COMPETITIONS
By Erwin Bursik
T
HE 2021 running of Sodwana Hengelklub’s annual catch and release tigerfish tournament was not only a resounding success, but also introduced a ground breaking digital system to remotely capture and record each catch as it happened. Wthin seconds of an icon being pressed the 400-odd anglers taking part in the event were advised of the capture of each fish likely to make it into the top 10 places on the leader board. Each tigerfish caught is placed on a supplied template on the craft’s deck
and photographed directly through the app which was created specifically for this purpose. The angler presses the “Submit catch” icon and the app not only photographs the fish, but also digitally records all the information regarding the catch. The photo, its GPS position, the exact time and the angler’s name are all retained. This being said, most of the information is only accessible to the organisers and only the time, size of the fish and the angler’s name are instantly circulated to the other competitors. At the outset I was Mr Sceptic and had doubts about this system, but I
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soon became a total convert. This event was once a total kill competition, but becasme a total release event a few years ago. In the past, though, anglers who caught potental prize fish had to “high tail” it across Jozini Dam with their precious cargo to a weight point where the fish was then weighed and had to be physically seen to swim away to be officially recorded. It was a stressful process and the app has totally removed that aspect. Sodwana Hengelklub were precluded from holding the 2020 Tigerfish Bonanza due to Covid, but Simeon van Heerden, the club’s chairman, and his
