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 4th Black Bass Zone VI Tournamentb held from
3rd October to 7th October 2011
at Von Bach Dam, Namibia
The preparation of the National Squad for this prestigious event started in earnest in February 2011. The budget was tabled, approved and fund raising became a reality. The final selection of those twelve anglers who were to represent Swaziland was determined after the last back to back fish-off that took place at Maguga Dam in May 2011.
The National Squad was selected in accordance with the SAA approved method of selection. The Team as announced by SAA consisted of Derek Hopf (Assistant Manager), Jared van Dyk, Peter McCullough (Technical expert), Louis van Zuydam, Manny Rego, Dick van Dyk, Dave Wright, Bunny Fineberg, Johan Robberts, Mickey Figueiredo (Captain), Ed Boxshall Smith and Ward Rijkenberg. John Bulpit who has represented South African Protea Bass Angling Team over many years of International competition, kindly agreed to be our Team Manager, bringing a blend of local and external expertise to the National Team of the Kingdom of Swaziland.
The road trip started on Thursday with the first stop in Badplass. The next day we left early and spent the night at Kang in the middle of Botswana bushveld – simply beautiful! The last leg took us to Okahandja giving us a day to prepare for the tournament in a relaxed atmosphere. The teams from SA, Zimbabwe and Zambia all arrived on the Sunday, we reunited friendships with good friends and made some new acquaintances.
The two days of practice allowed all competitors to familiarise themselves with this narrow dam with many inlets. The fish were
starting to nest and many fish were easily seen in the shallows. All very exciting but as time went past these fish were not the easiest to catch!
The patterns that emerged from the two practice days could be summarised to ay the the fish were holding in water that varied from 8ft to 1ft in depth. The lures of choice were Black, Watermelon-red fleck Fluke, Watermelon-red 6” Lizard, Fire Tiger Big lil-O, white spinnerbait with gold and silver willow leaf blades. The plastics were rigged on 8 to 12lbs P-line fluorocarbon with a sliding or pegged 00 mojo. The bite was very subtle and absolute concentration would be required for the 3 days of tournament fishing.
This year’s event was attended by 5 countries Namibia hosting South African Protea Team, Zimbabwe National Team, Zambia’s National Team and Swaziland’s National Team. The mere fact that the number of countries represented had grown from 3 to 5 made this tournament the first of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere for Bass Angling. With the top three places being awarded medals, two countries were going home empty handed, knowing that they had competed and lost to better Anglers!
The competition results with the 6 two-man teams from 5 countries all weighing 5 fish per boat every day except for one boat from Zambia and one boat from Swaziland were as follows:
The tournament had a few tense moments: After a night of heavy wind at the end of day one, the Namibian Team who had left their boats on the water woke up on day two to find that 3 of the 6 boats had been sunk! They therefore started late on day two and due to a technical issue: – not having a live well checked, one of the Namibian boats days catch was disqualified. Not a good day for Namibia.
The final standings were 1st – South Africa Protea Team taking gold medals this year with 241.204 points, 2nd - Zimbabwe finished with 230.485 points earning silver medals and a very spirited response to the troubled they faced, Namibia finished 3rd with 202.730 points, smiling broadly with their bronze medals. The rest of the field finished as follows: Swaziland in 4th with 200.642 and Zambia 5th with 171.684 points.
The Swaziland Team worked well under the decisive leadership of our Manager John Bulpit and our Captain Mickey who directed us on the water and made those tough decisions that make or break a team. Well done to the team for an excellent performance catching some good 2kg fish in the green waters at von Bach Dam! The SA Protea Team were able to produce a consistently better bag of five fish, the skill and discipline of these anglers is visible to all those who competed against them. Well done to SA and the Zimbabweans for a comprehensive victory over the rest of the field!
The Zimbabweans will be hosting next year’s event in Zimbabwe with the venue still to be confirmed. The excitement for next year is already a buzz in the ranks of those who want to represent Swaziland on the Bass Angling Zone VI forum.
Thanks to my fellow team mates who participated to the best of their abilities and fished to win right to the end! A special thanks to all our sponsors who with their support we were able to participate and compete in an amazing tournament!
Derek Hopf
Angler & assistant manager 2011
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