This article was published in the KZNCAU yearbook.
The Passion behind Competitive Angling
[align=center]By Ronny Naicker[/align]
Growing up amongst a family of fishing folk was a common occurrence for many of the "litees" of my age group and especially if you lived in the Indian community. Most of our dads or granddads used to fish over the weekends to supplement our diets with fish. I can remember going to school every morning and longing for Friday to arrive. The daily morning routine before school for my brother and myself was to bait hooks with crabs and attach the lines to steel bars under the bridge close to where we lived. The target species used to be fresh water barbel and we usually got 2 or 3 daily on our way back from school. We often got into trouble for going to school all muddy. I remember getting a severe thrashing from my "Old Man" one evening because my school bag and books had water damage. The culprit was my brother, he threw my bag into the river because I was responsible for us being late for school; to this day, my dad never knew how my bag got into the river. These barbel were sold to the workers at the nearby hostel that housed the cane cutters. We kept a few for bait and the proceeds from our sales went towards buying tackle and bait, the bait used to be "Pequena". Friday afternoons saw us busy making traces and getting all our tackle ready for the next day’s fishing. We had to be constantly reminded to go to bed by mum and only followed instructions when she threatened to get dad to leave us behind.
Morning would arrive and dad would shake us awake and it didn’t take much convincing to get ready. We quickly packed the car and started the drive to the fishing grounds. On arrival, my dad used to target Shad, Garrick, and Stumpies etc. while we would focus on the "karros" and blacktails. There was always competition between my brother and myself to see who could catch more fish. Even though he was younger than me, he was more than capable of holding his own when it came to fishing. This competition continued through the "litee" years as we graduated from catching baitfish to targeted larger edibles. It was during this time that I started reading about different species and how to target them. The more information that I gathered about a species, the better I became at targeting that specific fish. Every older angler that I came to know was a treasure–chest of information. At some point during this period my brother and I began to out fish the "Old Man". I would put that down to our higher energy levels as we had youth on our side. My brother, like my dad, was quite content just catching the edible’s that were in season while I started looking for new challenges.
I started fishing with lighter tackle and was amazed at how much more success I was enjoying. The challenge was now from the different fish species and not my brother. I continued fishing this way while completing 3 years of studying and later started working. Whilst working in Zululand, I befriended a club angler and we had many discussions on the subject of angling. After many years of social angling, mainly targeting edible fish, I found myself becoming quite bored with angling. I had become quite adept at targeting specific edibles. My new friend spoke of huge inedible fish that would test both angler and tackle. This was the catalyst that I needed and took him up on an offer to fish competitively for a club. Joining a club opened up a whole new world to me, one with a lot of challenges. I joined in 2000 and soon found myself quite humbled by how little I knew and at how much more I could learn. Every outing with the club was a learning experience. Targeting sharks was new to me and I battled to change my ways initially, however it soon became apparent that they were easier to target due to their abundance. Different places and venues brought new challenges. "Pension Pipe" fishing was soon replaced and I had to negotiate the challenge of fishing both from the beach and the rocks. Some terrain required physical fitness and mental toughness. Conservation was high priority and diversity of species to target was what I experienced. Like I had done previously, I started gathering information from different books and by speaking to other anglers. I was now fishing on a different level and amongst people who enjoyed the same intensity of competition as me. Being a software programmer enabled me to compile all the data into a database program, which helped identify feeding and behaviour patterns for the different shark species. Competitive angling teaches one to pay more attention to detail when it comes to bait presentation and delivery. Your casting and placement is imperative. Within the space of a few years I have learnt a lot about angling but the journey has only just begun. I hope to achieve a lot more in my chosen sport and to contribute in some way to its longevity. I regularly meet people who ask a lot of questions regarding competitive angling, and what I have gathered is that a lot of them started of just like me. I hope that when people read this article, they can relate and approach clubs with the purpose of joining. If this appeals to your lifestyle, go join a club in your area and take your "litees" along. There’s a whole new world of angling waiting for you.
The Passion behind Competitive Angling
[align=center]By Ronny Naicker[/align]
Growing up amongst a family of fishing folk was a common occurrence for many of the "litees" of my age group and especially if you lived in the Indian community. Most of our dads or granddads used to fish over the weekends to supplement our diets with fish. I can remember going to school every morning and longing for Friday to arrive. The daily morning routine before school for my brother and myself was to bait hooks with crabs and attach the lines to steel bars under the bridge close to where we lived. The target species used to be fresh water barbel and we usually got 2 or 3 daily on our way back from school. We often got into trouble for going to school all muddy. I remember getting a severe thrashing from my "Old Man" one evening because my school bag and books had water damage. The culprit was my brother, he threw my bag into the river because I was responsible for us being late for school; to this day, my dad never knew how my bag got into the river. These barbel were sold to the workers at the nearby hostel that housed the cane cutters. We kept a few for bait and the proceeds from our sales went towards buying tackle and bait, the bait used to be "Pequena". Friday afternoons saw us busy making traces and getting all our tackle ready for the next day’s fishing. We had to be constantly reminded to go to bed by mum and only followed instructions when she threatened to get dad to leave us behind.
Morning would arrive and dad would shake us awake and it didn’t take much convincing to get ready. We quickly packed the car and started the drive to the fishing grounds. On arrival, my dad used to target Shad, Garrick, and Stumpies etc. while we would focus on the "karros" and blacktails. There was always competition between my brother and myself to see who could catch more fish. Even though he was younger than me, he was more than capable of holding his own when it came to fishing. This competition continued through the "litee" years as we graduated from catching baitfish to targeted larger edibles. It was during this time that I started reading about different species and how to target them. The more information that I gathered about a species, the better I became at targeting that specific fish. Every older angler that I came to know was a treasure–chest of information. At some point during this period my brother and I began to out fish the "Old Man". I would put that down to our higher energy levels as we had youth on our side. My brother, like my dad, was quite content just catching the edible’s that were in season while I started looking for new challenges.
I started fishing with lighter tackle and was amazed at how much more success I was enjoying. The challenge was now from the different fish species and not my brother. I continued fishing this way while completing 3 years of studying and later started working. Whilst working in Zululand, I befriended a club angler and we had many discussions on the subject of angling. After many years of social angling, mainly targeting edible fish, I found myself becoming quite bored with angling. I had become quite adept at targeting specific edibles. My new friend spoke of huge inedible fish that would test both angler and tackle. This was the catalyst that I needed and took him up on an offer to fish competitively for a club. Joining a club opened up a whole new world to me, one with a lot of challenges. I joined in 2000 and soon found myself quite humbled by how little I knew and at how much more I could learn. Every outing with the club was a learning experience. Targeting sharks was new to me and I battled to change my ways initially, however it soon became apparent that they were easier to target due to their abundance. Different places and venues brought new challenges. "Pension Pipe" fishing was soon replaced and I had to negotiate the challenge of fishing both from the beach and the rocks. Some terrain required physical fitness and mental toughness. Conservation was high priority and diversity of species to target was what I experienced. Like I had done previously, I started gathering information from different books and by speaking to other anglers. I was now fishing on a different level and amongst people who enjoyed the same intensity of competition as me. Being a software programmer enabled me to compile all the data into a database program, which helped identify feeding and behaviour patterns for the different shark species. Competitive angling teaches one to pay more attention to detail when it comes to bait presentation and delivery. Your casting and placement is imperative. Within the space of a few years I have learnt a lot about angling but the journey has only just begun. I hope to achieve a lot more in my chosen sport and to contribute in some way to its longevity. I regularly meet people who ask a lot of questions regarding competitive angling, and what I have gathered is that a lot of them started of just like me. I hope that when people read this article, they can relate and approach clubs with the purpose of joining. If this appeals to your lifestyle, go join a club in your area and take your "litees" along. There’s a whole new world of angling waiting for you.
