On Saturday the 23rd of March the Barkly East Angling Society held their annual River Festival with 36 anglers -18 Men, 3 Women and 15 Juniors participating. On Friday we all got together at FK Sports Pub for the briefing. After our president, Andrew Clark, welcomed all and explained the rules and regulations of the competition, he then drew a guide’s name followed by the guide drawing three anglers’ names who they would take them out to the different parts of our waters. After a great days fishing everyone got together at the Golf Club for the prize giving and a great meal.
The conditions looked perfect for fishing but unfortunately an overnight storm in the Wartrail area brought down a lot of water and a few rivers in this New England area were affected by the storm. However, everyone caught fish even with the dirty water. The south western end of the area offered great fishing with one angler in the Saalboom catching 50 fish over 20cm (and he was as a Junior) and plenty more coming out the Vaalhoekie and Karenmelkspruit.
Congratulations to the winners:
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Overall |
Ladies |
Junior |
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1 |
Christo du Plessis |
Audrey Britz |
Nick Louw |
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2 |
Devin Isemonger |
Nadia Labuschagne |
Le Roux Roos |
|
3 |
Cloete du Plessis |
Mandy Isemonger |
Jabsi Louw |
|
4 |
Willem Venter |
|
Ruben Burger |
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5 |
Tippy Dormehl |
|
Ethan Burgess |
|
6 |
Terence Meise |
|
Daniel Tarling |
|
7 |
Paul Frost |
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Rewalton Daniels |
|
8 |
Stefan Cloete |
|
Isaac Thom |
|
9 |
Stephan Nel |
|
Hanro Lourens |
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10 |
Mark Schonken |
|
Johan Cronje |
|
11 |
Gerrit Redpath |
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Thomas Mullineux |
|
12 |
Tim Pope Ellis |
|
Wouter Kuhn |
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13 |
Frikkie Botha |
|
Liam Swart |
|
14 |
Andrew Clark |
|
Gerhard Cloete |
|
15 |
Leonard Willams |
|
Patrick Cloete |
|
16 |
Eugene du Plessis |
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|
|
17 |
Ben Britz |
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|
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18 |
Trevor Phillips |
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|
|
Biggest Fish |
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Cloete du Plessis |
|
Gerhard Cloete |
We would just like to thank all the anglers who participated and a big thank you to Louis de Jager of the Cape Piscatorial Society and his team from Boland Fly Fishing for joining us on our day. We would also like to thank Gerrit Redpath, the vice chairman of the South African Fly Fishing Association for taking the trouble to travel down and join us.
A big thank you to all the farmers whose waters were used, without them this could not be possible, we really do appreciate that you allow us to fish your waters.
The a big thank you to all our sponsors for your generous donations. The Barkly Angling Society appreciates it immensely. Due to people and organisations like yourselves, you make it possible for use to host such successful competitions.
Sponsors: Gavin Erwin, Shorten Motors, The Fly Box, Xenturion Insurance, Target Line, Barkly East Traders, Sir Henry Barkly Guest House, Neptunes Cove, BKB Barkly East, SciFlies, Bergplaas Merinos, Barkly East Reporter, Andrew Savs, Frans Van Rooyen, Ubuntu Tech and Pienaar Bros.
Special word of thanks to Heidi van Zyl and her team from Sir Henry for the making of the lunch packs and the salads for the anglers and locals who joined the festivities after the competition. Heidi we really appreciate the way you always go the extra mile to assist our club. Thank you to FK Sports Pub for letting us use their facilities on Friday night for the briefing for the anglers and a very big thank you to Golf club for their facilities on Saturday night. We really appreciate all the hard work Steve Kotze and his team did on Saturday night with the hall and the braaing of the steaks.
Thank you to the Barkly East Reporter for the designing and adverts, for the great marketing you gave us, without you guys we would never be able to get our name out there.
A big word of thanks to Andrew Savs for once again sponsoring one of his brilliantly made homemade nets, they are a true master piece and a very sort after prize.
We would like to thank Neptune’s Cove from Kei Mouth for the awesome weekend away for 4 people that they sponsored for the second year in a row. Congratulation to Wikus Venter for winning the raffle for this awesome prize. Thank you to Clair and Daniel Phillips for doing the lucky draw.
Thank you to all the guides and committee and especially their wives for all the time we spent arranging the competition.
We look forward to seeing you all next year. Next year we plan on a two- day competition in March and look forward to all your support again.
Terence Meise on the Vlooikraalspruit
43cm rainbow from the Karenmelk (largest fish was 47cm.)
One of the younger participants
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Hanru Lourens (junior) on the Saalboom
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