Go Stefi-Joe

By Blyde Pretorius Photo’s by Sarel Greyling photography

THERE 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.

Despite the prospect of a very wet fishing day ahead, everyone launched safely on day two and the marlin started to come alive. A total of 53 strikes with 35 hook-ups were reported, and 13 marlin were released that day, mostly blues and stripeys. Team Real Passion took the lead with two releases — one blue and one striped marlin for the day.

On day three the weather deteriorated further and the weather committee gave it to the tribe to decide. A blow out was called. Although the anglers were disappointed with the lack of fishing, that night the MC, Jaco Hendriksz, kept everyone in good spirits with his sharp tongue as he handed out lucky draws and the daily Pig of the Day prize.

Team Real Passion in second place. Team Stefi-Joe in first place .

Team Real Passion releasing their marlin.

Louis Venter from Team Real Passion with a 36.2kg tuna.

Bok van Blerk and Mark de Hay releasing their marlin. Photo by Kevin Tait

28 • SKI-BOAT March/April 2020 As we’ve done in the past with blow outs, the prizes for the day were carried over to the next day. Another tradition that was continued was the auction that’s held each year to raise some money for our up and coming junior anglers and thereby promote the sport of deep sea angling.

On day four all the anglers were fighting fit and ready to go out to sea. The Billfish was still anybody’s tournament to win and everyone went for it, with 11 successful releases. Once again only blue and striped marlin were caught, with sailfish nowehere to be seen.

Team Real Passion’s luck turned and this time it was Team Stefi-Joe that released two marlin for the day. This put them in the lead, with only two points separating first and second place. A lot of nice bycatches also came out, including a nice 36.2kg yellowfin tuna which put Real Passion in the running for the Calcutta prize.

By the Friday morning, the last day of fishing, all the leaders were very close to each other and only the weather could determine what was going to happen. That day all the teams waited

on the beach to hear from the weather committee. It was a go, but only for a short time before lines up was called around 10am and the competition was called off due to bad weather and heavy winds. Thanks to a great Beach Control team — Lizelle Els and Mariette Hendriksz — all the boats were uided back to the beach quickly and safely. Only Team Aurora had been able to get a double hook-up of two blue marlin that day, but unfortunately one of the marlin was disqualified due to technical footage and rules that applies to a double hook-up. Stefi-Joe’s prayers were answered — they won the Billfish 15 000! All the anglers gathered in the marquee for the main prizegiving to celebrate Stefi-Joe’s victory. The team relished their unforgettable walk to victory with a burning flame lighting the path to the stage. Congratulations to Team Stefi-Joe! Altogether 32 marlin were released at the 2019 Billfish 15 000! Once again a big thank you to all the sponsors, anglers, committee members and lots of friends who make this tournament the best of its kind. I hope to see you all again in November 2020.

TOP TEN TEAMS 1. Stefi-Joe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .488 pts 2. Real Passion . . . . . . . . . . . . .486 pts 3. Sea Ducer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .480 pts 4. C-Cruiser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .480 pts 5. Jorrie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .480 pts 6. Happy Days . . . . . . . . . . . . .225 pts 7. Aurora . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .225 pts 8. C-Vannah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .224 pts 9. Sea Cruiser Too . . . . . . . . . . .224 pts 10. Man Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .224 pts

The winning team on their new boat with Team Yamaha.