2011 Mallards/Mercury Shelly Beach Ski Boat Festival

[Bwana]

Right, today is the official start of the 2011 Shelly Ski Boat Festival and the wind is pushing a 25-30 knot SW which has turned the sea upside down. The SBSBC has closed the launch to all boats as the conditions are too hazardous and there are reports that some boats may have launched south in Port Edward and Glenmore. From where I'm sitting I can't see any fishing happening today in these conditions. Hopefully the SW will blow out through the day and tomorrow will settle down.


Guys let's keep this thread up to date with news, action and pics of this great comp - there are lots of decent tunny around and there's always a few renegade croc couta and the threat of a big AJ or two to turn the results upside down..... let's hear your news as it happens!


 

[WalkersKiller]

Bwana are you fishing the comp?

[Bwana]

@WK - Yes we have entered as Team Devocean and are hoping the weather will sort itself out so we can get out there and catch some fish! aaaaaaargh! frustration man! Same as last year though with one day blow out and then good weather at the end of the week.....

[J-Rock]

@WK - Yes we have entered as Team Devocean and are hoping the weather will sort itself out so we can get out there and catch some fish! aaaaaaargh! frustration man! Same as last year though with one day blow out and then good weather at the end of the week.....

Good Luck. Wish you all th best.

[WalkersKiller]

Enjoy Bwana hope the weather clears up and you guys smash the fish 

[Half-Pint]

Good luck! Fishing those comps is not childs play I don't think anyone who hasn't fished a comp involving chunking with so many boats on the water will know the work and cost involved

[Prego]

Was day 2 fishable, anything weighed??

[Bwana]

Ok guys, sorry for the lack of updates over the past few days, its' been a hectic mix of work and hard fishing so I haven't had time to update the thread. The comp is done and dusted now and it was really a great comp this year. The weather had a large part to play in this years bonanza with Day 1 and 2 blown out by a strong (30+knot) SW that brought freezing cold conditions and HUGE seas    No fish were weighed on either of those days.


Friday dawned with a residual SW wind and large groundswell which made for some fun and games at the launch. A lot of out-of-towners still insisting on launching straight out off the point  or turning right into the oncoming swell on the point break!    Remember guys - Always run left at Shelly or you'll be swimming!


Our launch was fine and we headed out to Protea and deployed a tuna spread of medium jetheads and large rapalas. Within the first hour we had several bonito (around 6kg) and 2 YFT around the same size. No larger tuna on the lures despite pulling right through some good surface action with birds diving and bait getting smashed on the surface.


We put the trolling gear away and unpacked the jigging gear and headed to our jigging spots to get some early morning exercise. The showings were good in 65m and we had a few early bumps on jig before Russel (who had picked up a jigging setup for his first time) went VAS on his first down and fought a good fish for around 3min before the taxman converted his fish  . He got back half  a Yellowtail that would have weighed around 10kg. Not to be discouraged he went straight down again and hooked up again! Excellent - a strong fish this time and 5 min later we boated and fat and healthy 14kg Yellowtail. Well done Russ on your first good fish on jig. 


The jigging went quiet after that and we headed for Protea to chase some tuna. We foun some good fish on chum, getting 5 YFT before lines-up. The most notable being Zane's 18,4kg YFT  which was also his first tuna ever! I managed one of 17,4kg before we headed to the weigh in. The weigh in was a display of good sized YFT and Yellowtail. Our fish put us in 7th and 15th place for the day with the leading fish only 19.6kg.


Saturday was a pearler, and after a delayed launch we headed straight to our jigging marks to try for more Yellowtail and maybe a solid Amber. The showings were there but no takers - something was very suspicious as the current, drift and water temp was perfect and we should have been whacking the fish. We moved after an hour of no action to go and chase weight on some YFT. The conditions weren't perfect for tuna on the drift but we did manage 3 YFT between 6 and 14kg and lost some real bombers to the taxman including my screamer just before lines up. This fish smoked 300m of line in its first run and had some serious weight - certainly a fish that would have been in the prizes, but alas it was another tax return.......


We had a lot of fun and a big congrats to PJ Botha and his experienced team who managed to coax that big AJ on the last morning on a bonnie - a truly great fish and proving finally that a big AJ can win the boat. Greg de Phillipi was unlucky to not get a big AJ despite his efforts near Pumula, he managed AJ's around 17kg but nothing bigger. The irony of our dismal second days jigging is that PJ pulled that AJ at the exact spot we went jigging, but they were on the spot 1 hour before us......aaaaaargh!    next time boys.... ha ha!


Here are some pics of Russel's YT and Zane's first tuna:

[Bwana]

HERE IS THE OFFICIAL CLUB PRESS RELEASE AFTER THE COMP:


MALLARDS/MERCURY  SKI-BOAT FESTIVAL 2011

By Jackie  Pratt

Registration for the 11^th annual Shelly  Beach Ski-Boat Festival kicked off on Tuesday afternoon; in spite of the heavy  winds and huge swells which the weather experts predicted would not lie down until  Thursday, 59 boats signed up to brave the big seas and try capture the big one  and the main prize of a Mallards Cobra Cat 525 complete with 2 x 75hp Mercury  Outboards.
Unfortunately on Wednesday the Shelly Beach base was  closed due to the sea and wind conditions and although one or two boats did  manage to launch at other launch sites, no fish were weighed. Thursday was a  little better but although the base was not closed very few boats launched and  again no weighable fish were brought to the scale. (A fish must weigh 6kg or  more to count in this competition).

On Friday the anglers were up early, the weather was  much better and the majority of the fleet were able to launch. At the weigh-in  on Friday afternoon we started to see the results of the recent Sardine run in  terms of the type and size of fish coming to the scale. The previous two years  the fishing was dominated by Cuda (King Mackerel) a fish which prefers slighter  warmer water, but on Friday not one Cuda was brought to the scale. The majority  of fish were Yellowfin Tuna between 10-19kg as well as some Yellowtail all  around 13/14kg and an Amberjack. The biggest fish of the day was caught by Inx  Jordaan on the boat Numzaan, a Yellowfin weighing 19,8kg. Only tomorrow would  tell if this would be big enough to take the boat.

Saturday dawned with perfect fishing conditions and  all boats headed out in the hope of capturing the big prize. The anglers  started to trickle into the weigh-in around 2pm and quite soon the fish caught  by Inx was beaten. At 2.55pm PJ Botha and the Botha boys from WATT 4 arrived  with their catch, the best being Tyler Botha’s Amberjack which clocked in at  28.2 kg, an excellent fish for anyone let along a young man of 17yrs. They had  a tense hour to wait until close of weigh-in, during which time some really  good fish were weighed, interestingly still not one Cuda in the whole  competition.

At last when the gate closed at the end of the weigh-in  at 4pm on Saturday, a big cheer went up from the WATT 4 corner, the 28,2 kg  Amberjack was put back on the gantry, the angler and crew gathered around, the  cameras flashed and the champagne sprayed over the fish and the crew.

WATT 4 had done it again and would now be able to  drive away with a brand new boat, perhaps to upgrade the Mallards Cobra Cat  they won 7yrs ago in the 2004 Festival, the very first time a boat was offered  as a “must win” 1^st prize, or perhaps a 2^nd boat to  accommodate all the fishermen the Botha family seem to produce.

This is the very first time in 11 years an Amberjack  has won this competition so its is interesting to note that the 2^nd  biggest fish in the competition was also an Amberjack caught by Rory van  Deventer on Stay Ahead and he won a fantastic Lowrance GPS/Fishfinder. The 3^rd  fish qualified as the biggest fish of another species, a Yellowfin of 22kg  caught by Elmar Basson in his own boat Aquaholic, he won the Island Adventures  trip to Bassas da India. The next 6 fish, all Yellowfin over 20kg won top of  the range Okuma Makaira Rods and Gold Makaira 50W Reels, as well as other  fantastic prizes; prizes were awarded right down to 17^th place as  well as Junior and species prizes.

After the Prize giving and handing over of the boat  the crowd were entertained by Elvis Blue, followed by disco music to keep the  crowd on their feet during their celebrations which continued until late.

Shelly Beach Ski-Boat Club would like to thank the  Lions of Shelly Beach, who took over the management of the entertainment and  catering this year, for an excellent week. Our sponsors and many of the anglers  enjoyed a great evening on Friday with Barry Hilton and the boys had a chance  to see the Miss Hibiscus semi-finalists strut their stuff and listen to some  local bands on Wednesday.

Most of all of course our grateful thanks to our  sponsors Mallards and Mercury for again supplying a fantastic prize and to ALL  our sponsors big and small who have continued to make this event such a  success.

Perhaps the biggest thank you however should be to the  anglers who participated in this event, and particularly for their support of  the voluntary conservations measures which Shelly Beach Ski-Boat Club  introduced at the end of 2010. The results prove that we can still have an  excellent competition whilst still protecting the valuable resource of Protea  Banks.

At the end of the day without the anglers and the  sponsors this event would not be possible and we hope to see you all back next  year.


I HAVE ATTACHED THE FINAL RESULTS SHEET AND PRIZE LIST - INTERESTING READING, ENJOY!

[REEFMAN]

gREAT REPORT Bwana and congrats to the guys on their nice fish!! 

[John F]

Thanks for the report Bwana! Looks like good fun despite the weather!

[shagnrelease]

Looks like the weather played a major role, and it just shows you when you see the familiar names on the podium consistently year after year that local knowledge is all important!!
 
Well done to you all and hard lines with the Johnnies. Mark I see you mentioned chumming, did they make an exception for the comp or where you chumming of the reef itself??

[Prego]

 :shre: and well done on the fish you guys managed.

What's amazing is the amount of fish that came out in the 18-20kg range kept thing interesing & nerve racking to the different leaders and all the different stages.

[Bwana]

@Greg - Thanks mate, we had a blast anyway. This year was obviously challenging for some of the guys getting to grips with the "lures only" rule for the Conservation Area on Protea but the guys quickly sussed that there are plenty of tuna outside of "the area." Chumming works anywhere and this year the most productive areas where the 50m contour on the seaside of "the area" and also south of southern pinnacle almost off Margate where a lot of shoal tuna (16-19kg) where present. I must say this year we saw a much higher average size of the shoal size tuna (usually 14-16kg). I believe this is due to the effect of the closed area and also guys releasing the smaller 5-8kg fish in comps. We usually get our biggest tuna in September / October so it will be interesting to see how big they are this year!


@Prego - yes this year was nailbiting on the last day as everyone found the shoal tuna and our 7th place 18,4kg fish ended up being pushed down to 20th on final placings - we missed the prizes by 400g!! very exciting!

[Kumz]

 :shre: ..Superb Report & lekka catches ... 

[benniejordaan]

Thanks for the report Mark, always appreciate you in depth reports.

[L Hooker]

Nice report, and well done.