Hi guys, apologies for the late report back.
Well Friday greeted us with a bit of overcast weather, thought it would drizzle but nah .....
We got to the Lake at around 5pm to pump boats up and get ready with the forms etc. Adriaan and I had never organised a comp before, so this was a new experience. Luckily the KBBC Organisers, Hugo and Shawn, allowed the original organisers to use their rules as a base, and gave us some advice as to what info one should have on the score card. And by attending the KBBC comps, it gave me an idea as to what to say - so thanks guys!
By 6h30pm we had about 9 names on our list, the braai was going, and we were "networking" with all the guys. We were a bit worried as we had no idea what sort of crowd to expect - well by 7h30pm there were 18 names on the list, so we were mega chuffed. By 8h10pm the list was on 26 names - wow we never expected that number of people to attend, now we were SUPER chuffed!
Read out the rules and gave the guys (and gals!) an idea where the shallow and deep spots were, what to watch out for, you know the "lay of the land" etc.
8h47pm and everyone dispersed to do their last minute tweaks, and at 9pm the second GLOBC kicked off!
Dave was on his float tube for the night, I had the inflatable to myself. I decided to hit Nuclear Island first, then while we were still there, Adriaan weighed in 8 fish by 22h30pm. I was still on a big fat 0! Apparently all caught on the same Strike Pro jerkbait - a yellow belly, orange back with black spine.
I moved to the roadside where I caught my first one after a few missed hits, on froggie. Not topwater, rather retrieving it like a fluke. It was a funny bite, it took my line and swam about 5m to the right before I realised I had a bite, only when I struck did I feel the weight. A small 850g, but boy was it nice and fat!
Robin said the fish were biting very subtle, obviously just moving the bait away from the nests rather than nailing them, hence many missed bites.
We circumnavigated half the dam, and measured a few fooshies along the way. Got to the boating club and met up with Rebel532 (Donovan) and his girlfriend Cherie. They had some success in the "dark" section, with Don catching a 1.8kg (I stand corrected), and Cherie nailing a 1.4kg and 1.6kg, one on spinnerbait, the other on a black senko. Eish, she was kicking my bass, again!
Moved to the "Tree Restaurant" (old restaurant along the public bank where the tree lays in water), and got nailed on my second cast by a something on a Storm medium diving pearl white crankbait. It felt good! It came closer, then peeled off a metre or two of line, then came forth again, peeled off more line, then the barbel surfaced - damn!
Oh well it gave a nice fight, and weighed in at a respectable 4.3kg.
Dave's score was now 2 fooshies, him and I weren't doing too well ....
The wind started to pick up as expected at about 2am, we were at the golf course end, so we moved back to the road and Nuclear Island for the last hour of the comp. Got nothing so we headed back.
Most of the guys had already gotten off by the time I hit dry land at 5h50am, anf off I went to start adding up the score cards.
Gulp! "Holy Cow!" was my reaction to the first few score cards. I knew by then I was wayyyyyy out of the reckoning!
So to curb your enthusiasm, here were the results of the second GLOBC Night Bass Fishing Competition:
Raffles:
2 x Spice hamper Raffles: David Moore, Hugo van der Walt
Shirt raffle: David Moore
Prizes:
Smallest fish: Hugo van der Walt (won't mention the size,
), a shirt
Biggest fish: Pieter van Niekerk with a 2.65kg beaut! Follow me bag and a shirt
Most fish weighed: Adriaan van Tonder, 12 fish. Shirt
Final standings for heaviest 5 fish:
5th: Cherie de Jager, 3.50kg bag
4th: Adriaan van Tonder, 3,56kg bag
3rd: Erich Louw (the follow-me-bag man), 3,65kg bag
(Ouch, 15grams separated them!)
2nd: Pieter van Niekerk, 6,97kg bag (wow)
1st: Andre Marx, with a WOWIE bag of 8.99kg, which included a 2,52kg and a 2.37kg'er. Most of his fish were caught on watermelon Red flukes - WHAT!?!?
Thank you to:
- Simmer Angling Club for hosting the event and allowing the competitors to fish these awesome waters. Nice trophies were handed to the 3 winners too.
- catchit - wow this guy can't stop supporting the kickboat comps - thanks Robin!
- Africa Spice, for the spice hampers
- Erich Louw, for the follow me bag
- The competitors, you guys make the events fun and competitive! Thanks for attending and blowing our expectations of 15 competitors out the water!
So off we go ready to start packing up, and then .....
Ok it's now 6h45am - rowers have started their training already. Erich's son's girlfriend's carp line seems to have gotten stuck, so out goes Erich with the rod on his inflatable to unhook the line. Gets close and the line starts moving - oops it's FISH ON time!
Problem was: Erich's trolling motor was flat, and the fish is now pulling him closer and closer towards the rowers - eish! :kaykak
So Adriaan and I go out on his fibreglass dinghy and net a very nice 5.50kg carp for him. See pics below.
Unfortunately there were no prizes for that except the lasting memories ......
Photo of Andre Marx, winner of the second GLOBC night fishing comp.
