RIDING ON A HIGH

2022 Yamaha Billfish 15000

By Blyde Pretorius; Photos by Kiki Corner Photography, Framing & Video Productions

IT’S Billfish time! For anyone who has ever attended the Billfish 15000,these words say it all! Once again Dorado Ski Boat Club delivered,making the 2022 Billfish 15 000 tournament the most spectacular event of the year.

Last year’s event was held at Sodwana Bay from 13 to 18 November and,as usual,started off on the Saturday with a Sponsors Night,where the committee thanked all the generous sponsors.

The teams arrived on the Sunday afternoon ready to register for the fully subscribed tournament,and later that evening gathered in the giant marquee pitched at Sodwana Bay Lodge for the opening event.

With Sodwana Bay Lodge in the process of upgrading and building new boat lockers,the marquee had been moved from its usual spot which caused a few complications.With no electricity,no water and just loose sand everywhere,the venue was only accessible to 4x4 vehicles. Luckily a sponsorship from Victron Energy SA came to the rescue and they set up a remarkable solar power system so that the whole tournament was powered totally by the sun.

Unfortunately Monday was a blowout,but the teams were entertained with Buffelsfontein Brandewyn and lots of other beverages sponsored by Halewood Artisanal Spirits.

Our MC,Jaco Hendriksz,did a great job of entertaining the crowd for the week.Anglers that made a boo-boo each day were crowned the “Kat se Gat”and those who did something right were crowned as “Kat se Snor”.

The Wednesday evening was auction night,with a boat auction,some hunting packages up for grabs,an Australian fishing trip and a few other items.A percentage of the funds raised at the auction were donated to the Benjamin Osmers Foundation and Sodwana’s animal shelter.

The fishing began on Tuesday and the rest of the week was spectacular for marlin fishing,with lots of bycatches also coming to the scale.

At the end of the week Team Bullship took the honours with the biggest bycatch of the week.They caught a massive wahoo of 37,6kg and walked away with the Calcutta prize worth R63000.

Record daily billfish hookups and releases were recorded,but then nothing less is expected of the best of the best marlin anglers in South Africa.In total 81 billfish were released in the week — five black marlin,50 blue marlin,seven sailfish,ten striped marlin, and seven shortbill spearfish!

Probably the best partnership of the tournament was that between Team Lauriska and sponsor Mahindra.From the word go,Theo Lütt from Mahindra Agri took on the challenge of getting Lauriska to and from the beach, because the anglers’tractor had broken down.In exchange, Team Lauriska set out to advertise Mahindra as much as they could.At the final prizegiving, Team Lauriska took top honours,winning themselves the first prize — a brand new Mahindra 7590 4x4 tractor. Dreams do still come true! Turn overleaf to read the full story of how they went from zero to four billfish and a tractor.

Our sincere thanks to Beach Control,Mariette Hendriksz and Lizelle Els,who handled everything like pros and made sure launching and beaching went smoothly every day.The team spirit and camaraderie was incredible.

We must also thank our Heavenly Father above for another great week and for keeping us safe.To each and every angler,sponsor and organiser involved,thank you for making the Billfish 15000 stand out above the rest. We hope to see you all again at Sodwana for the 37th Billfish 15 000 from 12 to 17 November 2023.