SMALL BOAT, BIG HEART

Two Oceans Marlin Tournament, 10 to 16 February 2024

By Helen Fenwick

AS many people who have fished the Struisbaai area know,after local commercial fisherman Traill Witthuhn landed a striped marlin there 19 years ago, Meirion Williams sowed the seed of the idea to hold an annual marlin catch,measure and release competition. Meirion thought it would be of value to investigate the numbers and sizes of the marlin swimming in the Agulhas area.

Of course,it is never the work of just one man,and others like Gawie Bruwer,Hannes Schreuder,Gerard de Kock,Johan Jooste and Johan van der Walt were also instrumental in making the idea a reality.Testament to the success and support of the event is that 2024 saw the 18th annual running of the tournament.

The fact that so many of the original organising committee are still involved also speaks volumes.Andrew Perrins was approached to be the Safety Officer at the first tournament, and he has been involved in setting up aerials and manning the radios ever since,along with his trusty helpers,Trevor Brinch,Earl Fenwick,and various others over the years.For the past several years Andrew has come back from his current home in the UK especially to do his bit for this unique competition.

Another unusual aspect of this competition is that the rules were originally drawn up by the competitors themselves.It is strictly a catch, measure and release competition, and the boat with the highest number of points wins, but in the event of a tie, the last boat to land and release a marlin is the winner.

Competitions like this cannot go ahead without generous support from the sponsors,and in this too the tournament is extremely successful.Once again our sincere thanks to all the loyal sponsors who see value in supporting this tournament.

Our thanks also to Suidpunt Deep Sea Angling Club for hosting the event.The theme for the 2024 event was “Island Life”and this added to the vibe of the event.

Each evening the anglers gathered at Suidpunt Deep Sea Angling Club and enjoyed the excellent food provided by Marinda and her staff.After a long and tiring day at sea the fun continued and “straf dops”and snuff sniffing were meted out for various misdemeanours.

It has become a tradition at every year’s opening function for Gawie Bruwer to honour a deserving angler for their contribution to fishing over the years.This year the award went to Mike Broderick and Uncle Ted Horn.

Most of the 17 boats that entered this year have fished this competition before, but 2024 saw two first timers, namely Maverick, sponsored by Airmar, and Loslappie.

It was also great to see three lady anglers taking part this year.Ada de Wit and Monica Botha fished on Loslappie, and Tammy von Wildenrath fished on My Way

There were six days available for fishing the 2024 tournament, but the boats only managed to go to sea on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Weather conditions on the Monday were not perfect, but the crews set off enthusiastically, and before long reports of marlin sightings came over the airwaves.There were no hookups, however, until newbie Maverick called one in. Those of us listening on the radio waited anxiously as the fight continued for almost an hour. Finally, we heard that a striped marlin had been caught and released.

The angler,J aen van der Berg, shared the excitement with us:“On Monday, the first fishing day of this competition, my biggest dream came true:I caught a striped marlin!

“All lines were in and ready for action while we were busy making a braai, and I saw the marlin in the spread.We left everything as the adrenalin kicked in.The marlin was on the longrigger.

“The deck was quickly rearranged, and everything was sorted out while I tried to get the marlin under control,”he said.

“The fight continued for 45 minutes with plenty of advice and support coming from the other crew members.The excitement was extreme!

“Finally,the marlin was brought next to the boat and the hook was removed.We also tagged it.

Thank you to the crew – JP Groenwald,Ron Penninkoff and Juan Needham – who helped me to shorten my bucket list.”

On Tuesday the weather looked good and the boats set off in the early morning with high hopes.As the day wore on and only “dorado marlin”were reported,everyone began to lose hope but then,with just a few minutes till lines up,two hookups were called in.Those boats were given an extra hour to successfully catch and release their fish.

One of the anglers, Andrew Pawson fishing on Multi , shared how he caught his bucket list marlin: “We prepared well for this competition and decided to target a striped marlin. Although we did the “livey” thing, having seen how successful that was for John Graeme last year, we still had no success.

“It was almost lines-up, and we were in the zone where our skipper had caught marlin before, so we changed the size of the lures and looked for a stripey. Luckily the timing was right and the first fish of the day was in my slot on the boat.I was on and quickly realised that if this was a stripey, it would complete the ‘slam’ for me – black, blue and a stripey. What a relief when the call came that it was indeed my target fish. Needless to say,I had all the advice from an experienced crew with the normal number of adjectives!

“The fight was tough but worthwhile, and we landed the marlin within the extra time.I have to thank my skipper and crew for the privilege.There really is no better feeling for me than to land a trophy fish like this ...well, maybe winning the Rugby World Cup again!”

The last fish of the competition – and the winner – was caught on one of the smallest boats of the fleet, SeaCat Andrew Hipkin told us all about the excitement:

“It’s my third year at this tournament, and up until late yesterday afternoon,I’d yet to see a marlin. Yes, we’d had strikes and near misses, but that’s not quite the same!

“As one of the smallest boats that enters the Two Oceans Marlin Tournament,we don’t have the ability to run to Alfards and the 45 contour, so we’ve had the same game plan each year:get live bait and try to keep them alive long enough to get plucked by a marlin.

“We’ve stuck to this year on year and only trolled konas when we were between spots.Yesterday we tried everything but couldn’t find a single live bait, so went all in on black as they say.We rigged a spread of five konas and that floppy floppy thing.

With 30 minutes to go, my two teammates were both suggesting lines up.Fortunately, I declined, and with five minutes to go we hooked into a black marlin.The exhilaration of that beautiful dark body leaping out of the water is all it’s cracked up to be! It’s a memory I hope I’ll carry with me to the day I die!”

Wednesday proved to have the best fishing conditions, but in spite of that no marlin were caught.

Inclement weather and rough seas on the following two days prevented any further competition fishing.

There was a great air of excitement as everyone gathered for the final event of the week – the prizegiving – not least because each boat received a pack of lovely prizes which the skippers collected at the end of the proceedings.

Special awards were presented to the skippers of boats which have entered the TOMT for many years in a row. Vleis Visagie’s Multi, Nuts Rupert’s Grace,Dudley Rosslee’s Dory, Mike Broderick’s Bad Co ,and Iaan Viljoen’s Kinda Magic

have all entered ten years in a row. Rikus de Beer’s Marco Polo,Andrew van Zyl’s Gwaza, and Gawie Bruwer’s Indigo have all entered 15 years in a row!

The results of the tournament are as follows:

1. SeaCat – Simon Hipkin, Smiley Bhungu, Ben Johnson, Chris Steyn

2. Maverick – Ronald Penninkhof, JP Groenewald, Juan Needham, Jaen van der Berg

3. Multi – Darius Steyn, Andre Pawson, Roelof Visagie, Dawie Theron, Ivaan de Jager,Henk Ackerman.

Well done to everyone involved.See you next year!