COMPETITIONS By Quentin Clark Photos by Justin Klusener
I
T’S been 11 years since a Rosebowl has been hosted in Moçambique, but Guinjata Bay, its ocean, weather, restaurants and community really came to the party delivering what was certainly from a fishing point of view the most productive Rosebowl hosted in the last five years. Twenty-five boats from the Southern Gauteng zone entered the competition and made their way up to Guinjata in March for the greatly anticipated event. Guinjata SFC got off to a great start on Monday morning in seas that could be described as slightly unpleasant. Johnny Boy, one of only four boats that launched, nominated for 37kg line class on Monday. They successfully released their first marlin just after 2pm. At the end of weigh in on Monday Guinjata were leading the field by quite a margin, mostly thanks to the marlin, but their gamefishing boats also came to the party with five boats in the Top Ten for the day. On day one 43 fish were brought to the scales but the marlin released by Johnny Boy was the only billfish. The weather improved considerably on Tuesday morning and the fleet had a relatively easy send-off. This would prove to be the only day that did not produce a marlin, but Guinjata managed to keep the top spot with four of their
boats in the Top Five behind Fin Rider from TSC which took the day with their haul of three species. The biggest fish on the day was a 17kg yellowfin tuna caught by Tarreck Byrne aboard Prime Zulu. Day three belonged to Johnny Boy. After losing a marlin the previous day, they managed to bag two before 11am. Johno Joseph skippering Little Hooker also successfully released a marlin, helping the Makaira surge that was imminent. Guinjata’s gamefish boats also produced, and five excluding Johnny Boy were placed in the Top Ten for the day. Marlin were proving to be where the points lay, and the two released by Johnny Boy on day three pushed the Guinjata team well ahead of the pack. This was not missed by some of the other clubs, and the following morning would see almost all the Makaira boats, and several East Rand Boats start targeting marlin. Marlin Frenzy was about to begin. Johno Joseph on Little Hooker took the day in a ding dong battle with Johnny Boy as they radioed in hookups and releases throughout the day. In the end Little Hooker had three and Johnny Boy two. Wessel Grimbeek on Maestro had an amazing day, calling in a double hook-up and successfully releasing both marlin. Two hours later he called in another double, but this time they unfortunately lost the fish. Attitude from Makaira and Silverback from East Rand also managed to release
Marlin caught off Johnny Boy.
a marlin each taking the total to nine marlin for the day. The marlin released by Attitude made it four for Makaira for the day, pushing them beyond Guinjata into the lead. Anton Lingenfelder was out in the marlin grounds with his 10kg setup and although he had three marlin on during the day he failed to get even one next to the boat and under control on the light tackle. This day also produced 58 fish at the scales, the most for the week, with Wednesday having 56 and Monday and Tuesday 43 and 42 respectively.
SKI-BOAT May/June 2020 • 55
