ULTIMATE ANGLING - the Ultimate SA Fishing website
FRESHWATER ANGLING => FW Fishing reports and Competitions => Topic started by: jules33 on May 12, 2015, 07:36:48 AM
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RASSPL NATIONALS 2015
What a year to remember!!! Who would ever have thought WP Bronzies will beat Border Black Tips in their own back yard? This is how our trip went…what a trip it has been!!!
We left on the 28th of April at 16h00 from Cape Town to take on the long road to East London of more or less 13hour drive including stopping here and there for fuel and refreshments. Excitement was in the air from the word go! We drove through the night and took turns to drive. The single cab long wheel base Ford Ranger was packed from top to bottom…we made sure that nothing is left behind….lol
We arrived 05h00 at East London and decided to take an nap at a Engen garage from 05h00 to 07h00…a 2 hour power nap as none of us had the chance to sleep…excitement was to high! 07h00 we were up and Louis got us some nice coffee to wake us up properly…lol. It was the 29th…the day of registration and we still had a lot to do. First we went to go look for strepies/karenteen and with no luck and even a lost throw net we headed off to pick up some bait and bought some terminal tackle....by now we could probably open a tackle shop…lol. We headed back to Palm Springs Resort where we stayed our entire trip. 12h00 we clocked in…90% of our team were there already and excitement ran high! We quickly unpacked and I headed straight for the river to pump some prawns whilst Louis sorted out the nity grity stuff inside the bungalow. I got some prawns for us and quickly took a shower and headed off to registration which was in Kidds Beach about 5min form where we stayed. Everything was so well organised I could really see the growing pains RASSPL went through and where it’s going…wow…what a feeling it was standing in the hall at Kidds beach with my RASSPL shirt and giftpack almost ready to start NATIONALS!!! An EXCO meeting was held for an hour or 2 and all the anglers had to be back at 18h00 for a briefing on rules and regulations. This was done in a very professional manner and finally the start of day 1 was upon us! We went home to get everything sorted for day one and only went to bed at around 11h00.
Day 1: 04h30 we were up and ready for day one. Louis and I decided to fish Mtana River entry for day one and after being lost one a farm for 45min we eventually found the road…sjoe...thanks for the GPS on my phone…lol. We took a long walk to the right and finally started to fish the unknown coast! I must say that I really wish we could have those kind of beaches with so many blind rivers here by us in Cape town! Stunning scenery! The fish were wild and with so many different species! The only thing that was against us was the 70kmph wind we had to endure…but then again everybody in the National fish the same weather. After day one we handed in our cards and pictures! I was amazed at how everything was so properly organised. RASSPL AFRICA had a few laptops there and things were running smoothly! Whilst waiting in the cue we ordered some awesome cheese burgers and chips and so we were sorted for supper…lol…straight after weigh in we pumped some prawns at Hamburg river and also netted some mullet….needless to say we had to clean out all our tackle as that massive wind blew in a lot of sand into out tackle boxes. At 22h30 I was still in my wet fishing clothes from day one….eich!!! We went to bed late and the next morning 04h30 we were up and ready for Day 2!
Day 2: Everybody had to enter at Kiwane…we decided to go left and took a long walk down to where ever we saw a nice spot to fish. That stretch to the left was packed with anglers as if you wanted to fish to the right of Kiwane you had to literary walk 5km before the reefs started. Little did we know that day 2 would be a very tough day as the wind from the previous day caused as very big swell to come in with loads of grass….eich…we got a few species here and there. The people that went to the right made the right choice as most of them got 6species for the day whilst everybody fishing the left side got an average of 3 species. After day 2 we quickly pumped our prawns at Kiwane River and gave in our score cards in the parking lot…by now our bodies were sore from walking so far with the heavy packed H-Frame and with one more day to go we were ready for action on day 3.
Day 3: Final day…the area was quite big and we had no clue where to fish. We decided to fish to the right of Ncera River and walked all the way from where we stayed at Palm Springs to the far right past Cosy corner almost towards Christmas Rock….what a walk! As soon as we got to a spot where we wanted to fish, Louis discovered that he forgot his card at home….oh no!!!! Without your score card you couldn’t do anything at all!!! He had to walk all the way back and I had to fish with some other RASSPL guys, just so that there’s someone to sign my card. I did not fish long with them as the area were dead and slowly move back towards where I might find Louis…right in front where we stayed…lol. He had blisters on his feet and could not make the walk back. Fishing was slow but I got lucky with a nice steenie at the end of day 3 and thanks to Nieyaas Hamza for helping me land the fish safely! After our cards and pictures were given in we could finally relax! The boys looked forward in wearing their RASSPL TOP 12 blazers with an evening we would never forget in a very very long time! Once again we must thank RASSPL for awarding us with blazers….something we are very proud of! Only the TOP 12 for the season of each franchise gets to wear a blazer and by looks of things it’s going to be very tough to fish for the TOP 12 position in various franchises as our member totals should increase as RASSPL grows throughout the year!
National Prize Giving 2015: Excitement was running high as there were loads of prizes to give away. The main prize was the Ford Ranger double cab bakkie which were decided on a species scenario. Anglers had to each draw a key and at the end of prize giving the angler with the ”lucky key” who could start the bakkie would be the winner! As the prizes were given out we got to the most exited part of the event….the Top Franchise team for 2015 as well at the Top 12 SA National Team to fish against Namibia fully sponsored by RASSPL AFRICA! Wow!!!
They started off with the 3rd placed team and if I’m not mistaken it was Souther Cape and in 2nd place was Border and the winner for 2015…..WP BRONZIES!!!!!!! Unbelievable!!!! We were jumping with joy!!!
Then the announcement of the SA TOP 12 NATIONAL TEAM:
4x WP Bronzie members made the team with 3 new caps:
Mike Bailey
Jacques Ackurst (NEW)
Ebrahim Hamza (NEW)
Wikus vd Merwe (NEW)
What a proud moment for everyone!!!
WP Bronzies also were nominated for the best conservation team of the tournament!
WP Bronzies got the biggest shark of the tournament…well done Aiden!
Mike Bailey also won the Nationals…what a legend!!!
What a way to win Nationals…with this win it made our trip back home so much shorter!!! Now for the new season!