Zululand Yacht Club Summer Fishing Competition 2022

by Morgan Smit

All the stars, the planets & the moon stood in a line for this one!!

This year’s Summer Fishing Competition was such a wonderful weekend that it feels like the fishing gods were trying to make up for all the fishing days and competitions we were forced to miss in the last 2 years! The weather was excellent: Hot, sunny Zululand Summer conditions with just enough wind to keep the temperature from getting too ridiculous.

The turnout of members and their guests was fantastic, and there were crowds of smiling faces, on the water and in the Club pubs and restaurant… and the fish. The fish came to the party. Which was nice!!!

Members took full advantage of the fantastic conditions and fished hard, several families & members camped at the Club for the duration of the event, which is always a nice touch, allowing one to spend maximum time on the water.

We know that time on the water brings results, and it did.

The winning fish was caught by Dale Robinson. Dale’s family always make a family outing of Club fishing events and always feature well on the podium. Dale’s excellent 57cm Greenspot Kingfish outshone several other excellent catches as the clear winner of top spot. This fish also took the prize for Best Fish-Bay.

Best Junior was Evan Jacobs, with an impressive 41cm (38cm Fork Length) Bluefin King Fish, this special catch was also the best fish from Club banks.

Best Young Guns went to Gunter Jacobs with a Queenfish of 47 cm (41cm Fork Length).
Both of these young men submitted great catches which included several other excellent fish.

There were many other meritorious catches, with all the common summer species being well represented, Giant Trevally (Ignoblis Kingfish), Greenspot Kingfish, Yellow-spot, Malabar, Ferdau and Bluefin Kingfish, Pick-handle Barracuda, Grunter, and several Rock cod species, all featured prominently among the fish that were entered.

Special mention goes to Jason Olivier who caught a nice King Mackerel in the water right in front of the Club and Clint Anthill who got the best of the GT’s, at 45cm, both of these gentlemen also entered an impressive list of other species.

The formal Bragging Rights that go with winning the “Pro’s Challenge” go to Gunter Jacobs, who ‘weighed’ the best fish among those who entered our special “Competition within the Competition” Gunter’s name will go onto the floating trophy, and until next competition Gunter has the right to proclaim himself unchallenged as “The Best of the Best” of ZLYC Fishermen.

Congratulations Young Man!

Offshore prize was not presented as there were no fish entered by vessels going offshore.

The prestigious ‘Bananana’ award went to Darius Bezuidenhout for his hilarious story about fishermen getting hooked in the seat of their pants and fishing rods breaking, much fun was certainly had by all!
Next competition will be the Zululand Yacht Club Autumn Fishing Competition, dates for this will be announced in due course.

I would like to thank the sponsors who made this event possible: Oceanic Images, Basil Manning, Richards Bay Print & Sign, Mydo Lures, and Fleet Maintenance Office.

I would also like to thank everybody who worked so hard helping to present this event, our Entertainment officer Michelle Banwell, Kirsten, Joe and the Club bar & kitchen staff for keeping the entrants hydrated & fuelled. Thanks also to Martin from Coastal Radio for the cool vibe and great music.

Tight lines until next time. Fish smart, fish safe, fish for the future.

Yours in Loving our Club
Morgan Smit
Rear Commodore Fishing.