2021 Tigerfish Bonanza

JOZINI TIGERS BURST INTO THE DIGITAL AGE

By Erwin Bursik

THE 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 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 far thinking young committee didn’t let that deter them. It’s obvious they put in an immense amount of work on the 2021 event. Their dedication ensured they have kept the impeccable high standards of the competition’s past, and the introduction of modern ideas to will no doubt help to maintain the longevity of this, the largest boat fishing event held in South Africa — possibly even Africa as a whole.

We, the anglers who took part in the 2021 event salute you, Simeon, and your committee.Thank you for an exceptional event.

With a massed start at 06h00 on Friday 24 September 2021, paracute flares dotted the sky as the sun peeped over the eastern silhouette of the Ubombo mountains. It’s a sight and experience I revel in each year.The roar of hundreds of outboard motors breaking the silence of dawn, and the sight of the craft churning up the tranquill lake’s surface as these craft fan out at full speed down towards the open lake and up the Pongola River channel to the south give me goosebumps every time.

In my mind, and I have no doubt in the minds of most of the skippers participating, lay the quandary of how the new digital system and app would work in practice.

It wasn’t long before the “ping” on Mr Ski-boat’s designated cellphone indicated that the first tigerfish in excess of 45cm had been recorded and successfully released.

A green square and white tick reflected official acceptance by the score master and then the angler’s name, time of capture and official length in centimetres all appeared. It worked for number one and the top ten, and continued to do so until the final whistle blew at 16h00 on Saturday 25 September 2021.

The continual uploading of the leaderboard and the lengths recorded made it extremely interesting, although very disappointing to some when their entries fell off the list of the top ten.All in all most, if not all, of the anglers praised the new concept.

From a purely academic point of view I was interested in the time of capture of those tigerfish which made it onto the leaderboard. That aspect brought into question a number of theories as to the most prevalent times tigerfish are prepared to feed.The exact position of each catch would have

added much more interest, but this fact, understandably, was kept hidden in the “cloud”. One sincerely hopes that in time we may find a study indicating what areas of Jozini Dam produced the bigger tigerfish caught during the 2021 event.

For many of us the competition had limited success as the tigerfish we were targeting with a vast array of bait, including live tilapia, failed to show any interest in our offerings. Personally I felt totally bewildered when it came to how to catch these wily fish. A few — very few — juveniles was all that ended up in our scoop net.All my plans, ideas and preparation came to nought.

At least those few fish inspired me to try and acquire more knowledge during the next 12 months so that at the 2022 Tigerfish Bonanza hopefully at least one of the crew on Mr Ski-boat will make it onto the coveted Tigerfish Bonanza leaderboard.

The persistent north-easterly wind which we experienced over the twoday event was certainly a challenge, and the colder sub-20°C lake water may have had an effect on the general bite. However, we were all fishing in a relatively small playing field so we agreed “cowboys don’t cry”, as we went about making excuses for why we didn’t catch any decent fish.

For many years when we’ve run the report on this event we have recorded the weights of the top ten tigers caught in this nigh on 20-year-old competition.

The change in scoring from weight to length will of course disrupt this historical data. In saying that, I fully support the change but hope the scientific community will convert the lengths to approximate weights so that the historic tigerfish weights of the past can be compared to the weight of those captured and released going forward.

The grand finale was an awesome event with the huge marquee erected on the clubs grounds at Golela filled to capacity to celebrate and congratulate the ten anglers who excitedly received their prizes. Congratulations, to you all!

With the enthusiasm and vigour shown by the Sodwana Hengelklub’s Tigerfish Bonanza committees, I have little doubt that the 2022 event will attract not only more competition but also an even bigger array of prizes than there was at this year’s event.

A special acknowledgment must be made to the sponsors who this year, despite the uncertainty of both the economy and the Covid situation, dug deep into their pockets to ensure that the array of prizes up for grabs were both exciting and abundant.

In the words of Sodwana Hengelklub’s doyen and past chairman, Stephan Kleynhans, while complimenting the 2021 Bonanza committee, he predicted that this event will grow in status and echo the past when over 300 boats attended this event. It’s a mighty call, but one I would love to witness and hopefully take part in.

As I say each year when penning this report, I am already planning and scheming for how my team will not only take part next year but also be more productive in catching and releasing some bigger tigerfish in Jozini Dam.

See you all there!

TOP TEN TIGERS

1. Kobus Meyer . . . . . . . . . . . . .710mm

2. Jonathan de Vos . . . . . . . . . . .640mm

3. Johan van Heerden . . . . . . . .600mm

4. Dehan Sonnekus . . . . . . . . . .595mm

5. Werner Beetge . . . . . . . . . . . .585mm

6. Coenie Vermaak . . . . . . . . . .565mm

7. Leslie Blignaut . . . . . . . . . . . .495mm

8. T Braukmann . . . . . . . . . . . . .480mm

9. Koos Uys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .480mm

10. Michael Thile . . . . . . . . . . . .470mm