednose mudfish
Bass
Vlei Kurper
Dwarf Kurper
Redbreasted Kurper
Blue Kurper
Ghielie
Glassie
Dwarf tiger
Thanks again to all parties - till next Year
Sadly the juniors had my hands so full that i neglected to take any pics......
Up until the middle of last month I was giving this years nationals a skip with the new business and all the other things going on in my life well I just did not have thetime and I had actually accepted work over that period too. But this work fell through just 2 weeks before nationals to say that the freelance work I had done had fallen through. I gave my Artlure club a call - Natal Artlure angling Club a bell and asked them if they needed any assistance for nationals and they mentioned that they were short skippers for the juniors and this would qualify me to fish trials.
I Skippered two new juniors to the sport Ross and Luke (AKA LanglynLuke as he was very inept at casting spinners into just about every tree in sight.......) I must say that I have never skipped new juniors and it was a privledge especially putting young Ross into the second barbel of his life not to mention all the other species that were firsts for them - they did very well and I was very proud of them for attaining a Bronze in the team events and doing well in the junior trials guys keep up the work you guys are meant to be up there in the team soon..
As for me I fished with the juniors for 3 days not picking up a rod was somewhat frustrating but such is the way the cookie crumbles.
Day 1 of trials.
I managed 10 species and was amongst the top 7 anglers.
Day 2
The juniors had a big party the night before and managed to kick my battery charger off my batteries so I started the day with flat batteries - to make matters worse my 6 monthold fish finder also gave up the ghost and I had a massive hole in the hull of my boat.
Weather was terrible wind howling and very wet and cold. I managed 8 species I started my day hunting barbel I managed to land one - the hook pulled from the mouth and ended up in the flank and our rules dictate the fish has to be landed with the hook infront of the eyes I dropped another 3 barbel on different trees and this was not to meant to be my day however when I came to weigh in my Glassie had suddenly dissappeared (To this day I have no idea where) so this took me down in points and where I could have finished in the top 12 I was pulled down to 16th place - such is life and rules are rules so what is good for one is good for all.
So now my national ranking has slip from 6th down to 12th but watch this space next year......
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Natal Artlure for allowing me to compete with them - it is a privledge to be part of a team where fishing comes first and Politics are way down at the bottom of the list - this has been a refreshing experince and I look forward to representing NATAL at next years nationals again. Special thanks to all the NAtal boys that attended.
Special note of thanks to the Boland guys (Gertjie & Co) and to the chaps from Limpopo (Atch).
To the organisers - Mpumalanga - you guys had a hard job with some pretty extreme weather condtions - thanks for all the hard work that went into the organisation and running of the event.
Linda from Aloe Matlala park - thanks your resort is reaaly starting to take shape - see you again in December.
Species that were caught total
Makriel
Barbel
Papermouth
Yellows (Undersize)
Carp
Rednose mudfish
Bass
Vlei Kurper
Dwarf Kurper
Redbreasted Kurper
Blue Kurper
Ghielie
Glassie
Dwarf tiger
Thanks again to all parties - till next Year
Sadly the juniors had my hands so full that i neglected to take any pics......
