COMPETITIONS
By Blyde Pretorius Photo’s by Sarel Greyling photography
T
HERE is a reason why the Billfish 15 000 is the country’s best tournament of its kind. It’s the way their well-oiled committee, family of great sponsors and experienced anglers, who have incredible spirit and camaraderie, come together for a week of tough angling and great fun. It all fits together like a hand in a glove. In 2019 Yamaha came onboard as the new main sponsor, sponsoring a Seacat 510 Blast on a trailer with two 60hp motors. Club Marine rounded off the first prize with one year’s complimentary insurance on the boat. The Billfish 15 000 was once again a huge success, and with R1.3-million in prizes up for grabs everybody stood a chance to win something. As usual the huge marquee was set up at Sodwana Bay Lodge, and it witnessed many many hours of fun each day. The week’s preparations started on Saturday, 9 November 2019, with the Billfish 15 000 committee and helpers setting up a great display inside the marquee with sponsors’ stalls and a stage for a spectacular show. The day ended of with a sponsors evening, just to say thank you for their generosity. On Sunday, all the teams gathered for registration and the opening of the Billfish 15 000 tournament in the right tradition with Ds. Stanus Cloete sharing a message and a prayer to keep everyone safe for the week. As with any fishing event, the weather is a big factor at this tournament and safety always comes first. At Sodwana you can almost expect to have four seasons in one day, and the week of fishing looked dodgy, with lots of rain predicted. Monday, 11 November started off wet, but it was safe to launch, and by 4am 60 boats stood ready to catch some marlin. Everyone launched safely and at 6.57am Happy Days released the first marlin of the 2019 event. Lengendary muso Bok van Blerk was fishing in his first Billfish 15 000 tournament together with fishing guru Mark de la Hey, and they caught a nice blue marlin on the first morning to ensure their team was in the running. Six marlin were released on day one, and that evening all the teams gathered in the marquee, where there were plenty of options for those who needed to quench their thirst. Many stories were shared that first night and all the anglers that had released a marlin were given certificates and sashes to wear. Every night there were big prizes for the day’s fishing, like Pulsator lures, Dunlop cooler boxes, Yamaha generators, Probe fat max compressors and Warn winches, and the team that was first for the day walked away with a cash prize of R10 000 sponsored by McCarthy Toyota Hatfield. Live streaming on Facebook of every night’s prize giving made sure that the family that was left behind at home could also be part of the Billfish 15 000 tournament.
22 • SKI-BOAT March/April 2020
