Catch of the day
Border Blacktips host outing at Hamburg, Birha
THE Border Blacktips RASSPL (Rock And Surf Super Pro League) team will be hosting their fourth Rock n Surf Angling competition of the season in the Hamburg and Birha area on Saturday.
The Kowie Crackers team from Port Alfred will also be having their second league outing at the same time, so the two teams will go head-to-head to compete for the coveted Challenge Shield Trophy.
How it will work is that the top 12-point scorers from each team will have their points summed up with the team with the most combined score taking the trophy, along with the bragging rights. Any angler will be given the opportunity to enter both competitions separately and double up on prizes.
“As usual, there will be some cash prizes as well as many other awesome prizes up for grabs. We will have a R1 000 cash prize for the heaviest barbel, Border Blacktips RASSPL spokesman, Shane Smit said.
Prizes include two brand new PENN spinning reels each valued at R2 000. “Anyone can enter any RASSPL event, no strings attached, so get to Bilimoria Fishing stores and Quality Baits in the SBDC to purchase your competition tickets now,” Smit said.
Tickets for both the Border and Kowie competitions are R150 each for visitors, R50 each for RASSPL members and under-14s fish free.
“Each competition is treated as completely separate so even the prize-givings will be held one after the other, but at the same venue of course. “You have the option to enter both or only ours. “Remember that we are strictly a 100% catch and release club so everything must be released safely,” Smit added.
Registration for this Hamburg competition will be with club secretary, Sharon Miles, today from 2pm at Chelsea Square B&B in Selborne. Alternatively, you can register on the morning of the competition at the Hamburg beach parking area from 4.30am with team manager, John Frost.
Competition starts at 6am with all scorecards to be handed in by no later than 3.30pm to scorers at the Hamburg caravan park pub. The fishing area for this competition is from Hamburg River mouth to Birha River. Prize-giving will follow as soon as all scores are finalised, normally commencing at around 4pm. Please contact Shane on
shane.rasspl@gmail.com or call 083-500-9654 for any further info.
● Earlier this month, the RASSPL Border Blacktips’ third competition was held along the beautiful Kayser’s Beach coastline. The weather conditions were horrendous with a 4m sea swell, driving rain and chilly air temperature, but 67 anglers did come out to play and a few decent fish were caught.
The heaviest edible went Stuart Brill with a 4.8kg kob, second went to visiting angler Ryan Openshaw with a monster bronze bream of 3.9kg and third going to member Colin Scheepers with a 1.8kg pignose grunter.
Heaviest non-edible for the day and most impressive catch, went to member Stuart Brill with a spotted gully shark of 23.6kg. The most impressive thing about this catch was that Brill had actually hooked a blacktail and while reeling it in, the spotted gully shark grabbed it, but with some effort, Stuart managed to reel them both in unharmed. The shark just would not let go.
Top points went to the champion of the day, member Brill with a total of 327 individual points and Top Junior going to young Bjorn Barrington with an impressive bronze bream of 2.5kg.
The participating ladies were unfortunate not to land anything on the day.
The three R1 000 cash prizes went to members Greg Timm for his 1.2kg blacktail, visiting angler, Jarod Stap, for his 1.5kg sandshark and member Brill with his 32cm silver barbel.
A total of 64 fish were caught between the 67 entrants weighing in at a total of 71.5kg with all fish being safely released to swim another day. “Not a very successful day at the office in terms of fish caught but fun was had by most,” Smit said.