Suidpunt Deep Sea Angling Club

WPLTB AGM & PRIZE GIVING 2010

sltb

Zone 6, Kariba Lake

Zimbabwe

Zone 6 U/21 Skippers Report

The first time I heard the name Kariba was in the late seventies movie “The siege of Kariba” or something like that where a terrorist group took some hostages and threatened to blow up the dam wall. Since then Kariba had a special place in my heart especially after a team of Special Forces shot each and every terrorist. Years later Kaptein Takuza would have done it on his own , but that is a story for another day.

For those who don’t know, the Zone 6 competition is a Light Tackle Boat angling tournament held every year in December between the SADAC countries, but for the last couple of years only Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa competed as well as a Zone 6 team which consisted of the previous year’s winners. Almost like the rugby Tri Nations.

Lake Kariba is big, much bigger that the piece of water between Cape Point and Hangklip, the expanses is such that the water goes over the horizon, in fact the lake it is more that 300km long and most places over 50km wide.

Why it’s called Lake Kariba I do not know, maybe it was a lake before it became a dam.

Kariba is well known for Tiger fish but some of the other species are a mystery on its own. Eastern Bottle Nose, Cornish Jack, Vundu, and Chessa. What is a bigger mystery is that some of these are only found below the Victoria Water falls. Once you have seen them you do not even want to drink the water which means swimming is out of the question as well and if you are still not afraid the crocks will definitely get you. Some of the fish we did know is Barbel, Squeaker and some of the bream species.

The competition was held over a 3 day period making up 3 tests and the competition was limited to 5 fish per specie with minimum weigh restrictions as well as a scoring factor, which mean that scares fish were given a higher score. For instance a 7kg Tiger would score the same as a 250 gram Silver Barbel. Life is not fare but who cares.

With the political problems in Zim and most of the people with boats gone we had to take our own. With Cape Town 3000 km from Kariba we had to look for a small boat to tow. Eventually a 14.6ft, very narrow centre consol Trimcraft, later to become known as the Little Red Boat, with a heavy duty trailer and 40 Yamaha was purchased in Plett and 2 days later we were on our way.

To commit suicide is easier than to get through Beitbridge border post. With no papers for the vehicle we had to grease some palms, they were full of smiles and me 4000 rand poorer. But it was worth it, only 45 min to clear customs on both sides whereas the other South Africans took almost 4 hours and at a cost of a mere 350 rand.

Numerous road blocks consisted of a 44 gallon drum in the middle of the road and toll gates all over the show, only a hand held out for 1 USD or 8 rand.

I skipped for the two of the Zone 6 U/21 juniors, de Wet and Hannes, both winners from previous Tri Nation competitions but there is no advantage when you go to Kariba and compete against Zimbabwe on their home waters.

The first 2 days were set aside for practice and the third was supposed to be a rest day. With us not getting fish on the practice days we decided to try again on the off day, a wise decision we can now say. Someone pointed us to a bunch of trees and off we went, bang, bang and we were into big Squeakers. I will rather not mention his name for fear of his life but can say that his name starts with a C. Coen

Test one

We woke up to rain and thunder and it took us more than an hour to get to our fishing spot.

De Wet brought a 1.5kg Tiger, a Barbel of 2.5kg, Eastern Bottel Nose of 1kg and some squeaker and Silver Barbel to the scale and ended 7^th for the day.

Hannes only brought 5 squeakers and 4 Silver Barbel to the scales and came 3^rd. We were surprised.

Some of the other boats brought big Tigers, Barbel and even Vundu but with the scoring system against them our minds went into overdrive.

Day 2

With the results from day 1 the stage was set and we were ready for day 2. We were going to catch small fish that it worth a lot of points and we did.

Hannes was full on Squeaker and Silver Barbel, with De Wet on 4 each and battling to full his quota we had to decide what specie next, so we went for Bream, something we had never targeted before in our lives. Anchor the boat in 1 to 2 meters of water and drift into the weed with the wind and then start dipping your earthworm into the openings. Soon De Wet was starting to land various species with Hannes short on his tail. Great fun I must say.

Once again we went to the scales with a small bucket of fish and won the day with a first and second place.

Day 3

Same tactics as day 2 but the Squeaker and Silver Barbel did not play with, all undersize, must have been the rivers that started to flow after the previous days rain .The Breams played there part and the anglers finished 3^rd and 6^th.

Prize Giving

Hannes ended 4^th, the highest of the South Africans and was selected for the Zone 6 junior team 2010, De Wet 5^th, and our boat 3^rd. In fact this result was such that these 2 juniors scored more than the 4 member Protea junior team as well as most of the senior and lady boats.

Our strategy gave us bragging rights but sadly we have no big fish photos to put on the wall which means we will have to go back some day.

As a final conclusion I can say that the money we have spent on quiver tip rods whilst fishing in previous World Boat Angling Championships was worth every Euro. These rods have very thin and sensitive tips and essential when small fish is the target. Further I can say that you don’t need a big boat with a 300hp motor to do well in Kariba, but it does help to get there faster.

The star of the show – definitely the Little Red Boat and don’t forget the skipper.

Next year this competition will be held in Cahora Bassa, Mozambique and we can’t wait.

That is if we make the team.

Joseph van Huyssteen

Zone 6 U/21 Skipper