7 minute read
SPECIES HUNTING IN THE RED SEA
2024 IGFA El Gouna Red Sea Championship
By Martin du Plessis
PYRAMIDS, ancient history, Egyptian culture, great food, unforgettable hospitality, calm turquoise waters, new memories, new friends and fishing – what more can you ask for?
The Red Sea and Egypt ticked off a significant milestone this year when they hosted the first IGFA tournament in Egypt in February – the 2024 IGFA El Gouna Red Sea Championship.
It was a successful event in all aspects, so well done to Egypt and El Gouna. This magnificent venue hosted what will be a regular event on our fishing calendars for years to come.
When we fish tournaments, we need to look at the total “fishing package”that’s offered.The event needs to be an all round experience and tick a number of boxes besides just fish and fishing. Accommodation, boats, skippers, crew, hosts, organisers, food, venue and fun are all part of the experience.
All these aspects – plus the incredible hospitality of the Egyptian people – were top notch.
A bonus for the South African team – Chris Schorn (captain),Michelle Richards, Brad McLaren and myself – was that our captain was there representing South Africa and flying the IGFA flag as he was elected onto IGFA Board as a trustee in 2023.
An added bonus was that Andries Maree and Mike Milligan from SASACC also travelled with the team.Andries and Mike were not only there in their roles as president and vice president of SASACC, but also as a motivation for the SA team and to help build relationships between South Africa and Egypt. Thank you,Andries and Mike for your support.
A great concept that distinguishes this tournament from others is that we fished for three days and spent two nights at sea on a live-aboard boat.
There was a “lines-in”time on day one, and a “lines-up” time on day three, but in between that, you could fish 24 hours a day if you chose to. Our most difficult task was trying to get Brad “Duracell-Bunny”McLaren to sleep! The lure of fishing 24 hours a day was tough to resist!
Being out at sea and living in the boat’s confines for three days resulted in strong bonds being forged between the team members, as well as the extended team.Thank you to Ibrahim (adjudicator), Ahmed (gillie), Ali Sambu (master chef, gillie and gaffer) and Captain Kimmou (skipper).That’s what we bank in this beloved sport – friendships and memories.
With slight language barriers and cultural differences, the common thread of a love of the sea and a passion to fish united us.The food was brilliant, and some great recipes were exchanged.
Elsewhere in this issue you will find one of the recipes we got to enjoy.
At the last minute, the environmental authorities moved the fishing boundaries, and that meant we travelled much further on days one and three than initially expected.It was a great initiative to relieve fishing pressure on reefs close by, but meant that we reduced our fishing time on those days too.
The simple solution for next year would be to make the tournament one day longer.We only really figured out the waters and fishing on day two, and didn’t have enough time to convert those findings into a medal.
Having said that, all the teams were “in the same boat”,and well done to Scotland who pushed us to fourth and took the bronze medal by 3.4 points in the international category.That section was won by Saudi Arabia, with Egypt second.
The mixed species format – tuna, bottomfish, gamefish and billfish – made for an exciting tournament with the varied skills required within each team.This lends itself to a real team effort, involving us applying individual angler strengths to the various facets and working together as one to achieve our goals.
This format gives our SA anglers a shot at a Protea cap across facets within one team at one tournament.Very unique.The fishing was tough, though. When you have four fishing disciplines in one event and limited hours, you can fall into the trap of having too much choice and too much tackle, and then spend too much time “scratching”.
The big live-aboard boats presented another challenge as we South Africans are used to smaller, more manoeuvrable boats that are better at working reef structure etc.
Our first day was certainly along those lines – “scratching” with the big boat in foreign waters – but a solid team talk and strategy session after day one put us properly on track.
On day two we shined and “puzzled”the local waters with great results, figuring out the boat and getting around the challenges.Our team also gelled and harnessed the various skills and strengths that complemented one another.Most importantly, we were all willing to share, assist, work together, fish together and have fun together without egos getting in the way.
We operated like a well-oiled machine, and although we didn’t achieve that shiny gold that we set our sights on, we got very close.There was really nothing between the top four teams in the international category:
Saudi Arabia 35,65 points
Egypt A 34,10 points
Scotland 33,10 points
South Africa 29,70 points
SUSTAINABILITY
The focus of the tournament was on sustainability of the Red Sea resources, and the rules called for the release of most of the fish that qualified for score.Out of the 23 species on the score list, only four could be boated, and we were further limited to only boating three species per boat over the three fishing days.
I like the concept they introduced of catching three fish per species and weighing/measuring your top two.Keeping it to two fish per species (out of three) for the boat is great and prevents a team loading up on a single species.
There was also a bonus point system for certain species that, in my opinion, skewed the results and final scores. Fortunately SADSAA has progressed past this and, many years ago, realised the folly of categorising certain species.Simply put, why should a greater barracuda have 20 bonus points and a king mackerel (’cuda) none?
COMPETITIONRULES
Teams could choose to fish either 24kg line class or 15kg line class, with the lighter line giving you an additional ten points per fish.That makes sense, and anglers are then rewarded for their skills.
While socialising after the fishing, it was suggested that next year could see 24kg,15kg,10kg and 6kg being available for teams with their relevant sliding scale bonus points getting bigger as you go lighter on the line choice.That would certainly change team game plans and open up the tournament to some exciting strategies.We also chatted about possible species multiplication factors coming into play.
I would love this tournament to take on the scoring we are accustomed to in the years to come, namely:
Multiply score by one for one or two species
Multiply score by two for three species
Multiply score by three for four species
… and so on
The tournament and venue lend themselves to a species tournament and not a one point per kilogram scoring system which means one big “lucky fish”can win.
Having bonus points as you go lighter on your line, plus a species multiplication factor would truly test the teams and anglers.
Overall, this was a wonderful event at a great venue.The Egyptian hospitality and energy are very special, and they paid great attention to the smallest details.The SA team was well looked after and welcomed with open hearts, and we felt truly at home, even with the El Gouna staff at restaurants and hotel receptions.
We’ll be back in 2025 with a mission for gold!
